This tractor has never been here before, but
has been known to us since day one.
It was bought by a contractor, along with
combines, cultivators, etc, to whole farm contract an estate.
He managed to do one year before the Brussels
'experts' ! decided to change the set aside rules dramatically and
immediately.
As we all know it takes farming a little longer
to react..
Little things like rotation, breeding and
altering stock levels, etc, - the sorts of little details that the politicians
wouldn't notice.
The net result was that a large proportion of
the estate went into set aside, and there was no longer a job for a whole farm
contractor.
I'll bet I can guess what his vote will be
.....
I was asked by a finance company to bid on some
of the gear, and I was outbid on the one year old tractor by an estate up
north.
The tractor remained on the radar because two
local estates up there are clients.
Until we bought it, there had only been two
owners.
Sadly after many hours of relatively trouble
free work, it all went dramatically wrong 'up front' in spring 2013.
The engine went off to an extremely well
qualified workshop (work it out), and cost well in excess of 10K to rebuild.
The engine came back and along with a few other
large tractors on the estate, this one worked the autumn of 2013, and the spring and autumn
of 2014 .
Right at the end of 2014 horror struck again in
axactly the same place up front - number 6.
How odd !
It was out of it's rather limited warranty and
upon visiting the same workshop, more used to dealing with the higher finances of
the oil industry, -
the prognosis came back that a complete new engine was
needed.
So with agriculture not reading from the same financial script as
the oil industry, this meant that the old girl was therefore effectively a
write off.
Thank you folks for selling it to me and giving
me the opportunity to realise something that's been on the cards
since we stopped building the Lioness tractors,
- and hopefully, without me losing a shed load on a project.
This old bird is one of the last of the model
range and wearing the right axles for the job.
The old engine will be rebuilt in due course,
and kept as a spare.
A close and newer rellie of it is now being
totally rebuilt, despite it being obvious upon inspection, that it isn't long
since it was last rebuilt.
Being a fully electronic run engine (which has
it's own problems with matching the non electronic tractor), it gives huge
potential for engine tunings to suit our farming conditions this side of the
pond. We did a few tuning tests last year using a different tractor and found
40% torque rise good from the driver's , and from the tractor components point of
view.
The 40% is to lower the frequency of the
need for full power gear changes.
Initially it will be 500 bhp @ 2100 rpm with
1733 lb/ft @ 1400 rpm - a torque rise of 40%, with incredibly good fuel
consumption figures.
Same sort of power as the Quaddie 500, but
weighing eight tonnes less.
Since it will only be driven by us and it isn't
for sale, I would hope that we know how to treat a geabox with respect.
Later, and with little effort, 525 bhp with
1850 lb/ft - still 40%- is available .
We also have a set of dual 800 x 32s. (and a
ring fence).
Could be intersting. - Better cultivation
timing. - More efficient fuel
usage. - Improve soil structure by having less ground pressure - etc.