Challenger MT765C

[ajd132]

I am considering selling my quad track (bigger than we need now we are no till, expensive to run etc) and hiring a challenger 765c from Ian houlgrave. I’ve never used one before, what are they like to drive for the operator? How well do they tug? It’s jobs will be drilling with our 12m sprinter and mole draining with a twin leg (only when conditions are perfect). Any other thoughts on the machine I would be greatful to hear.

 

[T Hectares]

I hired one back in 2014, I much preferred it to the 8360rt's we hired before and after it
It's similar to drive to a Quad in many ways, bit loud, clunky gearbox and rough on the road, the let down for us was the lesser traction and smearing of headlands compared to a Quad.

After 3 years of hiring we bought a 9 year old STX480 that had the tracks and running gear sorted before we bought it, it worked out cheaper than hiring and was reliable over the period we had it, don't think the new ones are as good though??

How much are they to hire now??

 

[ajd132]

Im not going to put cost on a public forum because it’s his business but I will PM you it includes all repairs, breakdowns, services etc also comes with rtk gps kit already installed to link into our system. I don’t really want the burden of owning older stuff repair wise and new stuff is just unjustifiably expensive even on a big area. There is spare machines on back up if something goes wrong and bigger machines available if it gets really wet and I can’t pull the drill. If you get a season like this and it’s not working I believe you don’t pay for hrs you havnt done.

 

[D14]

I am considering selling my quad track (bigger than we need now we are no till, expensive to run etc) and hiring a challenger 765c from Ian houlgrave. I’ve never used one before, what are they like to drive for the operator? How well do they tug? It’s jobs will be drilling with our 12m sprinter and mole draining with a twin leg (only when conditions are perfect). Any other thoughts on the machine I would be greatful to hear.

Surely an 8RX will be better? My friends have had numerous challengers over the years. Generally all been good with few problems. They drink a lot of fuel in comparison to a tractor though. 80-90l/hour is common from what they tell me.

 

[ajd132]

Surely an 8RX will be better? My friends have had numerous challengers over the years. Generally all been good with few problems. They drink a lot of fuel in comparison to a tractor though. 80-90l/hour is common from what they tell me.

8rx will cost circa 130k more over 8 years but it is an option. Fuel isn’t really an issue as we aren’t deep lugging apart from mole draining, it’s just a big wide drill.

 

[ajd132]

Surely an 8RX will be better? My friends have had numerous challengers over the years. Generally all been good with few problems. They drink a lot of fuel in comparison to a tractor though. 80-90l/hour is common from what they tell me.

Just to add the 8rx is perfect, but in the world of subsidy free farming we can afford luxuries

 

[D14]

8rx will cost circa 130k more over 8 years but it is an option. Fuel isn’t really an issue as we aren’t deep lugging apart from mole draining, it’s just a big wide drill.

But does that take into account what the 8RX would be worth after 8 years?

 

[Lewis821]

The 765c I had was plagued with issues from day one to the point it had to be replaced earlier than expected. It was a good lugger, being a cat engine and no ad blue egr parafanali. The gearbox is very clunky, the hydraulics have virtually no draft control, the cab is noisy, the air con is very poor to the point ours had a tap on the hot water system that you turned off to try to increase the cab cooling, the cab fan is very noisy also. It did smear headlands when drilling no matter how you turned it even working in bouts and as soon as it got wet it would just skate around on top. Fuel wise it would use around 55 lts HR but as the tank was so small you'd struggle to get 10hrs in on heavy work, a days drilling just.

 

[ajd132]

But does that take into account what the 8RX would be worth after 8 years?

That would bring it down but it’s also taking into account the vast amount of capital required to own it which could be invested elsewhere

 

[smithy]

We've had a 765A and now on a D. Generally very good tractors; I'm not convinced that they are the tractor for min-till and direct drilling though due to headland scrubbing; you'll have to make your own mind up there. Ian is local to me and will look after you very well, we used to hire one ourselves until we had a bit of a reorganise. What about a used half track, much better traction and no scrubbing, should be able to pick one up for reasonable money now?

 

[ajd132]

We've had a 765A and now on a D. Generally very good tractors; I'm not convinced that they are the tractor for min-till and direct drilling though due to headland scrubbing; you'll have to make your own mind up there. Ian is local to me and will look after you very well, we used to hire one ourselves until we had a bit of a reorganise. What about a used half track, much better traction and no scrubbing, should be able to pick one up for reasonable money now?

Good points, we are on a 12m drill so scrubbing shouldn’t be too bad. I’m really just looking at all options and I like the idea of completely fixing costs especially with newer machinery seemingly being quite unreliable. There is about a million ways to skin this cat but the crawler hire seems like excellent value.

 

[Chae1]

A 724 Fendi easily pulls a 12m drill. Why do you need something so big and heavy? It will destroy your soil all that weight, plus think of all the fuel youll use .

 

[ajd132]

A 724 Fendi easily pulls a 12m drill. Why do you need something so big and heavy? It will destroy your soil all that weight, plus think of all the fuel youll use .

It won’t pull a 12m tine drill drilling wheat trust me I’ve tried! The current quad track uses 5l of fuel/ha and hardly leaves a mark, big tractors only destroy poorly structured soils.

 

[Will7]

I would ask Ian to get his lads to set the tracks at maximum width as this will help hugely with scuffing. I went from a standard 55 to a 755 with the tracks set wide and it made a massive difference. Only ever driven an A or B so cant comment on C. Used to love the crawler concept though and in terms of performance, I often regret selling it, and replacing it with a dualled tractor.

 

[D14]

That would bring it down but it’s also taking into account the vast amount of capital required to own it which could be invested elsewhere

I can see where your coming from but will the hire prices increase inline with the price increases of new and used versions? Surely your hire guy must keep updating his fleet so will he give you a fixed hire price for 8 years?

Or why don't you buy a used one yourself because thats all the hire guy is doing? I've seen 5000 hour versions for £60,000?

 

[Lewis821]

At least with hire when there's an issue your not out of pocket rectifying it, which has to be attractive when running higher houred high horsepower kit. 20k+ for a set of tracks £200 for service exchange idlers the costs soon mount up on a "cheap" crawler

 

[Hereward]

Wheeled tractor far more versatile, lots have switched from tracks to wheeled tractors around here.

Fendt 936 would be a good alternative.

 

[Michael S]

The biggest difference between a Quadtrack and a twin track crawler is that the twin track won't pull the skin off a rice pudding the moment you touch the steering wheel. If your Quadtrack is bought and paid for and you aren't loading it up to the limit why not keep it unless you know it has underlying issues?

 

[deleted user 837354]

I did wonder what is wrong with the Quaddie if it's already on site and a known quantity and pulls the existing gear fine?

 

[ajd132]

I did wonder what is wrong with the Quaddie if it's already on site and a known quantity and pulls the existing gear fine?

Heavy and I’m worried about the reliability of them to be honest after hearing a lot of horror stories. I’m thinking of buy a second hand 936 with a good warrant already on it then just hiring a big crawler by the hour for spring mole draining if I need it. The quad is one trick pony and if I don’t get rid soon it will have to stay for 15 years as will be worth nothing!