jakescot Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 years ago farmers stuck with a particular brand no matter what, i do think nowadays farmers arent so loyal which can be a good thing, keeps these companies on their toes I`d say thats fair comment...there`s a big dairy farm up the road from me, they`ve just bought a claas 640 over their usual brand , New Holland. I would say too they arent unique in their change with what used to be the old estate home farm always running IH, mainly because of the dealer , so when they changed to Valmet , they went there and he had 3 of them,The dealer in question , "Gordons" ,changed to Claas which they then changed 2 of their 3 main tractors to but by the time the 3rd one came for change they have actually gone NH from an entirely different dealer "Lloyds" brand and dealer loyalty isnt what it used to be, perhaps that`s as much a refelection of the state financially of the industry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 well said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 Well it finally dried out enough to use the 7490 for some ploughing today, overall its not a bad tractor but it only makes it to number two on my preferred choice list, New Holland still being the favourite. The MF had some nice features but the positioning of the foot throttle/accelerator pedal let it down, can see it being a real pain when baling in "forager" mode on the transmission, the windscreen washer also lets it down as front and back operate together, talk about daft ideas!!!! Lack of self cancelling indicators was also a let down for a high spec tractor like this one is meant to be It wasn't too bad on diesel at all really though as bottom left of screen shows for spot rates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 What tractor has had the best lock to keep marky out when turning on the headlands.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 They were all much the same lock wise Ol so not much to compare between them really in that respect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 so gav is that the last one your getting for demo?? if so we know that the nh is your choice, but overall, how do they all compair pricewise ? as i recon thats got to come into it for your boss at the end of the day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 I don't get involved in that side of things so not really sure, from what I've picked up though the Fendt is the most expensive and the Valtra is the cheapest to date, not had a price for the Massey as yet. There's still a small posibility of a 7430 demo but its not a tractor that I'm overly interested in anyway so won't change my current opinions on what we've tried so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 what ever they wont be a cheap buy i guess, i bet they will be offering all sorts of service deals and extras with them to, that can sway thing no end if its good overall, despite the cost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Well Gavalar.... I can't disagree with you about any of the issues you have with the cab... bloody silly... there are some more... but I don't think I'll point them out on a public forum.. me being an MF man and all that I filled in my 18 months ownership survey on line for MF last week... and I made my feelings on the cabs construction and features known (very politely) to them. Such a shame as I do believe the 7400 is a cracking tractor too :'( .. as is the 5400 which I can vouch for for a good 2000 hours now I guess \ I've said it before... and at the risk of being seen to be 'bigging you up' .. I do hugely respect your opinions and for that reason I have been looking forward to hearing them on this model (as with all in this topic)... I'm cross with MF for failing to impress you with the most stupid of things letting an otherwise superb model down :'( :'( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 This is exactly it Marky, its a brilliant tractor in every other respect until you get to the cab, one other niggle I forgot to mention is the lack of a park position on forward-reverse shuttle lever, I believe its an option but a very costly one, puts them well behind all the competition in that respect alone. It does score high on braking though with it having a braked front axle and also having a front diff-lock as opposed to a limited slip affair in the front axle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 So taking price onboard Gav, could the Valtra score higher due to it being cheaper.... ie is it like for like spec wise and so on and could any less favourable areas be gotten used to for it to be the cheapest you have tried. I'd have loved to year your views on a Deutz by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 Unfortunately they don't make a Deutz the right size with the variable transmission Tris, also the nearest dealer hasn't had the franchise long and I don't reckon much to the salesman's attitude at times......known locally as the little weasel out of earshot and as two faced as they come I don't think the Valtra stands a chance, price considered and all, the salesman scores highly though and in my own bosses words "He'd go a long way with a more popular brand". Its the tractor itself, Valtra have taken what could be a good transmission and over complicated it in their usual fashion making it harder to set up. Not content with having 4 ranges to the transmission they then put an under drive and over drive in each range meaning if you are in B range and want to do say 12kph and you slow down in a tough spot the transmission will change down to the under drive when you drop below 10kph so the engine revs will be up and down meaning you'd have to change to C range to do it without changing from under to over drive in the working speed range you want, makes it a right pain in the backside to set up. Then theres their wonderful idea of putting the closure bar for the back window right down the centre of it : They have the fundamentals right with the tractor but it nees some fine tuning to make it operator friendly unfortunately \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 . .. . .. Eeeeer no sorry. .... you've lost me.. .. :laugh: :laugh: I guess there's the point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 . .. . .. Eeeeer no sorry. .... you've lost me.. .. :laugh: :laugh: I guess there's the point! Me too Tris, i'm lost with the alphabet part! I don't think i'd now where to start driving a modern tractor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM190 Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Unfortunately they don't make a Deutz the right size with the variable transmission Tris, also the nearest dealer hasn't had the franchise long and I don't reckon much to the salesman's attitude at times......known locally as the little weasel out of earshot and as two faced as they come I don't think the Valtra stands a chance, price considered and all, the salesman scores highly though and in my own bosses words "He'd go a long way with a more popular brand". Its the tractor itself, Valtra have taken what could be a good transmission and over complicated it in their usual fashion making it harder to set up. Not content with having 4 ranges to the transmission they then put an under drive and over drive in each range meaning if you are in B range and want to do say 12kph and you slow down in a tough spot the transmission will change down to the under drive when you drop below 10kph so the engine revs will be up and down meaning you'd have to change to C range to do it without changing from under to over drive in the working speed range you want, makes it a right pain in the backside to set up. Then theres their wonderful idea of putting the closure bar for the back window right down the centre of it : They have the fundamentals right with the tractor but it nees some fine tuning to make it operator friendly unfortunately \ I actually understand that about the Transmission! Seems like the idea is there, Just needs tweaked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJB1 Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 does you beloved claas not get a look in now gav ? or is that a second to the NH as well ? seen to be selling quite well in south wales , one farmer has just bought three tractors & a scorpion loader on the strength of product reliability & the dealer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 16, 2010 Author Share Posted November 16, 2010 The Claas is ruled out by its size and poor maneuverability when put into 72" track centres unfortunately. Got a few pictures of the 7490 when I was finishing drilling with it tonight, had ploughed the ex potato land as well today so we decided to use the MF to drill it as well as its on wider tyres than any of our JD's And one video of it ploughing as well, computer screen doesn't show very well but the tractor was running at 1550-1650 rpm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 great pics Gavalar... any more thoughts on the old girl now you've had some more 'saddle time' mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 16, 2010 Author Share Posted November 16, 2010 Still the same really, damn good tractor just a shame the cab is pi$$ poor in design and layout from a drivers point of view. We now have a JD 7430 coming next week as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 16, 2010 Author Share Posted November 16, 2010 Yeah, the JD ones catch fire too easily : ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MODELFARMER Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Yeah, the JD ones catch fire too easily : ;D ha ha! Whats in the 7430? autopower?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 16, 2010 Author Share Posted November 16, 2010 I sincerely hope so otherwise its a waste of time them bringing it out to us \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MODELFARMER Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 I sincerely hope so otherwise its a waste of time them bringing it out to us \ yus that would be true, will u have much for her to do?? I priced a hydraulic top link, only £700 odd quid ha ha! if its got one steal it for me will ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 16, 2010 Author Share Posted November 16, 2010 I don't think we will unless we've had some fertiliser sprayed onto the beet land by then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigX500 Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 love the cab on our 7480 only gripe is the foot throttle when ploughing but never use it now use the a & B buttons set them at tick over on the headlands and 1600 rpm when ploughing also have bolted a small plate onto the throttle to give it a bit of width Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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