MF4610

[custom farmer]

Is there any one else that has a 4610 yet? More reviews, or opinions please.

I own a MF 4610 for about 8 months now. I bought it from a JD dealer with 96hours on it. In some ways it has been a great tractor, but it is not perfect.
Here is a list of pros and cons from about 150 hours of use, mainly with loader work or round baling:

PROS
* Controls and levers positioned very nicely

* Hydraulics are fast, especially on the loader

* Tractor is about right for hp to weight ratio

* No emissions maintenance

* Cooling system is more than adequate to keep the engine cool in hot weather under full load

* Heater works very well

*Nice progression of speed thru all the gears.

*Frame, chassis, 3 point, built heavy and strong.

CONS
* 3 cylinder engine has an awful lot of vibration and is noisy. Depending on load (if you lug the engine down some), and at just the right rpms, everything in the whole cab vibrates to such an extent that I have spent hours searching for ways to tighten things and to find ways to minimize noise, to no avail.

* Cab is very noisy, see above

* Air conditioning is weak, cannot keep up in normal conditions

* Engine has very low power until it is fully warmed up. I think this is controlled on purpose by the engine computer.

* Engine is made in China. While Agco bought Sisu in Finland, and Sisu designed this engine and it bears the Sisu name - Agco built a new factory in China just to build these engines for the 4600 series. So the tractor is made by Iseki in Japan, but the engine is made in China with the Sisu name

* Really dislike the transmission. Granted, I put thousands of hours on tractors with hydro transmissions, and my last one was an advanced 6 speed hydro (so I am biased) - this transmission is NOT user friendly. 1. It is VERY hard to shift. When speeding up or down I can almost never get it into 4th on the first try. 5th is better, 6th always feels like it only goes in halfway, and I have had it pop out. 2. The power shuttle is a great idea but is not smooth. Especially if you do anything with the clutch. If you are in an open space and just shuttle it isn't bad. But if you ease into a spot, press the clutch, shuttle the lever, and then let the clutch out - there is a delay where nothing happens and then it engages from 0% to 100% in an instant, causing violent jerks. 3. The clutch has no sweet spot. It is all electronic and although it moves quite a distance, it goes from 0% to 100% in about 1/2" travel. Also, if you try to feather it all the tractor makes you deaf with an ear splitting warning beep and it says you are riding the clutch pedal. You almost cannot back up to a piece of equipment without it doing this to you. 4. All of the problems with the transmission described above are worse in cold weather.

* Rear hydraulics - 1.They do not have float function on the levers. Dealer said it wasn't available when I bought mine, but is now. 2.The rear couplers are not push/pull connect. They have no break away either. If your implement unhooks you will damage something. You also CANNOT disconnect or connect anything under even a slight pressure. Having no float on the levers makes it worse. You must stop tractor and jiggle lever to depressurize so you can unhook.

* Front headlight shrouds are cheap plastic and fell off. Warranty replaced them but dealer made me pay shipping. New ones they sent are somewhat improved design. Still cheap plastic.

* Fuel tank is WAY too small. 24 gallons on a 90 horse tractor? get real. I can kill the tank in about 8 or 9 hours with my round baler in normal load conditions. There are actually two tanks with one fill point and the connector between is small. That means you fill real slow and wait for fuel to siphon to other tank and then top it off again, repeat about 6 times to get tank full.

* Too many error codes. Engine has given me a number of different error codes, mainly with fuel system. Had dealer here with computers to try to resolve. Fiddled around half a day to diagnose. Had to pay next day air charges on a part from Agco in the middle of hay season. Got problems resolved that time but ever since tractor has noticeably less torque. Plus warranty paid for only 30 minutes of the service guy's time, and no travel charges. (my dealer is not real close.) Now just today it threw another error code about fuel system, different one this time. Still unresolved.

* Starts hard in cold weather. The tractor has no block heater and no glow plugs. It has a lame air intake heater which is mostly worthless. If it gets below 20 degrees F you will have some trouble getting it running. It has always started but sometimes took multiple attempts.

So there you have it. That's where I'm at. I don't know how all of this compares to JD, Kubota, or NH. I think the others may not be any better if you compare $$ and hp. Kubota is known to have undersized cooling systems and their engines always overheat (personal experience), NH is known to have poor ground speeds and poor control layouts, JD also is known to have some issues, especially in the E series, and is usually more $$.
Would I buy Massey again, probably, but I will never buy a 3 cylinder this size again. There is just no way a 3 cylinder can run as quiet and smooth as a 4, 5, or 6. My choice would be the 5600 series with the 4 cylinder Sisu actually made in Finland with the Dyna 4 transmission. Totally European tractor, not Japan and China. Way better cab. If you can afford it, definitely step up...
PA farmer

 

[red501]

HAVE A NEW 4610 (75 HRS)...GOOD HAY TRACTOR BUT AC WILL NOT KEEP UP AND VERY NOISY CAB. NOT HAPPY

 

[SDT]

I would like more information about the loader valve problem. JWR.

I have a 2012, 2635 with DL250. It too will not power the bucket tip down. I mentioned this to my dealer when the tractor was just over a year old and they told me "The loader is only warranted for 12 months." Of course, I was not told that when I bought the tractor/FEL and, though I asked, I was not given a copy of the warranty, which is not printed in the owners manual.

 

[TSO]

I would like more information about the loader valve problem. JWR.

I have a 2012, 2635 with DL250. It too will not power the bucket tip down. I mentioned this to my dealer when the tractor was just over a year old and they told me "The loader is only warranted for 12 months." Of course, I was not told that when I bought the tractor/FEL and, though I asked, I was not given a copy of the warranty, which is not printed in the owners manual.

What do you mean by "it will not power the bucket tip down"...? And is it every time, or just sometimes?

 

[JWR]

What do you mean by "it will not power the bucket tip down"...? And is it every time, or just sometimes?

If you hold the joystick to the right and keep it there the bucket tip should lower under power with force enough to lift the tractor. As delivered mine would not lower the bucket tip at all except by gravity. The loader valve was defective from the NIMCO factory via MF and so were supposed new ones in the AGCO supply chain. Eventually I got hold of NIMCO, they gladly sent me a kit to alter the loader valve (which was easy to put in in 15 minutes) and it is fine now. The failure was not sometimes, it was permanent all the time. Now it works every time. On larger tractors there is a pain in the *** "detent" that works to unload the bucket quicker. One has to understand that detent and get it out of the picture before powering down the tip of the bucket. We'd all be better off if the detents did not exist.

 

[arksdad]

I have to wonder what a JD dealer is doing with a Massey tractor that only has 96 hours on it! To me that would be a red flag.

 

[JWR]

I have to wonder what a JD dealer is doing with a Massey tractor that only has 96 hours on it! To me that would be a red flag.

I agree with you. The red flag has to say that the prior owner was unhappy with it for some reason. While dealers always refuse to reveal the name and phone of previous owners they MIGHT if you ask them to get his permission. If they still refuse, it would be worth some sleuth work to get hold of the prior owner. I have friends who have a new 4608 and others have reported these same issues: 1) The steering is not robust. The front wheels won't turn in mud with a heavy bale on the front I am told. Two dealers have confirmed that report plus a user near me. 2) MF has already said (not sure who all they told, but a dealer told me) that next year (now this year) 4600 series would have more hydraulic flow to the steering by some means. 3) Several have reported shifter issues. One friend has the thing leaping out so harshly using the lever without the clutch that it would do severe damage to loads and to the tractor he thinks. That IS adjustable and he is working it with his dealer. However, I think it is a heck of a commentary that MF (coming out with a power shifter tranny about 15 years after Deere) has the stupidity to not have it extremely polished and without bugs. Maybe such issues caused the prior owner to sell the 4610 early ??

 

[custom farmer]

Actually, the JD dealer did give me the prior owner's name and phone number. I talked with him but he didn't have much to tell me. Said he used it to move bales and run a round baler, but then needed a new round baler. Ended up getting largest round baler JD makes, and told me the 4610 was too small for the baler. Also, he was paying interest on it, while JD had 0% interest, so the JD dealer worked him a great deal on the big baler and about a 120 or 130 horse tractor. I got it for about $10k to $12K less than new price, so he had to lose money.
He wouldn't tell me any specifics of what liked or didn't like on the 4610.

I also talked to the MF dealer where it was purchased. He said the first buyer had never called him one time with any problems or complaints. He even went over to the JD dealer, picked up the 4610, took it to his place and put three factory updates on it and changed the oil for me, and then dropped it back off at JD for me to pick up! All at no charge! How's that for service?

The last error code turned out to be a defective fuel pressure sensor. It now has a little over 250 hours.
PA custom Farmer

 

[JWR]

Hey, that sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Man, I was "this close" to pulling the trigger on a new 4608 late last fall. Glad I didn't. We've been spoiled with two GREAT tractors from MF (1540 and 1643). I would have had a coronary if I went further into debt for a tractor with that many issues.