Table Of ContentFarm Tractors
Farm
Tractors
The Case Guide to
Tractor Selection) Operation)
Economics and Servicing
Bill Butterworth
LONDON
E. & F. N. Spon
First published 1984 by
E. & F. N. Spon Ltd
11 New Fetter Lone, London EC4P 4EE
©
1984 Case Tractors
Meltham, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK
Typeset in Great Britain by
Keyset Composition, Colchester
ISBN-13: 978-0-4191-3240-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-6486-3
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-6486-3
This title is available in both hardbound and paperback editions. The
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All rights reserved. No part oft his book may be reprinted, or reproduced or
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Butterworth, Bill
Farm tractors.
I. Farm tractors
I. Title II. Case Tractors
629.2'25 TL233
ISBN-13: 978-0-4191-3240-0
Contents
Preface VB
Abbreviations Vlll
1 The UK tractor population
Types of tractor. Tractor-mounted loaders. Diversification.
Conventional tractors. Technical variations.
2 The fanning scene: The statistics of how tractors fit in 9
The land. Cropping. Labour. Tractor numbers. The EEC. The
individualfarm.
3 Matching the tractor to the individual fann 23
Size up the farm. The individualfarm - the individual circumstances.
Ground work. What really happens on the farm. Your production
- your enterprise. The crops on the land. Livestock. Machinery.
Work in the field. Work on the roads. Farm layout. Work in the
buildings. Gather the facts. Your costs. Detailed conclusions.
Labour. Weather. Night light. Individual enterprises. Arable
work. Grassland work. Transport. Building up a specification.
Type oft ractor. Size.
4 The choice: What makes a good tractor? 47
The engine. Transmission. Overlap of gears. Competitive
price for a full specification. A comfortable and functional
cab. Comprehensive hydraulics. Single-lever hydraulics. Lower
link sensing. Good brakes. Versatile PTO. Steering. Rigidframe
design. Selective steering.
5 Tractor numbers and sizes 59
Purchase of a new tractor. Production. Profit motive. Tractor
SIze. Weather. Available work days for cultivation. Power
Farm Tractors
VI
required. Tractor power. Financial considerations. Financial
performance. Acres per hour per £1 invested. Work output per horse
power.
6 Ownership, replacement policy and contractors 80
Securing ownership. Sources off inance. Outright purchase. Bank
loan. Leasing. Other finance. Replacement policy. Contractor
servIces.
7 Operation 91
Knowledge of the machine. Practical details of tractor
operation. The controls. Seat belts. Starting and stopping procedures.
Use of throttles. Brakes. Independent PTO clutch. Clutch. Two-speed
PTO. Differential lock. Transmissions. Synchromesh transmission.
Gear selection. Four-wheel drive. Power-shift transmission. Four-speed
mechanical gear selection. Hydraulics. The Selectamatic ~stem.
Trailed implements. Operating with draft control. Operating with
position control. Lower link sensmg. Operating the linkage.
Operating draft implements. Operating non-draft implements.
External services. Check list - hydraulics operation.
8 Maintenance and care 116
Routine maintenance. Consumables - Fuel. Cold weather. Flash point.
Grease. Oil. Additives. Key component - the PTO shaft. Check lists
Periodic inspections. Adjustments and replacements. Service. Special
conditions. Replacement Before Failure. Repairs after failure.
Service facilities. Layout and choice rif equipment.
9 Professionalism 136
Hidden costs. Knowledge. The Health and Safety Regulations.
List of Agricultural safety leaflets. Further advice. Further
information. Ability. The Agricultural Training Board (ATB).
Training. Staff management skills training. Adult worker training.
Apprenticeship and craft training scheme. Usiful addresses.
I nsurance. The tractor poliq.
Index 147
Preface
Despite the fact that the farmer spends more on machinery than
anything else except the land and despite the fact that he spends more on
tractors than on any other machine, there are few books on the choice
and operation of tractors to fit modern farming conditions.
Most of this book is about farming and how to fit tractors to the
individual situation. Those sections are completely unbiased and Case
are happy to sponsor such a book in the wider interests of sensible, more
productive and safer use of tractors and machinery. Where the
Company's views are expressed it is clearly stated as such. This is mainly
in the area of design detail and then only for the sake of being concise and
brief.
The first part of the book is concerned with relating the needs of the
individual farm to specific details of tractor performance. Later chapters
deal with policy on size, numbers and replacement. This section is a
major development specifically about tractors. It is developed from the
author's work Farm Mechanisationfor Prl!fitwhich deals with machinery in
the wider sense. Later chapters of this book are related to profes
sionalism in operation, maintenance and care.
Case Tractors was formerly known as David Brown Tractors Ltd and
advice in this book referring to Case products can be taken to refer to
David Brown models.
Abbreviations
ADAS Agricultural Development and Advisory Service
ATB Agricultural Training Board
BAGMA British Agricultural and Garden Machinery Association
FLT Fork-lift truck
MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
MHT Materials-handling tractor
MMB Milk Marketing Board
NFU National Farmers Union
NIAE National Institute of Agricultural Engineering
PTO Power take-off
RBF Replacement before failure
UAA Utilized agricultural area
,
The UK tractor
population
As Table 1.1 (a) shows, the UK tractor population is basically two-wheel
drive and under 75 kW (100 hp) but it is on the change. Table l.l(b)
shows the Agricultural Engineers Association figures for tractor sales in
the UK for the years 1979, 1980 and 1981. It is quite clear from these
figures that demand for greater tractor power is increasing and the use of
four-wheel drive becoming more popular.
In 1979, in the 35-75 kW (5(}-100 hp) tractor category, four-wheel
drive tractors accounted for 11.6% ofs ales. In 1980 the figure was 16.7%
and by 1981 it had increased to 21.5%. (The figure for total tractor sales
in 1981 was approximately 26%.) Every indication for 1982 and
onwards showed a likely considerable further increase in this figure
particularly now that every major tractor manufacturer offers a range of
four-wheel drive tractors. We should rapidly approach the level of
four-wheel drive tractor sales in other parts of Europe. In France, for
instance, in 1981 four-wheel drive tractors accounted for approximately
47% of the total tractor market, while in Italy the figure was over 65%.
On the Continent tractor sales have shifted very much towards four
wheel drive mainly of the unequal size wheels - smaller wheels at the
front. The current situation in Europe for four-wheel drive sales is: UK
26%, France 47%, Germany 61 %, Italy 67%. Figures from the Ministry
of Agriculture 1981 census showed very much the same trend.
Comparing two- and four-wheel drive tractors, it shows that 41 800
units in the 60 kW (80 hp) and 80 kW (107 hp) sector were in use in
December 1981 compared with 38 000 in December 1980. In the same
period, the number of tractors in the 80 kW (107 hp) plus sector
2 Farm Tractors
Plate 1 Farming is a way of life. That way depends on labour, depends on
mechanization in general and revolves almost completely round the tractor in
particular.
increased by 1500 units to 9900. The number of tractors in the 25 kW (34
hp) and under 40 kW (54 hp) group fell from 124300 units to 121 399.
This, after taking into account low-horsepower models, suggests that the
national tractor population amounts to 358 900 machines. The census
shows that the number of tracklayers in use in England fell from 12600
to 10 200 between December 1980 and December 1981. But Ministry
analysts say that changes in the wording in some of the questions mean
that certain national figures should be treated with caution.
TYPES OF TRACTOR
There is a population of about 350 000-400 000 tractors in the UK.
Around 95% are of the same basic pattern - the Ferguson system with a
three-point linkage behind a transmission and engine laid out on very
similar lines giving the potential of weight transfer onto the two back
wheels.
