A few years ago, Agco’s Fendt brand replaced the steering wheel on its Ideal combines with a joystick control.
In 2024 it introduced a retrofit kit that can also bring joystick steering control to Fendt tractors. That system just won Agco an AE50 award for its design.
It’s 100 per cent retrofittable,” says Daniel Smith, senior strategic marketing manager for Fendt high-horsepower tractors.
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“There is no factory offering for this yet. It’s only offered through our parts network.”
The kit comes with a replacement armrest for the left side of the operator’s seat. A new joystick mounts onto that sturdier support and plugs directly into the tractor’s CANBUS network.
ErgoSteer can be installed on any 500 to 1000 Series Fendt tractor with the Profi Plus specification.
“The highest spec tractor is the Profi Plus,” says Smith.
“That’s the one capable of auto steer. That tractor is equipped with two steering valves. One is the auto steer valve, the other is the valve for the steering wheel. What ErgoSteer does is it activates the auto steer valve. Because it does that, it doesn’t push back anything to the steering wheel.”
As a result, the steering wheel won’t turn as the operator controls the tractor with the ErgoSteer joystick.
On new tractors, it’s just a matter of replacing the original armrest with the new one, mounting the joystick control and plugging it in. However, older tractors will need a software update.
“The software is the hardest part,” says Smith.
“Most farmers aren’t going to have access to the software, so that’s where they’d need a dealer’s help. Any new tractor would have the appropriate software on it. But any tractor, say three years old, would have to have the software updated. That’s where you’d require a tech.
“All the harnessing is direct plug and play right into the CANBUS of the tractor, so there’s really no harnessing aspect that’s hard for a customer or dealer to install.”
The joystick also has a couple of other control features. There is a shuttle button to change tractor direction and an auto steer engage button, which enables or disables the GPS auto steer function.
“The loader control joystick also has a shuttle button on it,” adds Smith.
“Then you can put the tractor in foot pedal mode, and your speed is controlled by the orange pedal on the floor. You can be in the most ergonomic position. It makes an amazing loader tractor.”
For safety, the joystick steering control is limited to lower-speed field operations and won’t function during road travel.
Once ErgoSteer is connected, the tractor’s system will recognize it and there will be an additional page added to the display, allowing for adjusting the sensitivity setting of the joystick.
“You can determine how fast it’s going to turn the wheels from left lock to right lock,” says Smith.
“If you have the sensitivity set up all the way, it’s amazing how fast you can turn this tractor. There’s a slider bar inside the display on the terminal.”
It can also be set to return-to-centre position once the operator lets go of the joystick.
“It will centre the wheels,” he adds.
“Or you can turn that off and if you turn it will just maintain that turn. It really lets the operator decide how he wants ErgoSteer to steer his tractor.”
