Fastrac 4220 towing ability

[Romeogolf]

Following my thread regarding the disappointing performance of my Claas arion 650 when towing recently, I come to you again with a question for fastrac owners.
Regularly towing near the maximum legal weight is becoming the norm more and more, and the fastrac appeals to me for many other reasons such as operator comfort and proper brakes, abs etc.
Before I go through the demo process, I wondered if others found themselves to be impressed with the fastrac’s ability to haul 18T behind it and not feel underpowered. It should be the ideal machine, but with some saying you want 250hp to be on top of the job, I am now interested to see if real life experience says otherwise.
Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[H200GT]

No idea on fastrac’s, but as a general rule I always think about 10hp/t is required to be on top of a haulage job.

 

[Agriimark]

On the road the 4220 is a dream with handling, speed and comfort, but in a wet field they do tend to get stuck easier than say a jd

 

[puntabrava]

On the road the 4220 is a dream with handling, speed and comfort, but in a wet field they do tend to get stuck easier than say a jd

Plus your contemporaries laughter as they drive past you broken down on the roadside

 

[Against_the_grain]

No idea on fastrac’s, but as a general rule I always think about 10hp/t is required to be on top of a haulage job.

I think this rule of 10hp/t is outdated. May of been fine pulling loads at 30kph but not 50kph. Either that or modern hp isn't the same as old hp.
There is no way a 140hp tractor would pull a loaded 12t trailer at 50kph easily. We have 175hp on a 12t grain trailer and it struggles to get to 50kph easily. Need more like 15hp/t. Tractor is a claas arion though so....

 

[daveydiesel1]

I think this rule of 10hp/t is outdated. May of been fine pulling loads at 30kph but not 50kph. Either that or modern hp isn't the same as old hp.
There is no way a 140hp tractor would pull a loaded 12t trailer at 50kph easily. We have 175hp on a 12t grain trailer and it struggles to get to 50kph easily. Need more like 15hp/t. Tractor is a claas arion though so....

Depends on the tractor. A tractor with a dry clutch and manual box will pull better hp to weight ratio but the jcb with vario box fitted will be loosin more power between the engine and the wheels as the vario will sap some power

 

[Thomas Simpson]

4220s are awesome on the road tow a tri axle Stewart to the legal weight limit and it’s good tractor. It’s so well behaved on the road. If you want a laugh watch ollyblogs agricontrac YouTube video and see a 4220 drag a jd250 across the yard 3 times in a row.

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Not many Scanias or Volvos go everywhere at 56mph either! No tractor will drag 18T at 50k everywhere will it. Anything over 150hp will do the task fairly well though as for every hill you climb you need to go back down and there’s time when you’re travelling empty so it’s swings and roundabout.

 

[Agriimark]

They are a nice place to spend the day in, stable and safe on the road and are good in field. The main thing is to ballast them right for the job in hand, only thing id love to see changed is the screen. Very behind the times and dated now.

 

[D14]

Following my thread regarding the disappointing performance of my Claas arion 650 when towing recently, I come to you again with a question for fastrac owners.
Regularly towing near the maximum legal weight is becoming the norm more and more, and the fastrac appeals to me for many other reasons such as operator comfort and proper brakes, abs etc.
Before I go through the demo process, I wondered if others found themselves to be impressed with the fastrac’s ability to haul 18T behind it and not feel underpowered. It should be the ideal machine, but with some saying you want 250hp to be on top of the job, I am now interested to see if real life experience says otherwise.
Any thoughts appreciated.

A contractor we use has 5 or 6 fastracs doing mostly haulage of slurry/silage etc they are mainly 4220 models. The 8330 he bought though as his go to tillage tool but it never delivered so that’s now on haulage mostly as well and he’s a Magnum for the tillage work. The operators love them but he’s just had a new MF 8S on demo and says it’s better than the Fastracs! He was really shocked and the price of a 235hp version is slightly cheaper than a new 4220 and he reckons a better warranty so he’s going to swap his oldest 4220 in for a new MF due in July.

 

[daveydiesel1]

A contractor we use has 5 or 6 fastracs doing mostly haulage of slurry/silage etc they are mainly 4220 models. The 8330 he bought though as his go to tillage tool but it never delivered so that’s now on haulage mostly as well and he’s a Magnum for the tillage work. The operators love them but he’s just had a new MF 8S on demo and says it’s better than the Fastracs! He was really shocked and the price of a 235hp version is slightly cheaper than a new 4220 and he reckons a better warranty so he’s going to swap his oldest 4220 in for a new MF due in July.

These new massey seems to be gettin good reviews which is good as theyv clearly spent big money on r&d gettin them out

 

[H200GT]

I think this rule of 10hp/t is outdated. May of been fine pulling loads at 30kph but not 50kph. Either that or modern hp isn't the same as old hp.
There is no way a 140hp tractor would pull a loaded 12t trailer at 50kph easily. We have 175hp on a 12t grain trailer and it struggles to get to 50kph easily. Need more like 15hp/t. Tractor is a claas arion though so....

Gross weight, 12t trailer and a circa 5t tractor = 170hp to be “on top of it”. But i guess everyone one’s opinion on being on top of the job will be different, 100hp would do the job, 250hp would run away with it, but about 170hp would in my opinion be about right for a 17t gross outfit

 

[jg123]

I think this rule of 10hp/t is outdated. May of been fine pulling loads at 30kph but not 50kph. Either that or modern hp isn't the same as old hp.
There is no way a 140hp tractor would pull a loaded 12t trailer at 50kph easily. We have 175hp on a 12t grain trailer and it struggles to get to 50kph easily. Need more like 15hp/t. Tractor is a claas arion though so....

Gross weight, 12t trailer and a circa 5t tractor = 170hp to be “on top of it”. But i guess everyone one’s opinion on being on top of the job will be different, 100hp would do the job, 250hp would run away with it, but about 170hp would in my opinion be about right for a 17t gross outfit

Bit confused to what people are calling gross weights. A high spec 12t trailer fully loaded will be 16t easily plus a 6.5t tractor is 22.5t and at 10hp per ton that's 225hp. To be pulling legal limit, about 18t plus the tractor and cope with hills 200hp is going to minimum. Ideally 250hp if its steep

 

[snarling bee]

I love our Fastracs. I would just say that if you have any steep hills to go up then you will need to stop at the bottom and put the transmission in low. On the same hill with 50k powerquad JD you might just get up in C1, so you will have dropped 2 ranges in that.

 

[eagleye]

is a tractor doing 50kph with the 18t trailer legal?
I tow 16t trailers with up to 18t in them, but not at 50kph as i dont trust other road users to not do something stupid in front of me.
last year i just missed a person pulling out of a side road across me, i was empty and slowing slightly as i suspected they might do just that. only a few feet clearance.
I was in a fastrac with good brakes all round but it was close.

 

[jg123]

is a tractor doing 50kph with the 18t trailer legal?
I tow 16t trailers with up to 18t in them, but not at 50kph as i dont trust other road users to not do something stupid in front of me.
last year i just missed a person pulling out of a side road across me, i was empty and slowing slightly as i suspected they might do just that. only a few feet clearance.
I was in a fastrac with good brakes all round but it was close.

No 18t in a trailer is illegal

 

[snarling bee]

You are only legal with 18.29 t gross trailer weight, not 18t in the trailer.

 

[jg123]

Unless its been changed recently

 

[eagleye]

is there something about fastracs allowed to tow up to 32t gross train weight, tractor + trailer+ load?

 

[eagleye]

our 2170 is about 7.6t, trailer 6 ton empty, with wheat about 32t gross