The chance of ever finding a highly capable off-road vehicle like this downtown or in the burbs is close to zero. What we’ve got here is a spick-and-span Deutz-Fahr 6-series, which I caught at a nearby farm- and garden equipment dealership.
Under the hood of this Giugiaro-design, that’s right, a water cooled Deutz TCD 6.1 L06 diesel engine with a turbocharger and intercooler. Furthermore the tractor is equipped with EGR+DPF+SCR (AdBlue), the works.
An inline-6 engine with 24 valves and 6.1 liter displacement. With its Deutz Common Rail system the engine’s maximum power output in the 6215, the 6-series’ top model, is 212 hp; 226 hp with power boost. The fuel supply pumps are lubricated by the engine oil, not by the diesel fuel (which is normally the case).
The long history of Deutz AG (known as Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG from 1938 to 1997) dates back to 1864, when Eugen Langen and Nicolaus August Otto founded N.A. Otto & Cie, the world’s first engine manufacturer.
Engineer Otto was the first man who built a working four-stroke engine, using a coal gas-air mixture. I’m sure the terms Otto-cycle and Otto-engine sound familiar.
The cab interior of a 6-series TTV, which means it has a ZF continuously variable transmission.
Deutz-Fahr, nowadays an SDF company, was formed when Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG merged its farm equipment brands Deutz and Fahr. Prominently in the middle is a modern interpretation of the globally renowned Deutz logo.
Shot last year, a 1961 Deutz D25 farm tractor with an air cooled 25 hp 2-cylinder diesel engine. Farm tractor and diesel engine, that’s all the D25 and 6215 TTV have in common. Even the typical shade of Deutz-green evolved.
These tractors are always fun to look at. Around here there are a lot of green tractors but all say John Deere down the sides.
You got me curious and I started locating Deutz-Fahr dealers. I’m about 2 to 2.5 hours to the nearest one with only four dealers in the entire state of Missouri (with one each close to Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma state lines).
If I counted correctly, as a comparison I found 56 John Deere dealers within Missouri.
The US website for D-F shows an even larger 7- and 9-series but my favorite is the limited edition “Warrior” painted in black. It’s a 7-series that comes with a leather seat, chrome exhaust, and what appears to be a better warranty.
http://www.deutz-fahr.com/en-us/products/tractors/3812-7250-ttv-warrior
Deutz-Fahr is pretty much a bit player in the US market. The most “famous” they ever got was when they bought out Allis-Chalmers in 1985 and formed Deutz-Allis, continuing to sell a few Allis-Chalmers models in Persian Orange, some overseas-built Deutz models in Spring Green, and a line of new models built by White-New Idea with Deutz engines in either orange or green (like this 9150).
I was about to say something similar, my Dad worked at Allis-Chalmers for years, right up to when they went under. Deutz-Allis was the “tractor side” and everything else became Siemens-Allis (AC made LOTS of different stuff)
Thanks for the link, I didn’t even know that Deutz-Fahr was offered in the US ! That “Warrior” is looking good, Fendt (AGCO Group) did something similar with their “Black Beauty” limited edition. The standard Fendt color is green, a darker shade than John Deere and Deutz-Fahr.
Meanwhile I’ve done some searching. The biggest Deutz-Fahr tractor (ever) is the all-new 11-series. The most powerful version, 440 hp, has a 12.8 liter engine. Machinery like this impresses me more than any car model can -or could- ever do.
Their distribution is better in Australia – or is it? I checked their website, and there’s a dealer in a little town (quarter the size of mine) about half an hour’s drive from me. I knew there was an ag machine workshop there; didn’t realise they were a dealer for anything though. Hmm….
“The chance of ever finding a highly capable off-road vehicle like this downtown or in the burbs is close to zero.” You should go to Ireland at about 5pm and you’ll see plenty of similar vsuch tractors on the road, travelling at anything up to 50mph!
You aren’t kidding, we are dodging those as well as tourbuses that are wider than the lanes constantly…
Yes, I know. Almost all farm tractors are used on public roads too. Not only by farmers, but also in earth moving, hauling construction equipment etc. But only in rural areas and small towns. Usually you don’t see them at the Museumplein in Amsterdam though.
I was surprised at how many tractors hauling wagons through the main road right by our Air Bnb rental in Innsbruck last time we were there. And yes, they can haul. Very unlike in the distant past.
I saw a lot of Deutz buses in Europe.
Deutz only builds engines these days, back to their old core business, so to say. But in KHD’s (Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz) heyday the company also built trucks and buses (Magirus-Deutz), farm machinery and locomotives.
Back then they were famous for their air cooled diesels in pretty much any size you can imagine. Below a 1977 Magirus-Deutz tractor with a V10 air cooled diesel.
Deutz tractors have become quieter lately the switch to liquid cooling must be why, I didnt even know they’d done it for sure I suspected though.
Nice looking tractor, but heaven help you when the electronic hardware or software glitches.
OK, I haven’t a clue as to what this machine is designed for. It looks way more capable than a basic farm tractor. It more resembles the earthmoving equipment I see at construction sites, but it doesn’t seem to have the necessary attachments for that use. And what *is* that black thing out front?
I’m obviously a city boy, don’t see many farm tractors ’round these parts…..
This is a pure farm tractor alright, yet powerful -and fast- enough to do other jobs too, like towing a big dumper trailer (earth moving). The front linkage is used to pick up and attach farm equipment and use it in the field, like the mower below.
It may help to say that this is a European model. Generally speaking, EU farms are smaller but have a lot of different tasks to do, so the farmer needs a single tractor that can do everything.
The yellow plastic shroud is the front PTO shield, and ahead of it is a front three-point hitch (currently holding what appears to be a front weight). These things are usually found only on the rear of American tractors, but like Mr. Dutch shows, front-mounted implements are much more commonplace in Europe.
European tractors are much more likely to be driven on narrow public roads, which explains all the lights (including the orange strobe), mirrors, and single flotation tires instead of duals like one might find on an American model.
For another comparison, here’s a John Deere 7820 configured for the EU market…
And one for the US market. Note that 2WD (small, unpowered front wheels) was once the default for row-crop tractors in the US, but mechanical front-wheel-drive has become all but standard in the past 15-20 years. Very few row-crop tractors are purely 2WD anymore. I just chose this picture because it created a better contrast (and looks really wonky).
Thanks for the extra info, DrZ. I knew I could count on you.
This is a very common combination. A tractor with a front mower plus a silage wagon. The tractor is a Valtra (an AGCO company, like Fendt).
I spend my nights amongst big green machines by John Deere, Claas, Ploeger, & Oxbow collecting harvested vegetables, yes they move about by road from farm to farm here but are limited to 40kph and must be accompanied by pilot vehicles over a certain size luckily theres little traffic around in the early hours to contend with, pea harvester pictured loading gondola is towed by a Deere it holds seven tons but can easily pull a stuck eight wheel truck and eight wheel trailer in addition when required just an extra 45 tonnes no big deal.
I remember following a JCB Fastrac a while back and he wasn’t hanging around.
We move large farm machinery by road here, also, but not nearly as fast. Few things more exciting than encountering a combine on a two-lane county road at night-so many lights, you wonder if the aliens from Close Encounters have returned, and this time to Ohio. When did Deutz stop building the air-cooled diesels? I am assuming for environmental reasons. Never did hear one, but I have always wondered how loud they really are. All those buttons and nobs in the cab make us doubt that our grandkids will be restoring these things as we did Grandpa’s John Deeres. And those new tractors that are rear-wheel-drive only now look so wimpy in the front, like a tyrannosaur who is leaning over and trying to pick something up. Everything changes.
Stricter emission standards were the main reason that the air cooled engines were phased out in cars (Porsche !), tractors and trucks.
Air cooled engines are louder and according to a German forum, for what it’s worth, they’re also 30% more expensive and almost 50% bigger than a comparable water cooled engine.
By the way, besides water- and oil cooled engines, Deutz also still builds air cooled engines. For example the Deutz 914 below.
1956 John Deere Model 620 operator’s platform and controls. All cast iron, steel and rubber. Built to last. Though not as fast.
The company I work for has a john Deere that age and size still in work it was towing carrot harvest bins last year definitely built to last.
Eurgh, hand clutch. No thank you. And 49 hp is a little wanting. I’ll take something with protection from the elements (and an aural reprieve for my one remaining ear). 7000 Ten series with a cab is just about the most useful all-around tractor line I’ve had the privilege of using.
Absolutely, the new tractors are so much more powerful and comfortable (and quieter, he says, recalling the ringing in his ears from years of driving a JD 4020 Diesel with aftermarket cab). But a hand clutch is about the best thing for learning to operate a motor vehicle: push ahead to go forward, snap back to stop. And nothing beats a hand clutch for inching back to connect with an implement. You run out of hands, however, when you add a loader and have to also operate the hydraulics. Much of the reason Deere finally stopped building two-cylinder tractors was because they could no longer scale up the hand clutch-which was housed inside the belt pulley-to handle more power.
But you can’t really understand the lure of farming until you have done field work on an open platform in the Spring. Bright sun, racing clouds overhead, wind in your face, and the smell of Mother Earth coming back to life.
I have done field work on an open station in the spring. And summer. And fall. And continue to do so. It’s overrated when the alternative means not having a face and upper torso covered in dust and a throbbing in the ear(s). Raking is about the only chore I don’t mind doing open, and even then, I have to wear ear protection.
Late to this post, but I’ll add my photo of me on my neighbor’s 730 diesel, pulling my JD 30 combine. Neighbor had been in a head-on car crash that Spring, so I harvested his oats for him.
Great shot. I miss a bit of field work; it was such an important part of my childhood. First tractor I ever drove was an early JD B.
And helping out the neighbors was a major part of the Mennonite community I stayed with. it was a regular occurrence.
So the farmer says to his yuppie suburban brother-in-law on the phone, “Just came in from the 7-series…..”
Not one of Giugiaro’s finer styling efforts IMO, unless the brief was “make a tractor that could be in the Transformers movie”…
The development in tractors is pretty impressive, even before you get into GPS guidance systems and all the other electronic systems they have these days.
No mention that SDF is the Italian company S.A.M.E. which owns Lamborghini tractors as well as Duetz. It’s funny how I can’t read an article about Lamborghini cars without reading constantly about VW- But Duetz Tractors- no mention of it parent company, or more fascinating sister company.
http://www.lamborghini-tractors.com/en-eu/tractors/open-field/101-r7
There’s a link in the article to the SDF Group (Wikipedia). When I see that Lamborghini tractor I see a Deutz-Fahr, included a Deutz engine.
Apart from John Deere and Claas, all major and well-known “western world” farm tractor brands belong to a globally working group (CNH, AGCO, SDF).
CNH, for example, offers the tractor brands Case IH, New Holland and Steyr. But they all have an FPT (Fiat Powertrain Technologies) powertrain.
So, your new, shiny red Farmall has a…….Fiat motor? What would Cyrus McCormick think of that?