Want to know more about Tractors!

[syssol]

Dear Fellow Members,

I have tremendous fascinations towards TRACTORS, but unfortunately my knowledge regarding the Tractors is a big zero, so i request you guys to provide me details such as price, mileage & maintenance of TRACTORS. And I will be thankful if somebody kindly post a few photographs of the Vehicles.

[Rudra Sen]

Don't think you'll get much information from this board. Check out:
http://www.masseyferguson.com/
http://www.deere.com/en_US/deerecom/usa_canada.html
http://www.tafe.com/

[maddy42]

Hi Sysol
Well strange to find fans of tractors here. I infact learnt driving on a tractor and its awesome experience.
Two brands which i can suggest are Masse ferguson and Mahindra.
In india mahindra is one leading brand and it al l depends on which pocket of the country u come from. Their website will show u a massive range of it but lots of them are meant for exports.
Maintenance depends on the usage but regular maintenance lik oil check is required and also if you use it for ploughin wet fields you got to get an entire haulup of brakes and the engine as the puddle gets into the brakes and spoils the liner.
Some hot selling breands are the sarpanch of mahindra which they promise will give you 8-10kpl.
HMT used to make good tracs but in my area the demand for them has gone down.
Top speed is arnd 20-22 km but yo will have a bumpy ride at such speeds and also the trac will sound real loud...
will post more details soon

[deepaktpatil]

Originally Posted by syssol

Dear Fellow Members,

I have tremendous fascinations towards TRACTORS, but unfortunately my knowledge regarding the Tractors is a big zero, so i request you guys to provide me details such as price, mileage & maintenance of TRACTORS. And I will be thankful if somebody kindly post a few photographs of the Vehicles.

Wow somebody likes tractors.

I come from Sangli district of Maharashtra (currently in Bangalore in diagonally opposite field of software) and I have learnt driving on a tractor (still own this 1996 Massey Fergusson back in my place), its a good vehicle to learn driving a 4 wheeler as you can see where the front wheels are going. Only problem was of standing on the clutch so that gear could be shifted.

You will find lot of sub 75 HP (approx) ones in India. Current big names in this field are Massey-Fergusson (35 HP, read TAFE, yeah same Skoda guys), Mahindra's (40-55 HP ), HMTs(70HP), Sonalika (50-70 HP), Ford (60 HP, dont know whom they have tied up with). The lower HP (35-45) ones are generally used for farming needs and can carry a single trolley but not suited for multi trolley transportation. The mid range (considering Indian scenario) of 45-60 HP are multipurpose and are seen doing both farming and transportation. The 70 HP ones are generally used for transportation and can be used for heavy duty farming needs like deep ploughing etc. These things do good lot of things and its amazing to see how they can be used. Once one of the front tyres of our tractor got punctured and I was wondering what to do. Our driver, pushed this vehicle over a small stone so that the punctured wheel was resting over the stone. This way he was able to get the punctured wheel at a higher position compared to the other one. Promptly he found a small flat stone and inserted it into the place where the front suspension was hinged and gently pushed the tractor forward. Result, punctured wheel is hanging in the air and tractor is supported by the remaining 3 wheels, we chug along at slower speed to our village and fix the flat.

Tractors have innocent looking ideas built into them so that they are more rugged for example, rear tires have water pumped into it so that the shaking is reduced and also in case of puncture you get ample time to goto nearest shop as water delays release of air from the hole. You can separate the rear brakes (tractors generally don't have front brakes) so that you can independently break the rear wheels, this enables the tractor to do a U-turn in relatively small space. Independent rear breaking is generally used while maneuvering in tighter spaces (especially during ploughing) and while driving through slippery surfaces (manual or human intervened traction control if you allow me to call it).


I have seen huge tractors on my visit outside India which are really monstrous, something like 6 feet front and 8 feet rear tyres. Some of these had four 8 feet tyres on the rear side. Indian ones are really puny as compared to those. We have a long time to go before we see these things in India.

[adityamunshi]

Approximately, how much does a tractor cost?

[megger]

Tractor query on a car forum only reminds me of Lambrghini history, how the tractor manufacturer was insulted by Enzo Ferrari and came up with a stunner Lambhorgini!

Read on History of Lamborghini

So better respond respectfully to this query or you'll find Team-tractor-bhp on the web soon

[rjstyles69]

Interesting topic I must say .

No mention of John Deere ? I think they too sell here.

[deepaktpatil]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Interesting topic I must say .

No mention of John Deere ? I think they too sell here.

Not sure about that, had heard sometime before that they would start selling in India.

They have a newly started technology development office in Pune though.

[tsk1979]

I don't know much, except for the fact that they are entertaining to drive.
Have driven a Swaraj(forget the model) extensively, ploughed fields with it, and even managed to get it bogged down.
Had to go the wooden plank route to get it out.
When I was in college, used to go to the farmhouse a lot, so lot of tractor driving, off roading, river fording etc.,
Will do that some time again.

Best is to drive in the fast lane of the highway in the opposite direction at night with lights off. The look of the car drivers face who's doing 100 is priceless... JUST KIDDING heh heh

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by deepaktpatil

Not sure about that, had heard sometime before that they would start selling in India.

They have a newly started technology development office in Pune though.

They do sell in India. Those green colored tractors with a yellow stripe running across the engine bay and John Deere written on both sides are pretty easy to identify.

When I was in L&T they had a 50:50 JV with John Deere and manufactured these tractors. Later John Deere took control of the stake in this company and L&T moved out of it.

EDIT: By the way you will be interested to know that our very own Mahindra sells a very successful range of tractors in USA. They are also getting to be pretty popular there in the farm sector. And they have some cool looking tractors with good specs. But they are primarily into lightweight tractors, though I think their full cab tractor is really something! Here is th website you may find interesting - Mahindra Tractor - Compact tractors, utility tractors, farm tractors, ag tractors, attachments, implements & farm equipment - all built tough!

[gopz]

@syssol: My dad has a tractor spare parts shop on JC road. He has been into this business for more than 30 years...let me know if you need any help from him...I think he has the manuals and engine blow up parts manual with details for almost all the models from Massey Fergusson, Mahindra, Internatinal B275 etc..you can xerox them if you want...

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by Zappo

They do sell in India. Those green colored tractors with a yellow stripe running across the engine bay and John Deere written on both sides are pretty easy to identify.

When I was in L&T they had a 50:50 JV with John Deere and manufactured these tractors. Later John Deere took control of the stake in this company and L&T moved out of it.

Spot on Zapster.

John Deere has being selling since a long time - about 8 years now here. We do supply to them too. They have recently started manufacturing lower HP tractors ie 25 and 35 HP ones - else they were only manufacturing the higher powered ones. They still do not have a major market in India but I have heard that Potato King in Punjab has John Deere tractors only and he is the biggest customer. Not sure but 500 + tractors ( is that correct ?).

The major production of John Deere is export mainly to the USA and Turkey. And the manufacture 80-100 tractors per shift.

More information here John Deere India

[greatmana2000]

Mahindra does not manufacture tractors anymore . sold its business to TAFE.
Interestingly most of the engine blocks of mahindra tractors were made by TAFE.

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by greatmana2000

Mahindra does not manufacture tractors anymore . sold its business to TAFE.
Interestingly most of the engine blocks of mahindra tractors were made by TAFE.

Is it? Sometime back there was a brand called International, which later became M&M. I thought it was a profitable division.

Driving tractor was real fun-best in deep mud with those steel wheels splashing mud everywhere.

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by greatmana2000

Mahindra does not manufacture tractors anymore . sold its business to TAFE.
Interestingly most of the engine blocks of mahindra tractors were made by TAFE.

Not true. Mahindra is India's largest and the world's fifth largest tractor maker. It recently acquired Swaraj Tractors too.

It was Eicher that sold off its tractor division to TAFE.

Incidently, Eicher was probably India's first automaker to buy a company in Europe. Around 1980, it purchased its own parent company based in Germany that had become sick. That's how the company became the owner of the "EICHER" brand name. It had been a trade mark licensee till then. And now, the business that gave the company its brand name has been disposed off, without the brand of course!