When the maximum horsepower ratings of production tractors hit 500 several years ago, I recall seeing a magazine editor ask the question, “Will we ever see 600?”
For several seasons there’s been a kind of yellow flag in the race as brands just lap the track holding their positions — but all of that seems to have ended. This summer we’ve catapulted past 700. And all manufacturers have quietly or loudly announced they’ve ramped up the muscle on their flagship models.
The most public announcement in the renewed horsepower race occurred this past August. Making its debut at the U.S. Farm Progress Show, Case IH pulled the wraps off the largest tractor it’s ever built: the 715 Steiger Quadtrac.
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“It’s all based on customer feedback,” Tom Curley, Case IH global product manager for Steiger, said when speaking to Grainews at the Big Iron farm show in North Dakota this past fall. “The goal is to improve productivity… and pull large drills and seeders at the speeds customers want to. For the 715 Quadtrac we had an extensive development program, including a significant amount of testing throughout the United States and Western Canada. The sole purpose of this tractor with 715 horsepower is to get more done in an hour.”
The spec sheet for the 715 is impressive. Available as a Quadtrac only, it gets a rated engine horsepower that matches its model number; peak horsepower tops out at a whopping 778. That power comes out of an all-new 16-litre C16 TST engine from Case IH’s sister company FPT Industrial. It uses a new cooling package specifically built for the 715.
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“That engine was purposely designed for the 715 Quadtrac to meet the demands of our customers,” Curley says. “It has an improved, updated 16×2 power shift transmission. It’s a heavier-duty version of our current transmission. It was designed specifically for the 715 Quadtrac.”
To feed that big diesel, the 715 gets a 520-gallon (1,968-litre) fuel tank, 50 gallons more than the other Steigers carry.
“It puts all that power to the ground through a new undercarriage,” Curley adds. “It maintains roughly the same width of tractor to fit down the road as needed, but it also puts more power to the ground with a larger footprint, larger drive wheel and longer tracks.”
The tracks are 12 inches longer overall and leave a footprint about two inches longer than the other Steigers. Thirty-inch-wide tracks are standard, but 36-inch tracks are an option. Those big track modules can move the 715 down the road pretty quickly too, hitting a rated 26.5 m.p.h. (42 km/h), a little faster than the 23.8 mph (38 km/h) where all the other Steigers top out.
As you’d expect, the heavier undercarriage and larger components add a bit of heft to the 715, making it nearly two tons heavier than the previous flagship Quadtrac. And it can handle more ballasting as well, to help convert all that engine power into usable traction.
“The tractor is about 3,500 pounds heavier than a 620 Quadtrac,” Curley says. “For those needing to put the power to the ground, such as those pulling large air seeders, we will allow up to 72,000 lbs. (32,658 kg) GVW (gross vehicle weight).”
The new 715 Quadtrac also sports a fresh look for the brand, with a redesigned hood and slimmed-down exhaust stack to improve visibility from the cab. The new hood design will eventually be rolled out on the smaller Steigers and later all the tractors in the Case IH lineup.
New Holland T9.700
While Case IH grabbed headlines with the 715, its sister brand, New Holland, also had a new powerhouse tractor to show off, the T9.700 with PLM Intelligence. While not quite the hot rod the Case IH 715 is, the T9.700 pushes the previous top end of the blue tractor line to 645 rated engine h.p., with a peak horsepower rating of 699 from a smaller displacement FPT Cursor 13-litre diesel with twin-stage turbochargers.
Power gets routed through a 16Fx2R power shift transmission, just like its Case IH cousins. With the optional MegaFlow II pump system, hydraulic flow gets boosted up from the standard 42 g.p.m. (159 l/m, 216 with the high-flow option) to a whopping 113 g.p.m. (428 l/m).
Unlike its Case IH Steiger 715 cousin, however, the T9.700 comes in a wheeled configuration.
Claas 12 Series Xerion
Making a surprise debut in July, Class pulled the wraps off the all-new 12 Series Xerion line of four-wheel-drive tractors, which also pushed up the line’s maximum horsepower rating. The new models were unveiled in Western Canada — a first for Claas — because according to the brand, they were built specifically for North American broad-acre farming.
“The 12 Series Xerion tractor line was specifically built for North America,” said Franz Reijmers, North American product manager for tractors at Claas. “A 590-h.p. tractor in both wheeled and tracked, as well as a 650-h.p. tractor at the top end. This is an addition to the Xerion line, so now we’ll be offering four different horsepowers in the Xerion range.”
The range-topping 12.650 model makes Claas a contender at the top of the horsepower race for those who want the most muscle available in a production tractor. But these aren’t just amped-up versions of the previous Xerion models. They are a complete redesign, according to Reijmers, although they keep many of the features unique to the line. And that includes staying away from the articulated chassis virtually every other major brand has chosen for high-horsepower models.
Under the 12 Series Xerion hoods is a 15.6-litre Mercedes Benz diesel that produces peak torque at just 1,300 r.p.m., which helps minimize fuel consumption while delivering all the power it can. Even at that low engine speed, the new Xerions can still deliver a high hydraulic flow, which maxes out at an impressive 142 g.p.m. (537 l/m) with the optional three-pump system. Four priority remotes can be used to keep essential systems like air drill fans running at optimum speed. The base, single-pump hydraulic system delivers 58 g.p.m. (220 l/m).
All that horsepower is routed through what Claas calls a “purpose built” in-house-designed CMATIC Eccom 5.5 CVT transmission that offers those precise settings and easy speed adjustments typical of a CVT.
Maximum speed on the Terra Trac versions is 40 km/h and 50 km/h on the wheeled models.
John Deere 9R
Last summer there were numerous “spy” pictures circulating on social media of a previously unseen four-wheel drive John Deere that looked to be much larger than the current production models and likely pushing near or past 700 horsepower. While many expected that phantom machine to appear at Agritechnica, it didn’t. And of course, Deere isn’t saying anything about it.
If Deere has a new, larger model in field trials, there are still lots of major equipment shows in the U.S. between now and next season for it to make its debut. In the meantime, Deere’s flagship 9R tractor hits 640 h.p., with a maximum power rating of 691. The power under their hoods comes from Deere’s own relatively new JD14X 13.6-litre engine. That higher engine rating debuted for the 2022 model year.
And the green brand added 20 more ponies to each model in its line of 9RT models this past spring, boosting the biggest 9RT model to 590 rated h.p., giving it a maximum power rating of 649.
Agco
Over at Agco, the two-tracked Fendt MT1167 Vario, which was released in 2020, has pushed well past the previous 600-h.p. barrier, with a rated 673. It gets that power from a 16.2-litre diesel that has a constant torque range between 800 and 1,700 r.p.m. All that power flows through the Fendt Vario’s mechanical-hydrostatic driveline.
If you prefer a tractor in yellow instead of pale green, the equivalent model is available as the Challenger MT867, complete with the 16.2-litre MAN diesel and CVT transmission.
With the introduction of the new 9S Series of Massey Ferguson MFWD models at Agritechnica in November, Agco has pushed the biggest model there up another 25 h.p., to 425. While that doesn’t complete with the big dogs, it certainly shows the trend toward more power isn’t reserved for just the largest models a brand can offer.
