Ford tractors rebranded new holland

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
And yet 27 years later, the 40 series have the niggles sorted and are increasing in desirability and value as the other stuff is too expensive and too complicated.
Yes, they are not alone with bringing new models out that have significant problems to start with, which are sorted out and become really good machines. You might have noticed me pointing at some other brands today. There's more of course.
 

Thomas5060

Member
Livestock Farmer
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Lincsman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
I think they were dual branded as Ford New Holland for a short while. Not sure if it happened when the chassis colour changed, which may have coincided with the change from Carraro to Fiat front axles and the introduction of the 60 series. The solus New Holland tractor brand was introduced in 1996 but Fiat had bought the Ford tractor business a few years earlier just a few months before the launch of the 40 series, which would be in 1991. The tractor business was sold for many reasons but probably partly because Ford knew that that its new 40 series range was being launched too soon and that there would be massive warranty claims on both Dual Power and Electro-Shift transmissions. The same mistake they made decades earlier with Select-o-Speed
I had K reg and L reg 7740 sle's both were no problem, until this thread I thought they were good from new.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
I had K reg and L reg 7740 sle's both were no problem, until this thread I thought they were good from new.
The SL Dual Power had horrendous useability problems and the SLE Electroshift more reliability problems from new. Not sure when they sorted the dual power out but there was something called the 'Quad Mod' for the electroshifts which took maybe two years after first sales to arrive. Many were retro-fitted with the Quad-Mod.
 

Lincsman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
The SL Dual Power had horrendous useability problems and the SLE Electroshift more reliability problems from new. Not sure when they sorted the dual power out but there was something called the 'Quad Mod' for the electroshifts which took maybe two years after first sales to arrive. Many were retro-fitted with the Quad-Mod.
The second one ( L reg) was a quad mod, extra button, but as I said neither had a problem, dealer never saw them after first service, both were here for about 10 years, and approx 6k hours
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
The second one ( L reg) was a quad mod, extra button, but as I said neither had a problem, dealer never saw them after first service, both were here for about 10 years, and approx 6k hours
That just reinforces what I said about the MF6100 series in that some had no problems at all. The quad mod was and probably still is worth a bit more than a pre-quad mod tractor.

Some people think I get this knowledge from Google. Not so. It's all upstairs and will be lost as I get older, if I live long enough.
 

itsalwaysme

Member
Location
Cheshire
I think they were dual branded as Ford New Holland for a short while. Not sure if it happened when the chassis colour changed, which may have coincided with the change from Carraro to Fiat front axles and the introduction of the 60 series. The solus New Holland tractor brand was introduced in 1996 but Fiat had bought the Ford tractor business a few years earlier just a few months before the launch of the 40 series, which would be in 1991. The tractor business was sold for many reasons but probably partly because Ford knew that that its new 40 series range was being launched too soon and that there would be massive warranty claims on both Dual Power and Electro-Shift transmissions. The same mistake they made decades earlier with Select-o-Speed
What happened with Select-o-Speed
 

balerman

Member
Location
N Devon
The 40 series wasn't a disaster at all,there were teething problems,but not much more than normal.The Powerstar engine was probably the best of its generation,and the SLE gearbox is still being fitted nearly 30 years later.An associate of mine had one of the first SLDP tractors,M reg 1994 and yes the wet clutch is harsh but it is untouched after 26 years and 10000hrs,in fact I cant remember anything going wrong with it at all.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
What happened with Select-o-Speed
'Twas a disaster from start to finish. Another product that was launched against the will of its engineers, at the behest of the marketing department, way before its time, when it was far from production ready. It never did become reliable. It was nicknamed the Jerk-O-Matic. Often lost ratios. I think it was a 10 speed full powershift with two reverse and you could flick from any forward speed straight to reverse without jerking through every ratio. This was before electric solenoids and computer control of sequencing and clutch fill, and it had a number of externally adjustable band brakes that held various parts of the internal annulous gears as needed for the ratio selected.
I remember the one I used, which was my neighbours, on the buckrake started off with the full complement of ratios but a couple of years afterwards it was down to two forward and one reverse.

It really did have some clever features, like the quadrant lever control under the steering column with adjustable bi-passable stops so one could flick between desired ratios reliably every time without looking down. The 'inching pedal', instead of a clutch pedal, was a tiny little thing with minimal stroke. It was not meant to be used as a clutch pedal but without it, hitching up to anything was impossible and even with it, it was a death-defying feat.

It, or at least the epicyclic gearsets that it consisted of, were novel at the time and the inventor, whose name escapes me just now, went on to develop John Deere's much more successful full powershift transmissions in the 1960's.
Select-O-Speed was actually developed through the mid 1950's and launched in America first in 1959 and as an option on the first 1000 series in the UK in '63 or '64 I think. The ones with the vented side panels to the bonnet and replaceable element engine oil filters.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
The 40 series wasn't a disaster at all,there were teething problems,but not much more than normal.The Powerstar engine was probably the best of its generation,and the SLE gearbox is still being fitted nearly 30 years later.An associate of mine had one of the first SLDP tractors,M reg 1994 and yes the wet clutch is harsh but it is untouched after 26 years and 10000hrs,in fact I cant remember anything going wrong with it at all.

The range was far from a disaster but the first couple of year's production was in terms of their transmissions. The engines, on the other hand, were bang on and a massive massive improvement on the series 10 or any previous engine Ford made. The whole tractors were a great step forward once they got their act together. As said previously, the actual launch tractors with 12x12 mechanical transmissions were great and no bother at all.
 

itsalwaysme

Member
Location
Cheshire
'Twas a disaster from start to finish. Another product that was launched against the will of its engineers, at the behest of the marketing department, way before its time, when it was far from production ready. It never did become reliable. It was nicknamed the Jerk-O-Matic. Often lost ratios. I think it was a 10 speed full powershift with two reverse and you could flick from any forward speed straight to reverse without jerking through every ratio. This was before electric solenoids and computer control of sequencing and clutch fill, and it had a number of externally adjustable band brakes that held various parts of the internal annulous gears as needed for the ratio selected.
I remember the one I used, which was my neighbours, on the buckrake started off with the full complement of ratios but a couple of years afterwards it was down to two forward and one reverse.

It really did have some clever features, like the quadrant lever control under the steering column with adjustable bi-passable stops so one could flick between desired ratios reliably every time without looking down. The 'inching pedal', instead of a clutch pedal, was a tiny little thing with minimal stroke. It was not meant to be used as a clutch pedal but without it, hitching up to anything was impossible and even with it, it was a death-defying feat.

It, or at least the epicyclic gearsets that it consisted of, were novel at the time and the inventor, whose name escapes me just now, went on to develop John Deere's much more successful full powershift transmissions in the 1960's.
Select-O-Speed was actually developed through the mid 1950's and launched in America first in 1959 and as an option on the first 1000 series in the UK in '63 or '64 I think. The ones with the vented side panels to the bonnet and replaceable element engine oil filters.
I used to do some work for a guy who had a 3000 select o speed, it was probably quite old when he bought it, it was quite jerky if I remember rightly and as you say the inching pedal was used like a clutch. We used it for a couple of years and then it stopped working, can't quite remember if it lost all gears, no one wanted to touch it to repair it, so eventually I stripped it down and found something quite simple, broken spring or something, replaced the spring and new gaskets and surprisingly it all worked again, went on using it for a few more years he put a loader on it and eventually sold it to his small-holder neighbour, it could well still be around. Probably quite advanced for it's time, certainly fairly unusual
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
I used to do some work for a guy who had a 3000 select o speed, it was probably quite old when he bought it, it was quite jerky if I remember rightly and as you say the inching pedal was used like a clutch. We used it for a couple of years and then it stopped working, can't quite remember if it lost all gears, no one wanted to touch it to repair it, so eventually I stripped it down and found something quite simple, broken spring or something, replaced the spring and new gaskets and surprisingly it all worked again, went on using it for a few more years he put a loader on it and eventually sold it to his small-holder neighbour, it could well still be around. Probably quite advanced for it's time, certainly fairly unusual
I met two Zimbabweans on a plane to harare in nov 91 who had been at the 40 series launch in london, they were easy to spot with new holland jackets, bags etc.
Turned out one of them lived next door to my uncle who we were going to visit.
I bought an 8240 sle in 93 which never gave any trouble
Replaced by a 8360 in 97
 

sputnik

Member
1992/93 Ford 40 series were Ford blue with the lower part of the roof being black the rest white In Europe with either 12/12 syncroshift or 16/16 electroshift. The first Dualpower versions of the syncroshift came around Nowember 1993, and a little later the 8340 were turbocharged from factory (125hp instead of 120 hp none turbo) In early 1994 they got the dumpbutton on the shuttle and the whole roof got white aswell. Late 94 models changed the color on the metal under the small frontwindoes and doors from blue to Black. Early 95 the went from Carraro to Fiatagri frontaxles, the chassis got Grey, the Ford oval In the front was gone and replaced with the NH leaf but still Ford on bonnet with the powerstar Sl DP or SLE. In early 96 they got the plastic rear fenders and a increase In liftcapacity. The Ford was now only written small underneath the modelnumbering and the NewHolland name prominent. The 8240 model was dropped during 96, and a few 40 series were made In Terracotta color for Italy (7740 and 8340) the production of the 40 series stopped In 1997 except the 7840 that went In production into 1998
 

sahara

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Somerset
Thanks @Chae1 , 40 series were a little before I joined.
The timeline that @sputnik has written looks pretty comprehensive, I wouldn't know enough to disagree with anything he has written!
I remember what would have been the last of the 7840's going down the line with the 60 series and the TS,'s.
I understood that the newly formed New Holland only had the legal rights to use the Ford name until 2000 and so as it got nearer to that time the Ford name got less prominent and the New Holland name became more prominent
I do remember a lot of open station 2wd 6640(I think) sat about for quite a while. I believe they were headed for Indonesia but there was a lot of unrest in the country at the time, I think the plan was to wait until everything had calmed down (and they were paid for!) before shipping them.
It was always interesting walking down the line, you never knew what you would find, the number of model permutations and individual country specifications meant that most days there was something unusual and interesting going down the line!
 

essexpete

Member
Location
Essex
1992/93 Ford 40 series were Ford blue with the lower part of the roof being black the rest white In Europe with either 12/12 syncroshift or 16/16 electroshift. The first Dualpower versions of the syncroshift came around Nowember 1993, and a little later the 8340 were turbocharged from factory (125hp instead of 120 hp none turbo) In early 1994 they got the dumpbutton on the shuttle and the whole roof got white aswell. Late 94 models changed the color on the metal under the small frontwindoes and doors from blue to Black. Early 95 the went from Carraro to Fiatagri frontaxles, the chassis got Grey, the Ford oval In the front was gone and replaced with the NH leaf but still Ford on bonnet with the powerstar Sl DP or SLE. In early 96 they got the plastic rear fenders and a increase In liftcapacity. The Ford was now only written small underneath the modelnumbering and the NewHolland name prominent. The 8240 model was dropped during 96, and a few 40 series were made In Terracotta color for Italy (7740 and 8340) the production of the 40 series stopped In 1997 except the 7840 that went In production into 1998
Good Post for anoraks!
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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