The first day of October was an exciting day at John Deere Engine Works as production started on the highly anticipated 13.6L engine. The 13.6L engine program is special because it was developed from a clean-sheet design process and the first program in many years not driven by emissions requirements.

The engine was developed using an analysis-led design process that allowed CAD and analytic modeling with our partners before we ever built the first engine. This resulted in an engine that has less complexity and higher power density compared to the engine it replaces. It’s an engine that delivers new levels of performance, flexibility, and serviceability for a wide array of heavy-duty applications.

The 13.6L engine is an essential part of the Power Systems line-up, going into many types of John Deere equipment, as well as OEM applications.

All this would not have been possible without the dedicated teamwork of the product engineering and manufacturing engineering teams. Sam McClure, Manager of assembly PDP engineering, couldn’t be prouder of his team.

“We have been working on bringing the 13.6L engine program to this stage for many years,” McClure said. “The PDP manufacturing engineering team members have all worked very well with engine engineering and other factory disciplines to bring us to start of production for this program. I want to thank this team for bringing us to this point and for work that will be needed going forward as we continue to execute to ensure that we have a high quality and successful start of production.”

The 13.6L engine will be used in many different applications and with a variety of emissions configurations globally.