The Biggest Combine Harvesters in the World in 2023 - What Are the Top 5 Machines?

So you've successfully made it through the growing season with a huge crop, and all that's left is to harvest what you've worked so hard to produce. Luckily, we're not quite in the era of harvesting by hand anymore. Enter the combine harvester, also called a combined harvester or a combine, a time-saving piece of equipment that has revolutionized the agricultural industry as we know it.

The combine harvester has been making farmers' lives easier all the way back since the 19th century. Despite the word "harvester" in its name, these machines perform more than just simple harvesting. Granted, their most important job is that they harvest crops and grains, in large amounts, and effortlessly. But apart from that, they can also thresh and winnow crops right on the field. 

The combination of these features is why they are referred to as "combine" harvesters.

Combine harvesters are perfect for saving time because of how much area of the field they can cut through. With combines, bigger is better. And combines can really get big.

If you're in the market for a combine to harvest your fields, and you're looking for the biggest and best machine to do the job, you've come to the right place. We'll go through the biggest combines in the world that you can get in 2023, to help you make the right decision. 

The Five Biggest Combine Harvesters in 2023

There are hundreds of combine harvesters to choose from in 2023, with each of them having their own strengths and advantages. What we're interested in here are the largest harvesters available. We'll be looking into the combines that are best suited for clearing huge fields and processing as much grain as possible. 

Apart from their sheer size, there are a lot of other factors to consider when deciding on a large combine. The most important consideration is the capacity of the grain tank. This determines how much of a field the combine will be able to process before it needs to stop to empty its tank.

Another consideration is how quickly they can empty their grain tanks. Filling up the grain tank is one thing, but being able to offload that grain in a matter of minutes means you can get your equipment back to work as soon as possible.

Another important thing to consider is the type of crops that need to be harvested. Certain harvesters can harvest particular crops, but not others. Many large harvesters are designed to reap a number of different crops, making them 

Let's take a look at the biggest combine harvesters in 2023, and see how they rank based on these factors.

1) Case IH Axial Flow 9250

The Case IH Axial Flow 9250 is a large harvester manufactured in Nebraska. It's particularly developed to harvest vast quantities of crops quickly and efficiently with minimal damage, thanks to its unusual single-rotor design.

It has a 16-liter engine that puts out 625 horsepower.

The Case IH AF 9250 comes with a hefty 14,500-liter grain tank, which stores more grain than most other combines on the market. With a 113 liter per second unload rate, the grain tank empties in a little over two minutes.

It also harvests over 130 different crops, so you can rely on the versatility of this machine.

This harvester is the largest combine that Case offers, so if you're a fan of Case equipment, this is probably the best large combine for you. 

2) Fendt IDEAL 10T

This is another powerful harvester that's known for its impressive performance and outstanding reliability. Sizewise, it holds up to other entries on this list, boasting a 17,000-liter grain tank. It also comes with a 140-liter-per-second unloading rate, allowing it to empty the tank in 120 seconds.

One of the reasons this harvester is a favorite is because of its innovative threshing system. Apart from its efficient performance, this thresher works under a variety of weather conditions. With the IDEAL 10T, come rain or shine, the work doesn't stop, eliminating downtime.

It comes with a 16.2-liter engine that generates 790 horsepower.

The Fendt IDEAL 10T also introduces IDEALdrive, a steering solution that employs joysticks instead of a steering wheel. This leaves the front of the driver open, granting them an unimpeded view of the field as they're working on it. 

3) Claas Lexion 8900

Back in 2020, the Class Lexion 8900 was the largest combine in the world. While it might not hold that record anymore in 2023, it's still a good contender as a heavyweight harvester with a huge capacity and a 790 horsepower engine.

This German-engineered harvester is respected for being able to harvest and process large amounts of grain quickly and efficiently. One of its main strengths is its 18,000-liter grain tank that can be emptied in only 100 seconds. This means you can have the tank fully emptied in under two minutes.

The Claas Lexion 8900 also has the achievement of having the longest transfer pipe on any combine, coming in at 11 meters long.

4) John Deere X9 1100

You can't talk about farming equipment without mentioning John Deere. The colossal John Deere X9 1100 is John Deere's largest harvester yet, and it has outstanding performance to match. 

This harvester boasts a 3.1-meter-long rotor and a 16,200-liter grain tank. While that's spacious, it's still not the largest grain tank on the market. The X9 makes up for that with its incredible threshing performance. This beast of a machine can thresh a whopping 100 tons of grain per hour. That means you can fill an 18-ton trailer in as little as nine minutes!

It unloads can unload its high-capacity tank at a rate of 183 liters per second. This means the John Deere X9 can empty out its tank in only one and a half minutes.

5) Tribine T1000

The Tribine T1000 is recognized as the largest combine harvester in the world. This leviathan of a combine weighs 23 tons and has an engine powerful enough to lug another 23 tons of grain weight. It has a colossal grain tank capacity of 35,200 liters, almost twice as much as the next largest grain tank on this list. 

You'd be forgiven for thinking the Tribine T1000 is a cumbersome beast that can't maneuver well, but it is actually surprisingly nimble. This is thanks to its rear steering that allows the operator to steer all the wheels at the same time. 

It also has an industry-leading unload rate of 300 liters per second. This means it can empty the grain tank in 117 seconds, which is impressive when you consider its enormous grain capacity.

With its immense storage capacity and impressive harvesting abilities, this machine is a premium choice if you need to harvest as much grain as possible, as fast as possible.

What Are the Features of These Combine Harvesters?

Large combine harvesters aren't just large to make an impression. The vast size of these machines has some real utility that affects how well they perform at their job. Here are some of the features you can expect from the largest combine harvesters. 

These combine harvesters all have powerful engines that can effectively move their considerable weight, along with the load of their grain tanks. Unlike certain smaller combines, you'll never have to worry about your engine not being up to the task. 

One of the most important features of these large harvesters is their huge grain tanks. They all have grain tanks above 14,000 liters or 398 bushels. Larger grain tanks mean you can spend more time on the field harvesting, improving your efficiency.

These harvesters are also capable of harvesting and threshing a range of crops. This means they're all versatile enough to deal with your fields, no matter what crops you might have. 

Verdict

Combine harvesters are important machines that help farmers feed the world. They reduce the manpower needed for harvesting and make it much more efficient, cheaper and faster too. This makes them an essential piece of equipment on any large farm. 

There's a huge range of combine harvesters for farmers to choose from, but large fields with huge amounts of grain will require larger combines.

Five of the biggest and best combine harvesters available on the market today are the Case IH Axial Flow 9250, the Fendt Ideal 10T, the Claas Lexion 8900, the John Deere X9 1100, and the Tribine T1000.

No matter which of these harvesters you choose, you'll have a reliable, top-quality machine on your hands, capable of dealing with acres of field and tons of grain with no problem at all.

If you're looking for a harvester that excels in pure size and grain capacity, you can't go wrong with the Tribine T1000, the largest entry on the list. 

However, any of the combines on this list will provide an industry-leading combination of performance, harvesting efficiency and technology, so you're in safe hands with any of them.