Menu

Know How / Machinery maintenance

Advice on keeping your farm machinery in good working order, from tractors, to combines to tyres and trailer brakes. Get tips on pre-harvest combine and forager checks, see guides on tractor maintenance, such as checking tyre pressures and find out how other farmers have fitted retrofit options.

Advice and tips

TRACTORS

Valtra tractors: Common problems and how to fix them

When Valtra joined the Agco stable in the early 2000s, it brought with it dependable Sisu engines that have since been given the parent company’s branding. They are still solid…

TRACTORS

Claas tractors: Common problems and how to fix them

Amassing a sales tally of roughly 600 tractors a year at the last count makes Claas the eighth most popular tractor brand in the UK, just behind Valtra. And of…

TRACTORS

Fendt tractors: Common problems and how to fix them

It might be the premium brand of choice for large-scale farms and contracting businesses, but just like any other maker, Fendt’s tractors can suffer the odd mechanical gremlin. Engine problems…

CULTIVATORS

Tips for picking the best cultivator wearing metal

Replacing cultivator legs, wings and points can be a depressingly regular and ruinously expensive pastime for those working in the nation’s most abrasive soils. But instead of hunting around for…

See all

Case studies

MAIZE DRILLS

Drill rebuild provides isobus-ready Vaderstad for sub-£10k

With new machinery costs soaring, Dorset mixed farmer Jamie Hawkins decided to give his ageing 3m Vaderstad 30 mounted drill a major spruce up. As well as replacing the soil…

MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

Hydrogen-based cleaning kits get old engines running smoothly

A system for clearing carbon deposits from coked-up engines is now being offered by a Warwickshire firm as an on-farm service. Hydrogen cleaning has been used in the automotive industry…

MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

How to pick the best cultivator wearing metal

Soil-engaging parts are one of those boringly inevitable expenses when running a cultivator or drill. But while many shop around for the cheapest lumps of metal to haul through the…

MACHINERY

Video: Custom Ford 7700 gets V8 muscle injection

If the burble of a throaty V8 engine puts a smile on your face, Luke Furse’s modified Ford 7700 will have you grinning from ear to ear. Twin gleaming stainless…

See all

Insights

MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

Keenan mixer wagon renovator offers repair tips

The daily chore of chomping through tonnes of abrasive feedstuffs mean a mixer wagon’s innards only have a limited lifespan. Added to that, the tight environments in which they work…

TOOLS

Safest options for changing wheels and jacking machinery

Perching bottle jacks on timber blocks or using loader pallet tines to lift farm machinery ready for wheel removal may have been the standard practice of yesteryear, but today’s heavy…

MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

Red diesel: The problems uncovered

Last autumn, reports of blocked fuel filters came flooding in from parts of the UK, with the finger being pointed at the increasing content of biodiesel being blended into red…

See all

News

MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

Kubota unveils 210hp five-litre engine

Kubota has managed to squeeze 210hp from its biggest four-cylinder engine to date, the V5009. The Japanese maker hopes its relatively compact 5.018-litre turbo-diesel will offer an appealing alternative to…

CULTIVATORS

Agricast extends range of tough tungsten carbide points

Wearing parts specialist Agricast has extended its range of cultivator-specific tungsten carbide points to another four implements, and also expanded the choice of universal soil-engaging parts available. Like the company’s…

MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

Multi-brand tyre app offers load, speed and inflation advice

Making the contents of bulky farm tyre technical data books available on a mobile device app has made it much easier for farmers to get guidance on inflation pressures for…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Corteva to issue new advice on best practice with Univoq

Corteva Agriscience is set to issue new advice to wheat growers, having completed a six-month investigation into problems associated with its Inatreq-based fungicide Univoq. Some growers experienced issues with sprayer…

See all

Test and reviews

MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

Test: Pto shaft guards rated for quality, price and servicing

We’re all taught from an early age about the dangers of living and working on farms, yet the accident statistics remain horrifying. Agriculture accounts for some 16% of all workplace…

See all

Video

COMBINES

Video: Orkney contractor converts his combine to tracks

Farming on the Orkney archipelago in the north of Scotland throws up challenges unlike anything on mainland Britain. The biggest of those is the weather – the Gulf Stream brings…

MACHINERY

How to service a Honda ATV

General Fluids & filters Engine Transmission Brakes & Tyres Suspension They're one of the most used pieces of kit on any livestock farm, but when was the last time you…

MACHINERY

Video: How to get the best from your sprayer

James Stafford Top 10 tips Videos Sprayers are one of those bits of kit that need a good dollop of TLC to keep them running at their best. We talked…

MACHINERY

Video: Getting the best from a Horsch Pronto

  Our series which sets out to advise users on how to get the best from their machinery continues with a look at the Horsch Pronto drill – a Pronto…

See all