New Holland and Massey Ferguson have both revealed tailor-made variants of certain mainline tractors.

It’s a move that indicates the increasingly varied and specialised workload that agricultural machines are being asked to do.

New Holland

With a view to catering for soft fruit and vegetable growers, New Holland’s high-clearance TDD tractor boasts 67cm (26in) of space below the drawbar.

That extra 30cm (12in) of crop clearance, compared with a standard model, is achieved by rotating the rear axle final drives and replacing the front axle.

Four equal-sized wheels are fitted, which necessitates a change in the four-wheel drive gear ratios. As standard, the tractor is supplied with 38in tyres but, should even more clearance be required, 42in rubber can be fitted with the wheels at 80in centres to span double fruit crop rows.

Although the TDD range is made up of three models from 80hp to 94hp, only the largest TD95D is available as the high-clearance variant.

NH TD95D HIGH CLEAR
Power 94hp Engine 3.9-litre NH 4-cyl turbo Transmission 12F x 12R (20F x 12R creeper option) Price £25,209 (on 38in wheels)

Massey Ferguson

On the Massey front, things are angled more towards the amenity operator.

The company is evaluating the potential for a high visibility panoramic cab for its 6400 and 7400-series tractors in the UK and Ireland.

On one side of the cab, the B-pillar – which the door usually hinges on – is removed, along with the door itself. It is replaced by a one-piece pillar-less window made of 8mm thick scratch-resistant polycarbonate material.

This is said to give unobstructed 140° views to side-mounted hedge and verge-trimming equipment.

The panoramic cab option has been available in continental Europe for a number of years and has apparently proved very popular with contractors undertaking roadside maintenance operations.

But because of its European bias, the one-piece window is only available on the right-hand side of the cab. MF is undertaking market research to find out if there is significant demand for a left-hand option.

WRECKERS’ YARD
* Reckon you are accident prone? You’ll feel better about your machinery mishaps once you visit the Wreckers’ Yard section of our website – www.fwi.co.uk/wreckers. If you have caught any acts worthy of the Wreckers’ Yard on camera, email the pictures and a short explanation to fwmachinery@rbi.co.uk or send them to the address at the front of the magazine.