Fortschritt E 510

Fortschritt E 510
Type	Combine harvester
Manufacturer	VEB Mähdrescherwerk Bischofswerda/Singwitz
Production	Singwitz, GDR 1963 (Only pre-production samples built)
Length	7100 mm
Width	3800 mm
Height	3600 mm
Weight	5300 kg
Propulsion	Tyres 14–24 AS (front), 10–15 AM (rear)
Engine model	AM 4–15–5 (Straight-four Diesel, 6.024 dm3)
Flywheel power	44 or 55 kW
Speed	1.67…17.72 km/h
Preceded by	Fortschritt E 170 series
Succeeded by	Fortschritt E 512

The Fortschritt E 510 was a self-propelled combine harvester, developed in the early 1960s by the East-German Fortschritt combine. It was a heavy modification of its predecessor, the Fortschritt E 170 series. Several E 510 combines were made for testing purposes; however, the tests which were conducted in the 1963 harvesting season showed that, the E 510 was no improvement over the E 170 series. Despite having developed the E 510 to a point where it was ready to go into series production, the E 510's series production never commenced, and the E 510 was cancelled. Instead, Fortschritt developed a completely new combine harvester, the Fortschritt E 512.

Development

The E 170 series combines, which had been in production since 1954, proved to be not well-suited for the growing East-German Agricultural Production Cooperatives, because of their high corn loss, poor ergonomics, and aging design; in addition to that, the E 170 series combines had a small header, a small corn tank, and no continuously variable transmission (CVT). Therefore, Fortschritt sought to replace the aging E 170 series with a new, more efficient model. Development began in 1962. The new model – designated the E 510 – was basically a heavy modification of the ongoing E 170 series. The E 510 had a header that was approximately 200 mm wider, a bigger corn tank with an improved unloading mechanism, a three-speed gearbox with an additional CVT, and the 44 kW engine from the E 175. It was considered upgrading the engine even further to 55 kW. After a series of tests conducted in the 1963 harvesting season, where the E 510 had to compete against several combine harvesters from Western countries, it became obvious that it was not a significant improvement over the E 170 series. Therefore, it was decided in February 1964, not to put the E 510 into series production. From 1964 to 1968, a new combine harvester was developed, the Fortschritt E 512. It was later put into series production instead of the E 510. Only a few pre-production units of the E 510 were made.