Early Power Shift Tractors

   / Early Power Shift Tractors #1  

Charlie175

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I know John Deere came out with one in 1964 I think, and Ford had a version Select-o-matic??

Allis didn't have one until 1973, IH got theirs in the early 80's IIRC

What other manufacturers got it to work?

Was the Deere model the only one that really worked early on?
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #2  
I know John Deere came out with one in 1964 I think, and Ford had a version Select-o-matic??

Allis didn't have one until 1973, IH got theirs in the early 80's IIRC

What other manufacturers got it to work?

Was the Deere model the only one that really worked early on?

Ford had the Select-o-Speed (SOS) tranny in 1959. Early versions had bugs. Took Ford a few years to work out the problems.
Case had a Case-o-matic tranny from 1961-69.
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #3  
My family had a JD 4020 growing up. Awesome tractor. First big JD. 95 horsepower originally, but we added a turbo later on to run the corn chopper better. It had the power shift (8 speeds if I remember correctly) You could shift gears at any speed and any load with no clutch and it worked awesome. Had the tractor for 20 years, used moderately hard, and to the best of my knowledge, never had a problem with it.

I wish I had that tractor today. Probably my favorite tractor.
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #4  
I dont think any of the early ones were that fantastic but i think Case IH we're the first to get it "right" with the magnums..?
Deeres had a nice powershift but a little more troublesome....?
Fords brief encounter with powershifts never was successfull and the reliability of the old crash boxes we're their strong point...?
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #5  
Ford had the Select-o-Speed (SOS) tranny in 1959. Early versions had bugs. Took Ford a few years to work out the problems.
Case had a Case-o-matic tranny from 1961-69.

Case-o-matic was a torque converter transmission, not a powershift.

Deere had only 8 speeds, not really effective.
David Brown also had a partial powershift for smaller tractors, some rumors say that this was the basis for the later Maxxum range. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SlgSSlca4k&feature=related

IHC developed a powershift in the early '80s and Case developed a line of new engines with Cummins. After the merger, the Case/Cummins 8.3 engine was mated with the IH developed rear end.
 
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   / Early Power Shift Tractors #6  
Deere was the 1st to get it right; I have a 500 A backhoe and have driven many power shift tractors over the years from all major brands. Now they all seem to make a good one. One advantage Deere had, at least into the 1990's, I can not speak for today was efficiency. Back in the early 1990ç—´ I was able to speak with an engineer at a farm show who worked for Case IH. I remember him telling me that a rule of thumb was about 5% power loss for a manual transmission, 10% for a Deere power shift, 20% for most others and 25% for hydros.
In college we had a 4255 that we dynoed at 130 PTO Hp, and a 7120 Magnum that was 150. Both with power shift. The 4255 would literally run rings around the larger Magnum. 2 reasons were the efficiency and the 2nd is Deere since the days of the 4000 seems to set up there tractors with a higher HP to weight ratio.
Deere — 20 - 40 series were 8 speeds. The 50 series was a 15 speed now they have several different versions, power quad, 16 speed, etc.
Case 1st transmissions were not very good, 18 forward, 2 reverse, then later models 4 reverse and max speed on the 4 speed was only about 3 or 4 MPH. For loader work in was a joke how slow it backed up. I know of 1 farm that had an aftermarket transmission put in the Magnum they had due to this issue.
I did drive a Allis that had power shift with 2 ranges, very jerky.
The latest and greatest in the IVT, I have not driven one. I know they started over seas. I wonder what the power consumption of one of these transmissions is.
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #7  
I dont think any of the early ones were that fantastic but i think Case IH we're the first to get it "right" with the magnums..?
Deeres had a nice powershift but a little more troublesome....?
Fords brief encounter with powershifts never was successfull and the reliability of the old crash boxes we're their strong point...?


Uh... You MIGHT wanna check up on your info on Deere PowerShift's. They were the gold standard of PowerShifts from day one. Many a 4020 PS still alive an well to this day. VERY little trouble throughout their production run. The Cae/IH Magnums with PowerShifts were only "just as good" at best. I know personally of dozens and dozens of Deere's with PowerShifts that are STILL used every day in tractors that were built in the early 60's and have never had the first issue.
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #8  
To the best of my knowledge, my Dad's 1964 JD 4020 with 8 speed powershift, has never be touch. And the engine has gone thru 3 rebuilts, so far. It just keeps going and going and going. It is my older brother's favorite tractor when ever he helps my Dad on the farm. Edit: I do remember that the "parking pawl" had to be replaced once. Wouldn't stay in "park" position.
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #9  
Harold Brock was an apprentice under Henry Ford. He later was the head of the tractor division, then under HenryII I think. He did not think the select-o-speed was ready for production, but upon returning from a trip he found the tractor in production. This is believed to be the reason for him leaving Ford. Where did he go? John Deere, where perfected it. He retired cheif engineer at JD. He has a great book called "My three Fords"
 
   / Early Power Shift Tractors #10  
I remember him telling me that a rule of thumb was about 5% power loss for a manual transmission, 10% for a Deere power shift, 20% for most others and 25% for hydros.

Test reports of January 1997 of 4 tractors, both powershift and synchro models of Deere and Fendt in 120 hp models, showed different numbers:

Tested were:
Fendt 312 with fluid clutch, 21 speed synchro, 125 hp
Fendt 512 with fluid clutch, 44 speed 4 step powershift, 125 hp
Deere 6400 synchroplus, 16 speed synchro, 105 hp
Deere 6400 powerQuad, 24 speed 4 step powershift, 105 hp

PTO efficiencies were:
91.9%
89.3%
87.4%
85.7%

drawbar pull efficiencies were:
79.3%
75.8%
72.8%
69.9%

The Deere powerQuad lost allmost 30% of its power in the transmission !!

Note: The actual difference in fuel consumption was less, because the Deere had a slightly more fuel efficient engine than Fendt.
Note 2: a fluid clutch as used in both Fendt models, causes about 2 to 3% power loss.

Building a tractor transmission with 95% efficiency is a utopia. ;)

Back in the days of low pressure, high flow hydraulics when IH built some hydrostats, the efficiency was closer to 60%. Modern hydrostatics couldnt pass 75% efficiency.

In college we had a 4255 that we dynoed at 130 PTO Hp, and a 7120 Magnum that was 150. Both with power shift. The 4255 would literally run rings around the larger Magnum.

A Deere 4255 weighs around 6470 kg and the 7120 around 7810 kg. (weights of the European versions, USA versions may be ballasted 2 ton more !) The 7120 SHOULD put out about 180 engine hp.
taking the average of 13% power loss measured at the PTO for powershift tractors, the Deere should be about 150 engine hp. The Magnum might have a problem, causing it to not deliver the horses that the factory promises, but its likely that the Deere powershift is more efficient.
 
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