Older Fastrac with Loader

[VP Adams ltd]

Is there any point putting loader on a fastrac? I have the opportunity for an older 135 fastrac with low hours and at a decent price (£10k) but could use it to have an loader. Has anyone got or driven one with a loader? What's are they like?

We have specialist loaders for yard & feeding work at home, so essentially it would just be as a back up most of the year. Main role would be general farm PTO work (mainly topping & reseeding grassland) and then loading hay, straw & haylage in the fields away from home. Our JCXB 535 95 is also an older model and is very slow on the road so the speed of the Fastrac is appealing.

Do Fastrac's need a specialist loader? If so are they very expensive?

 

[KB6930]

There's one locally with a loader a 2170 I think and it seems to do what you're on about load in fields and cart home .

The forward reverse shuttle will be you're biggest pain but once used to it I'm sure itll be fine

 

[Chae1]

Don't do it! It will be like torture with that shuttle.

 

[bobk]

Don't do it! It will be like torture with that shuttle.

And the lock .

 

[VP Adams ltd]

..... but what other 2nd hand option is there for the similar money? I even considered a Merlo multi farmer instead (including replacing our JCB 535) but my god they are expensive plus lots of people saying they are very complex and lots to go wrong.

Anyone had an older Fendt Xylon with a loader on it ..... although that would probably been too pricey as well!

 

[Exfarmer]

And is the reverse in the lowest range of the gearbox so going backwards is interminable
That and the shuttle and the lock but otherwise a good tractor, but if you are putting heavy loads behinds it will struggle on the roads, to go faster than a regular tractor if you have any hills

 

[VP Adams ltd]

We haul by lorry so it's only needed to load in the field.

 

[charlie850]

We have a 2140 with a loader on and it’s not that bad as far as loader tractor go
It’s 4ws steer which makes it quite manoeuvrable
They really need a deck weight or some sort of weight on the rear platform if none it’s pulling the suspension up all the time with any sort of weight on loader

 

[VP Adams ltd]

We have a 2140 with a loader on and it’s not that bad as far as loader tractor go
It’s 4ws steer which makes it quite manoeuvrable
They really need a deck weight or some sort of weight on the rear platform if none it’s pulling the suspension up all the time with any sort of weight on loader

OK thanks, that's really good to know. What make / model is the loader? What kind of stuff do you use it for?

 

[TripleSix]

I'd like a loader on a 4ws fastrac.

But you do realise you need to be completely stopped to change direction on the shuttle and they're slow in reverse.

Medium range matches forward and reverse up best.

 

[Matthew Britton]

OK thanks, that's really good to know. What make / model is the loader? What kind of stuff do you use it for?

All the big loader names make one to fit. The main brands for your era tractor would have been Stoll and Hauer I think they are called. If you buy a second hand loader make sure it will fit as I think from memory they had to be a wide job/boom. That might be wrong it was a long while ago that I was looking at them. Lovely comfortable tractor if you can get your head around driving it.

 

[VP Adams ltd]

All the big loader names make one to fit. The main brands for your era tractor would have been Stoll and Hauer I think they are called. If you buy a second hand loader make sure it will fit as I think from memory they had to be a wide job/boom. That might be wrong it was a long while ago that I was looking at them. Lovely comfortable tractor if you can get your head around driving it.

Thanks, that's very useful info !!

 

[CPF]

I run fastracs with front loaders made by Stroll ,We would put on at 6000 hours on them and Sale the tractor .,Loader would go back on the new tractor .for loader work took a little bit getting used to made them rock and roll , the tractor a little bit ,but the suspension took it ok ,would in time squash the front springs on the axle , put same weight on the load tray .The only thing we found out was not to put the bucket on the ground and pull back This would pull the tie bars out, I was one of the 1st to start putting loads on fastracs did a lot of R&D research within manufacture , Once you get used to it you can make it dance !!

 

[VP Adams ltd]

I run fastracs with front loaders made by Stroll ,We would put on at 6000 hours on them and Sale the tractor .,Loader would go back on the new tractor .for loader work took a little bit getting used to made them rock and roll , the tractor a little bit ,but the suspension took it ok ,would in time squash the front springs on the axle , put same weight on the load tray .The only thing we found out was not to put the bucket on the ground and pull back This would pull the tie bars out, I was one of the 1st to start putting loads on fastracs did a lot of R&D research within manufacture , Once you get used to it you can make it dance !!

Great that sounds much more positive, what kind of weight will the loader take comfortably? To be clear do you use a deck weight rather than on the 3 point linkage? How stable are they in the field? We currently use a Kramer 280 to load in the field, so the JCB 535 can unload & stack at home but ...... whilst the Kramer is great in the yard, mucking out, feeding etc ......but put two square straw bales on the front out in the field and it's a bit 'brown trouser ish' everytime you hit a combine wheel rut in the field.

 

[Hilly]

I’d love to find a half decent loader for one of my 3185s they make good loader for bales in fields

 

[Matthew Britton]

I’d love to find a half decent loader for one of my 3185s they make good loader for bales in fields

They do come up from time to time. keep looking.

 

[CPF]

Cannot remember what Lift capacity ,the model was f51 , you got inTouch with lynx -engineering .co.uk probably help you with technical information . We would just put wafer weights on Weight Deck never used anything on the link arms as we always wanted to use them ,or PTO use .you can get weights go down the side between the deck and the wheel But we kept our weight to minimum as possible for road use didn’t want carry unnecessary weight . Just found an old photo

 

[Hesstondriver]

we put a loader on a 3220, generally for clearing black poly up from strawed carrots or clear from early carrots , it was rather ungainly . and certainly dipped its nose picking anything heavy up. but still made a two person job in to a one man operation

(this was me getting heavy handed with some black patches)

 

[Matthew Britton]

I may be wrong but I think on the smaller Fastrac you would need the F31/F35. Just over 2 tonne capacity if my memory serves.

 

[VP Adams ltd]

Great guys thanks .... Here is another probably stupid question but .... do all Fastrac's have air brakes? We run an artic & a drag unit, so it would be interesting to be able to use cheap commercial trailers on the farm (I know that in UK there is a whole debate over using Fastrac's on the road, but that's no what we would use them for). I guess my questions is are there specific models that do or don't have air? I'm probably only looking at the older ones (125,135, 145 or 155).