Zetor Major 80 Anyone got one?

Hi

Smallholder here but potentially about to get bigger as I'm hoping to buy another 30 acres.

Will now need a 'real tractor' rather than my little compact. Will get most use topping grass and I have some fairly steep ground. I don't really need a loader

Don't want to buy a load of trouble but looking at a 2015 Zetor Major 80 4WD

Anyone using one on steep ground? I believe that it is a lighter tractor than the Proxima. Anything particularly to look out for on a SH one?

Thanks
 

Fendtbro

Member
Ones round here don’t seem to be too well liked. Lifts and brakes seem to have a Mind of their own. Unless they have improved a lot.. not a desperately stable tractor and not going to be an appreciating asset. A decent order jd 50 series would be my choice..
 

zetnige

Member
Location
Darlington
Good afternoon,
The Zetor Major accounts for 30% of our sales year in year out , really reliable tractor, straight forward and simple to use ,
If you have any questions don't hesitate to message me back ,
Best regards
 

Classichay

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
The moon
buy a decent second hand tractor don't buy a zetor, your going to be up for a battle for parts which you cant get after market, if it was my money id be looking at something like a MF 6290- possibly one of the best tractors around the same for the JD 6400 series, I think they're great machines, i opted for a Deutz after a falling out with an M series kubota, Im finding deutz parts just as expensive on certain items, A lot can be said for going mainstream sometimes but the fall back is the main stealer service costs if you cant do it yourself.
 

zetnige

Member
Location
Darlington
So Zetor is not a decent tractor despite 75 years of production, still privately owned and having the most reasonable running costs of any tractor on the market 🤔
I rest my case !!!
Beware of jumping in with Premium brands they are no linger interested in the family outfits as we are , and with a healthy parts inventory can not accept derogatory remarks on this medium!!!
 

Classichay

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
The moon
So Zetor is not a decent tractor despite 75 years of production, still privately owned and having the most reasonable running costs of any tractor on the market 🤔
I rest my case !!!
Beware of jumping in with Premium brands they are no linger interested in the family outfits as we are , and with a healthy parts inventory can not accept derogatory remarks on this medium!!!
spoken like a true salesman, your biased.
 
Our local JD dealer has always sold Zetors. Still a steady flow of new ones going out but maybe less than they were and I haven't had either. A lot of very steep ground here and I wouldn't go too light. 4 1/2 to 5 ton tractor seems best compromise. Heavier than that and gravity starts being your enemy
 

Thomas5060

Member
Livestock Farmer
So Zetor is not a decent tractor despite 75 years of production, still privately owned and having the most reasonable running costs of any tractor on the market 🤔
I rest my case !!!
Beware of jumping in with Premium brands they are no linger interested in the family outfits as we are , and with a healthy parts inventory can not accept derogatory remarks on this medium!!!
You say that they are a decent tractor but then you say not to buy a premium brand? Are you saying Zetor aren’t a premium brand, or are they just ok?
Before I bought JD I looked at Zetors, not bad tractors but about £20k overpriced for what they are tbh
 

Llanman

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Sir Drefaldwyn
Zetor 7540 here about 25years old now (so a good bit older than the major series) used almost every day especially winter on the yard scraper and frontend loader and 5ft shear grab as a backup for the telehandler, so all I can say that its a very basic simple tractor without any complicated electronics that has given us very little problems over the years.
And so far the few things that have failed we have been able to fix ourselves which most farmers could if they are fairly handy with a spanner and hammer no laptop required.
As for stability I wouldn't think they should be any less stable than any other similar sized machine, it might not be worth much but I wold not be surprised if its not worth more than we paid for it second-hand 20 years ago.
So if the major 80 is something similar I would say it should be ideal for the work you intend to use it for.
 

tomg

Member
Location
York
buy a decent second hand tractor don't buy a zetor, your going to be up for a battle for parts which you cant get after market, if it was my money id be looking at something like a MF 6290- possibly one of the best tractors around the same for the JD 6400 series, I think they're great machines, i opted for a Deutz after a falling out with an M series kubota, Im finding deutz parts just as expensive on certain items, A lot can be said for going mainstream sometimes but the fall back is the main stealer service costs if you cant do it yourself.
We've never had a problem with getting parts, never looked for after market parts as we've always found parts are reasonably priced from our dealer.
We also have a Class Axos and the Zetor is cheaper to service from the main dealers.
 

Extreme Optimist

Member
Livestock Farmer
2013 Zetor Forterra 130 here. Great tractor and by far the cheapest running costs of any tractor I have had in 35 years. It pulls like train and is reliable. Parts and servicing very reasonable and mostly, it is basic enough for us to look after ourselves. Admittedly, you probably wouldn't want to spend 18 hours a day in it regularly, but it does what it does very well. I bought it 4 years ago for £21k and it is probably worth more than that now
 

jd6820

Moderator
Arable Farmer
Thought I'd offer some input, both from a driver's and mechanics perspective. My neighbour owns a Zetor Major 80, it's a good basic tractor. No frills or fancy features very much what you see is what you get. I feel the interior is robust but very minimalist, the engine is responsive and quite fuel efficient, the hydraulics do leave a little to be desired. They do the job but quite slow by modern standards I think, but maybe they have purchased the base model? The linkage is probably built based on the tractor frame size which I would say is light/medium duty. I'm thinking a Proxima would be more suited to heavy draft work. The package I feel is ideal for someone after a basic no nonsense tractor that does its job and offers very good to excellent reliability. But not a tractor I'd personally would want to spend too many 10hr days in, not a fault of the tractor just the spec level that can be achieved on this frame/price bracket of tractor. I'm spoilt running a 165hp Deere with full suspension and a well spec'd cabin, so not really a fair comparison but I want to give an honest review. There's absolutely nowt up with the Major 80, I'd happily have one as a second tractor or a yard machine, but wouldn't suit being my main tractor for size/comfort reasons only. But the OP would find it more than capable for their needs. As for stability, can't comment really as I haven't found the need to try it on a steep hill.

From a mechanics perspective, parts are easy to obtain for the Major 80, they are also very reasonably priced. I'm fairly certain they haven't needed anything bar self inflicted parts. Mirrors and bodywork, the only warranty issue was savage linkage control which I believe is better but not totally cured and requires feathering with a heavy implement. For most applications you wouldn't find it an issue but we regularly attach it to our tedder which is fully mounted and at the limit of the machine lift wise. Lowering it can be a little twitchy. On the whole mechanically quite robust and simple, I've run it on my own dynamometer and it was 80hp on the shaft so minimal losses through the transmission and a lively engine. Servicing is easy and straight forwards. What more could a smallholder want?

Tried to be as constructive as I can with a review of all the features I can think of. Both good and bad. To summarise, am I going to trade in my JD? No, but would I consider a Zetor Major 80 for the OP's job? Yes no problem, it's going to cost a lot less to buy and probably less to run too!
 

IOW91

Member
Livestock Farmer
Zetor 7540 here about 25years old now (so a good bit older than the major series) used almost every day especially winter on the yard scraper and frontend loader and 5ft shear grab as a backup for the telehandler, so all I can say that its a very basic simple tractor without any complicated electronics that has given us very little problems over the years.
And so far the few things that have failed we have been able to fix ourselves which most farmers could if they are fairly handy with a spanner and hammer no laptop required.
As for stability I wouldn't think they should be any less stable than any other similar sized machine, it might not be worth much but I wold not be surprised if its not worth more than we paid for it second-hand 20 years ago.
So if the major 80 is something similar I would say it should be ideal for the work you intend to use it for.
We had a zetor 7540 (bought new in 1997) ran it for 9 years. Good solid tractor, and for 70hp was a decent size if I remember correctly. Certainly not a lightweight machine which made It a good loader tractor.
 

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