Massey Ferguson takes on broadacre beasts with all-new MF 8S Series
Think muscle cars and you’d be forgiven for thinking American coupes, but an iconic tractor brand shows in The Weekly Times’s latest issue of Crop Gear magazine that there are horses for courses.
A comfortable, revitalised game-changer designed to take on the broadacre beasts. That’s the mantra for Massey Ferguson’s new high horsepower tractor.
Massey took the covers off its all-new MF 8S Series tractor in July, which was revealed in a global digital launch, to muscle in on the row-crop tractor market.
The Agco brand’s new high-horsepower machine introduces striking neo-retro styling, a unique cab/engine installation concept, enhanced smart-farming capabilities, uprated capacities and other advances.
Agco says the 8 Series marks a new era for the brand after extensive customer consultations and a gruelling seven-year global test program.
“We won’t have any first-hand experience of it, but the product itself was tested very secretly for a long, long time,” said John Horan, Agco’s product manager for Massey Ferguson high horsepower tractors.
“It opens up, especially for Australia, a lot of that higher horsepower, row-crop tractor market that we are really looking forward to getting more market share from.
“This is something Massey really wanted to revitalise with our products. We need to get back into high horsepower, bigger broadacre and row crop tractors.
“So, this is a real huge direction change for Massey Ferguson. We were at one stage the benchmark for utility tractors with our 5700 S and our 7600 series and lower control joystick.
“This is a refocus of our product of not only being good at the lower tracked utility tractor, but also a broadacre row-crop machine.”
The 205hp-265hp machine will replace the long-wheelbase versions of the MF 7700 S (150hp-280hp) and slot in below the top-dog MF 8700 S (300hp-370hp) when it arrives in Australia next year, giving Massey Ferguson added clout in the high-horsepower segment.
While the 7720S, 7722S, 7724S and 7726S are facing retirement, the four models below these – 7716S to 7719S – will remain.
The 8S model numbers have also been changed to denote engine horsepower, making them easier to identify.
The 8 stands for the Series, the S stands for the specification level and the last three digits are the maximum power.
They include the 8S.205 (205hp), 8S.225 (225hp), 8S.245 (245hp) and 8S.265 (265hp), all built on a 3.05m wheelbase, all powered by Agco’s latest generation 7.4-litre turbodiesel six-cylinder engine and all offering an additional 20hp boost.
Massey said it started with a blank canvas when designing the 8S, giving it a chance to address the old tractors’ major shortcomings – in particular, the six-pillar cabin that had barely changed since it first appeared on the 6100 series in the late ’90s.
The Power Control shuttle lever is the only cab fitting to have made the jump from the 7700s to the 8S.
The front axle suspension system is the only major hardware component carried over from the outgoing models.
“This completely new design delivers the next level of straightforward and dependable tractors that operators asked for,” John said.
“They told us they need a tractor that is comfortable, with unrivalled visibility, efficient, easy to use and smart.”
The new machine’s cab/engine installation debuts a unique design called Protect-U that is claimed to completely insulate the cab from noise, heat and vibrations and make the 8S one of the quietest tractors in the market; cab noise has been slashed to just 68dBa.
By comparison, John Deere’s whisper-quiet 6215R comes in at 71dBa.
Massey Ferguson is also making a big deal about the cab’s visibility, comfort, ergonomics and smart-farming connectivity, with the brand’s new Datatronic 5 touch-screen display and MF Connect telemetry system to be standard across the range.
With 6.6m² glass area, it offers a light and airy workplace with more space and visibility. The dashboard has been replaced with the new digital MF vDisplay terminal fitted to the right pillar, which leaves just the steering wheel and Power Control lever in front of the driver, providing exceptional forward visibility.
The tractors will be offered in two spec levels, Efficient and Exclusive, with the latter providing two electronic joysticks carrying three programmable buttons and five selectable hydraulic valve switches.
“We’ve never offered an Exclusive in Australia in the past, and this will be something new for the Australian Massey Ferguson line-up,” John said.
An updated Datatronic 5 monitor, which it shares with sister brand Valtra, houses machine settings and Isobus displays, as well as MF Guide software and the ability to run rate and section control on implements.
Massey has been spruiking its new Dyna E-Power dual clutch transmission, which it says has the feeling of a CVT and the efficiency of a directly mechanically driven transmission.
Alternatively, the new Dyna 7 Semi-Powershift offers 28 forward and reverse speeds.
The transmission was developed by specialists GIMA, a 50-50 joint venture between Claas and Massey Ferguson tractors which has a factory on the Massey Ferguson Beauvais site in France (see breakout).
“GIMA has, for a long time, been evolving the Dyna 4 and Dyna 6 transmission – the very successful powershifts we had for a long time,” John said. “Long-term it was to develop and revitalise that transmission and evolve it into what we have today with the new Dyna 7 and the E-Power that is coming.
“There will be two new transmissions – the Dyna 7 is the current concept of the Dyna 6 or the 4, but with seven power shifts with a four-speed range box.”
It also has a more evolved speed-matching function where it automatically selects the correct gear when shifting up or shifting down.
Massey claims this is 26 per cent more efficient than a Dyna 6, with the 53kmh top speed coming at 1500rpm and 40kmh at just 1200rpm. It also claims a 10 per cent improved fuel economy.
“The fact that it can do with two ranges without having to clutch and have torque drive all the time to the transmission, I think, will be a bit of a gamechanger when it comes to powershift transmissions,” John said.
The transmission tweak allows operators to set desired cruise speeds, whereas previously, it was only possible to set a maximum gear and engine rpm for the tractor to target.
“In the past we had a semi-powershift transmission that uses a clutch to change ranges,” John said.
“That was robotic and better than most of the competition at the time, but it needed to be evolved. We needed to have something to reach the levels of efficiency that the E-Power transmission can provide us.
“The E-Power gives us a dual clutch on our range box. So, it’s still the same concept of transmission with seven-speed powershift, but now there’s no loss of torque changing between any gear.”
A new rear axle with a choice of flanged, short or long-bar axles, a 10,000kg three-point linkage capacity — up by 400kg on the 7700s, and optional front arms that can hoist 4,800kg — and 150L/min or optional 205L/min hydraulics are also part of the package, making the new tractor well suited to larger, wider implements and machines.
“The oil flow is phenomenal,” John said. “There’s an ‘eco’ hydraulic flow now where you can get maximum pump flow at just 1500rpm, so operators using bigger air-seeders, and stuff like that, they have a tractor that can run at lower rpm but can still deliver the oil flow and everything else to control implements.
“To comply with that, our engine has been built to deliver that torque at low rpm as well.
“We’re not having to compromise in any way – you can still deliver the great torque, you can still deliver the hydraulic flow from the pump. All you’re doing is burning less fuel and having a more reliable tractor, less noise and less vibration in the cabin.
“It’s all about comfort – it’s a big focus in this tractor.”
The 8S models have a wheelbase of 3.05m, which is bigger than other 250hp tractors on the market, with Deere’s 6250R running a smaller 2.9m frame and New Holland’s T7.270 smaller again, at 2.88m.
However, Massey says this does not affect the 8S’s turning circle, which is slated at 11.4m.
The 8S has yet to be put through its paces on Aussie soil, and Agco will be trialling a model here to tweak it accordingly before it arrives next year.
Pricing for the MF 8S Series will be determined closer to its launch here.
JOINT VENTURE A SMOOTH RIDE
The MF 8S Series’ transmission was built by ransmissions and axles specialist GIMA, which is a 50-50 joint venture between Massey Ferguson and Claas that designs and builds.
The French company designs and builds all of Agco’s global series and powershift transmissions from the MF 4700 to the new MF 8S.
It also builds the axles for the Challenger MT 900 4WD tractors, another Agco brand.
It was created in 1994, and operates on Massey Ferguson’s Beauvais plant, 75km north from Paris, which covers 25ha, of which 10ha are buildings and half is occupied by GIMA.
The original partnership was between Massey Ferguson, before its integration into the Agco Group, and Renault Agriculture, which became Claas in 2004.
About 25,000 transmissions are produced annually with more than 400,000 tractors around the world now fitted with one.
GIMA designs all of the transmissions it produces and offers many hydraulic and mechanical options, including a wide variety semi-powershift axles and gearboxes, with 16 or 24 forward and reverse gears, with torque reverser.
The range extends over a power range from 55hp to 620hp.
MORE MACHINERY
MASSEY FERGUSON 8S TRACTOR UNVEILED IN WORLDWIDE DIGITAL LAUNCH
How to prevent costly harvest season fires
With more than 1000 combine harvesters catching fire in Australia every year, the danger for farmers is real. But there are ways to prevent a disaster this harvest season.
New tanks for Morris 9 Series air seeder carts
McIntosh Distribution says new tanks and upgrades to its popular Morris 9 Series air seeder cart range will help growers save money.