Valtra.....any good ???

[An Interested Spectator]

I am contemplating straying away from my usual model theme of MF and doing, for me, something a little different !!

I have half talked myself into doing a few Valtra models.

I have never come across Valtra "in the real world". I wondered what the general perception of the Valtra brand was, are they any good, value for money etc ?

Just to underline..........i am talking about the real tractors.....not models.

Cheers

Adie

[Deere-est]

All I know about them Adie is that they have superb power plants in them and are quite common in the Frome area due to Vaughans being a dealer. Not sure if they still are now that Claas are putting their own tractors out there though. I am sure the guys there would be of a huge help to you though. 

[Simon]

I've swerved close to Valtra in the past but never had a any real involvement with them.

I know that those who do run them stand by them as very reliable, well specced machines. I think the have a a few idiosyncrasies but I couldn't tell you exactly what they are. Used to be slim fronted cabs and 64/64 'boxes or some such ridiculous figure!

We used to come up against them a lot when selling Renaults, very VERY rarely managed to snipe a deal, Valtra beat us on most things.

Tris is right, the Sisu diesels are excellent motors - Renault ran DPS units [JD engines but with stressed blocks to compensate for the lack of the chassis] and the Sisu was more than comparable.

In terms of perception I think it's one of those brands where it ranges from good, bad and indifferent, mostly with no grounding at all. On the basis that most machinery and engineering to come out of Scandinavia is bomb proof I wouldn't doubt the Valtra's ability.

And being part of Agco it wouldn't be that big a departure for you, and they are available in red!

You'll be doing Fendt's next Adie!

[rich.new holland]

my friend has a valtra t181 and he swears by it t, the best machine theve had he thinks  \ hes got the hi tech box   there is a valtra dealer by cardiff/new port and there are quite a few valtras around there  \

they havnt done anything on it (except oil ,filters etc ) and they have had it about just over a year  \

[pudding]

good machines

some say the T160 is a bit gutless, and the 8350 low revers, but...........i have customers and friends that love them

few round clocking up the hours now..........

friend has a fleet of them, only reason he got a deere was valtra didn't have the hp

[MJB1]

here's the 8100 i used to drive . never driven one before this , was soon converted, first job was to plough in a field of slurry after a lagoon burst , ploughing alongside a fully weighted up massey 3095 with a 4 f rev ransomes tsr300, slipping all over the place , the vomit on the other hand had no weights on & pulling a kuhn 4 f rev HC plough, no probs, would have gone for the 5furrow but the backend wasn't man enough to lift the 5HC, too heavy , very good ploughing tractor , great foraging tractor, had the delta shift box on this one , comfortable to drive with loads of room in the cab for the dog to run around in 

wasnt overkeen on buckracking with it though ,  great tractor for it , but i little too short in the wheelbase for my likeing for steep silage faces, bum clenching stuff at times 

[nashmach]

They go by the name Rocking Horses at home as if you ever see one been driven on the road they are always bouncing - anyone that has them never have too much bad to say about them - in fact I can only think of one that was traded against another make and that was because the farmer in question didn't like the Valtra for roadwork and the Deutz was better pulling the Vaderstad

One problem tends to be their poor resale value which is maybe a reason why most go back to them again - also very much a contractors machine so tend to get a dogging

[MJB1]

One problem tends to be their poor resale value which is maybe a reason why most go back to them again - also very much a contractors machine so tend to get a dogging

the sisu engine , much like the VME engines are pretty much bullet proof , got to have a real serious problem for it to fail, the more grief it gets the better it goes 

[pudding]

the 8100 was one of the best built, they built those things for years , i think the UN have a few with 50kph gearboxes for pulling trailers of emergency aid into war torn countries

they built a peat special version of the 8100 or 8150?.......built for peat work, twin pto shafts, heavy pto drives, axles,

they had a fluid flywheel option on those things, kind before the wetclutch idea really took off, like the fendt farmer farvourit tractors had, you could leave it in gear and jump off the tractor and it would stop in gear.......

valtra valmet tractors were built to have more weight forward on the front axle, built to pull, so it did make me a little heavy on when you are pulling something with little drawbar wieght pushing down on the rear axle

friend has a 6650 and 8350 with reverse drive also, i think it came with it as they were demo tractors, last year he ran one with a front mounted mower on the rear, he reckoned it worked ok, but the little rear facing steering wheel required a lot of turns lock to lock, made headland turns very busy

if you get real keen, sell all your toy tractors, stop buying new ones, save ya $ and hunt down a real valmet 705, preferably with reverse drive and forestry cab and grab, you would be a legend

[Gav836]

good machines

some say the T160 is a bit gutless, and the 8350 low revers, but...........i have customers and friends that love them

few round clocking up the hours now..........

friend has a fleet of them, only reason he got a deere was valtra didn't have the hp

Thats putting it mildly, when it struggles with 5 furrows on light land it's definately gutless Valtra have to be the only people I know who would send a 50kph tractor out without having front suspension fitted :o

They are a nice tractor to drive though, the first newer tractor I drove was a 1996 Valmet, they do have a lot of grunt under the bonnet, and, as Marcus said, a lovely spacious cab. Gear options were 36 x 36 without creeper and 48 x 48 with creep gear fitted, one for every job in there. I don't even know who the local dealer is here now but there are a few about in the area. Not many problems to report with them, some of the early 8000 series ones had head trouble but it was a minor issue.

Here's the 8200 that I drove, 11 years old and still going strong

[MJB1]

few years back,  three local farms (one fammily three farms) came under the management of one person , (son of one of the farmers & nephew of the others) & within a month the mixed fleet of MF, ford , case ih, was all traded in for valmet, been valmet/valtra ever since , swears by them, prime mover to stock mans loader all valmet/ valtra now , was all supplied by G Vowles , but dont know who deals them here locally now ?

[james f]

Definitely among the best makes out there. I've driven at least six of them over the years, mainly four cylinder ones, and they have been very little bother. Three of them were contractor's machines and subject to extreme abuse, and still went like trains.

The guy who wraps for us had a 1998? 6800 up to this year that was a rolling wreck having been the main tractor for 10 years, as well as being the loader tractor, and the clock had stopped at just under 10000 hours but she still ran perfectly and was capable of a full day's work, though not the most comfortable to drive.

The guy who does our hedgecutting had a 6600 up to last year that had 14000 hours on the clock and never had a spanner laid on the engine. All she needed was a new gear in the gearbox that was worn out from hedgecutting in the same gear all the time. The same guy has a 8000 that has 11000 ours on the clock.

Our own main tractor is a 2001 6650 HiTech that has been very little bother since new. The only breakdowns have been a couple of sensors that played up and stopped her from driving, and a replacement front hub casting and front wheel after a car crashed into it - the car was written off though ;D

We're getting a second hand 6550 with Stoll loader this year, and we have a 6400 with Tanco loader on loan from the dealer in the mean time, again an un-loved tractor but still easily capable of everything we have asked of her so far. I might put up some pics of these and the rest of our fleet next week under the members machines section I you're good

Actually here is the said 6800, the front axle swivel bearings were completely shot by the time she left, the wheels were actually leaning:

Oh, and our own 6650 is hiding in the corner of this photo:

[nashmach]

Who broke the door  :D

I think she was 1996

That is a different reflection on the 6400 than you have been saying the past few weeks :D - you forgot about her drinking brake fluid

[james f]

Who broke the door  :D

Wasn't me! Did help with ventilation though :D

I think she was 1996

That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure \

That is a different reflection on the 6400 than you have been saying the past few weeks :D - you forgot about her drinking brake fluid

Well that and the faulty electrics but she still goes!! As I said - un-loved

[jdc]

I've tried both an N and T series recently and found them to be good going tractors. As has been said, the Sisu diesel is bombproof. From a drivers point of view, they just seem to have a feel of being just out of date somehow, and slightly unconventional compared with other makes. Rows of rocker switches in the cab are unnecessary nowadays I think. 

[Tractorman810]

lots of t series appearing round this way now, seem to be replacing the jd's and nh's at several contractors now

[sparrow legs]

i drove a t190 top of the range back in november, hated it, kept asking to put the jd 6820 back on the dump trailer but wasnt aloud as the demo tractor was for free good vison, large cab but hated joystick spool leaver and electric foot throttle was hopeless! also no good places for cb or tool box etc, all the little things make the difference (not that my coments counted as i was only helping them out at the time)

[Juice]

Gear options were 36 x 36 without creeper and 48 x 48 with creep gear fitted, one for every job in there.

Here's the 8200 that I drove, 11 years old and still going strong

There are 36+36 gears with creeper, not 48+48. There are 4 basic gears and each one have 1 delta power shift gear. And 3 speed areas. So the total is 36+36.

8200 is quite interesting model. It was only made because Valmet needed a pulling tractor, and because of the rules, you have to produce some amount of normal tractor to use it in pulling. In Finland, almost every 8200's are turbocharged. You can get easily +200hp with turbo from that 7,4 litre engine.

the 8100 was one of the best built, they built those things for years , i think the UN have a few with 50kph gearboxes for pulling trailers of emergency aid into war torn countries

they built a peat special version of the 8100 or 8150?.......built for peat work, twin pto shafts, heavy pto drives, axles,

they had a fluid flywheel option on those things, kind before the wetclutch idea really took off, like the fendt farmer farvourit tractors had, you could leave it in gear and jump off the tractor and it would stop in gear.......

Here's a picture of 8100 peat special version, with better cooling, air intake, extra heavy duty PTO (1000r/min + groundspeed), driving lights under the front grille and delta powershift. Actually this model was equipped with turbo and it was 8400 prototype. This was introduced 1992 and 8400 production started 1993.

Fluid flywheel was option only for mezzo-serie (4-cyl. models and 6.cyl models 6900/8000)

[james f]

In classic Homer Simpson style: Mmmmmmm, 8100 peat special :)