Our Current Farm Fleet

[james f]

More of a member's fleet really than member's tractor but here goes. This is a pictorial tour of our fleet of 'driveable' machinery, including the two Isuzu jeeps:

First up is the flagship 2001 Valtra 6650 with just over 4000 hrs. Main duties include ploughing, one-passing, spreading fertiliser, mowing, baling and hauling anything that needs to be hauled, but has been known to turn her hand to other things.

[nashmach]

Get the 7600 on the sprayer - thought she had more than 400hrs :D

[james f]

Due to join the fleet soon is this Valtra 6550 with Stoll loader, seen here in the yard of the previous/current owner:

Her duties are currently being fulfilled by this 6400 with Tanco T100 loader on loan from the dealer, in between literally 'braking' down

Get the 7600 on the sprayer - thought she had more than 400hrs :D

Thought you'd be the one to stick a post in when I'm not finished yet! >

[Massey Boy]

i think this going to be a good topic !

[james f]

Next up is the previous flagship, the trusty 1978 Ford 7600 with nigh on 15,000 hours, though no-one really knows as the clock was stopped for a good few years during the 90's when she did most of her work. Currently configured for match ploughing, her other duties include spreading fertiliser ahead of the one-pass, spraying, mowing, hay turning, hauling loads and generally playing second fiddle to the 6650.

[james f]

Possibly the most important tractor in the fleet is the 1985 Ford 6610 equipped with a choice of Tanco 978 or 868 loaders and a range of attachments. Seeing action in nearly every farming activity throughout the year, not to mention feeding most of the cattle during the winter, she really is indispensable. Some people don't like the AP cab, but I love jumping up on her and going off haybobbing in the summer or drawing bales or bringing loads of grain back to the shed. 100% reliable with the exception of a reconditioned engine and a coulpe of new cluthch plates, her duties include feeding silage and beet to cattle, lifting fertiliser bags, turning hay and silage, drawing and stacking said hay and silage, turning straw, drawing straw bales, hauling and loading grain, and doing any loader work that needs doing, including putting up sheds! Unfortunately being left outside all the time has taken its toll on the tinwork, and we recently put a new roof on

[james f]

Another indispensable piece of machinery is the 1963 New Performance Super Major that has been in the family since almost new, though first registered in Dublin. Being the only tractor in the place that will go into the cubicle houses at a rented yard to scrape them out, she is used almost every day in the winter. We also used to use her for putting out the silage bales in the same yard with a Quicke loader until the arrival of a JCB in 2006, not a job for the faint-hearted! Not used much outside of the winter, last summer we rebuilt the engine to cure excessive oil blow out of the exhaust, to find that the last person to rebuild it had left out some of the oil control rings!! :o

[bremner_metallica]

they all look good machines

[james f]

Since I've mentioned the JCB it might as well be next. This is a 1989 3CX Turbo 4x4 with Perkins engine and Xtradig. Bought 3rd hand two years ago, it has been a very useful piece of equipment around the farm, cleaning drains, laying pipes, knocking gaps, digging soak pits and even digging out for a slatted tank last summer, as well as some contract work. A bit rough like most construction machines , she required a reconditioned king post carriage, a new windscreen, some welding to the window hinges, work to the headliner and a new fuel filter after stopping in the middle of a junction shortly after we got her! Winter work now consists of putting out silage bales in the rented yard with a converted buckrake and cleaning out the odd loose shed.

That's all I have time for today folks, tomorrow I'll finish off with the Fordson Dexta, New Holland 1530, Isuzu Trooper, Isuzu Bighorn and Patch the dog

[HenryMC]

nice pictures especcial the silage one with the redrock  ;)

[rich.new holland]

good balers the rolant 46 arnt they  well apart from the bearings rollers  \ ummm and everything else  :D ours likes having new bearings 

[MJB1]

handy little fleet there james , all vey tidy as well.

know what you mean about the AP cabbed tractors , used a 6610 4wd with a quicky loader , did a lot of mowing with it , good tractor 

[nashmach]

Few nice shots there that I have not seen before James - keep them coming

[texas]

Great pictures and a nice fleet you are working with.

Texas

[luke p]

good pics mate

[james f]

Thanks for the comments guys. I know what you mean about the 46 Rich, that one had two new bearings in the bottom roller last year, the 44 was much the same, but a good baler all the same. The 44 has recently gone off to sunnier climes, or 'on her holliers' as I like to say :D

Now then, on with the rest of the fleet. The smallest tractor in the fleet is the 1961 Fordson Dexta, bought about 5 years ago from a local farmer who didn't use her much after getting a MF 390 with Tanco loader to take over the heavy work. Her main duties with use are yard scraping, driving a roller mill, moving the creep feeder and going to world record breaking events! Photos below are of her at a local vintage rally and loaded up with 3 Massey 135s and a Ford 4600 to go to Cooley last August.

[james f]

While I'm on tractors I'll include one for the closet Fiat fans out there, a Fiat 55-90 that we had on trial last winter. Not as clean as she looks, there was plenty of painted-over rust . Unfortunately the trial was unsuccessful as the lift lever and spool levers were all seized on to the same shaft so we were unable to operate the beet chopper on the back. A bit of a pocket rocket but very bouncy on the road.

[james f]

Not a tractor but indispensible at a certain time of the year is the 1976? New Holland 1530 combine. Bought about 8 years ago from a farmer and small-scale contractor via a dealer in absolute perfect condition, looked after in every possible way. He was even able to give us the operators manual and engine parts book, and an operators manual for the Claas 44 baler as well! Since we have owned her she has had a couple of new tyres, an engine swap, a drum bearing and a new concave, and is still well capable of cutting about 100 acres of barley each year.

Included in this photo is Patch the dog, the Claas 46 and a nice inside view of the shed that I am basing my model shed on

[pudding]

the 55-90 was a rare machine, especially in 2wd

looks like it just needed a loving home

[nashmach]

She is a bit of a wreck alright James lost of rust around the doors and bonnet - a typical Roche special with the paint though :D

You didn't say those comments about the 44 when you knew she had gone

[luke p]

like the dog in the last pic

[nashmach]

They are 2 nice shots of the combine especially looking over Sliabh Coillte - they are harvest 07 right

[james f]

Finally, the two jeeps we use to get around to all the different bits of land and haul the Ifor Williams cattle box and home-made four-wheel trailer. The red one is a short-wheelbase 1994 Isuzu Trooper with over 220,000 miles on the clock, and the black one is a 1995 long-wheelbase Isuzu Bighorn jap import that we bought before christmas with only 20,000 km on the (metric) clock.

That's all our fleet anyway, some of the other machinery can be seen in the backgrounds, any questions just ask, I'll be happy to discuss the pros and cons of any of the stuff.

[luke p]

where do you live

[james f]

the 55-90 was a rare machine, especially in 2wd

looks like it just needed a loving home

Well it wasn't getting one from us anyway Pud. Honestly, I don't know what we were thinking bringing a Fiat around the place anyway :D

where do you live

South east of Ireland