Claas will have a total of five new additions from its ‘green harvest’, tractor and materials handling line-ups on display and working at this year’s FTMTA Grass & Muck event.

New at this year’s event will be the: Jaguar 970 (Type 498) with the latest pick-up reel; Torion 1812 wheel loader; Volto 55 tedder; Axion 900 series (Tier 4F) tractor; and the smaller Arion 600 series (Tier 4F) tractor.

Alongside the loader, the crowd-puller will be the Jaguar; it has 775hp on tap. Such machines typically attract plenty of attention when working at ‘grassland’ demonstrations.

New features on this Jaguar 970 (and the more powerful top-of-the-range 980) include a continuously-variable drive system. This uses a combination of a mechanical and hydraulic drive to provide “high power transmission at a constant speed”, thus apparently providing a more “consistent” drive to attachments up front – such as maize headers.

An additional option is a continuously-variable front attachment drive that automatically adjusts the front attachment speed relative to the chop-length – for a “more even” crop-flow and “improved” chop quality.

Other new features include a hydraulic clamping system for the shearbar (apparently resulting in reduced wear and improved chop quality), improvements to the sharpening system and automatic concave (belly-band) adjustment so that the distance between it and the knives (blades) remains constant (as they wear).

First working Torion in Ireland

On show working for the first time in Ireland will be the new (Liebherr-based) Torion 1812 wheel loader; it will be on the pit.

Powered by a 195hp, four-cylinder engine, this machine has a tipping load capacity of 11t and an operating weight of 18.7t.

Also Read: Pics: Lifting the lid on new loading shovels from Claas

Drive is through a split-power CVT CMATIC transmission.

Claas says that the engine only needs servicing every 2,000 hours, while the transmission must be checked at 3,000 and serviced at 6,000 hours – far longer, it claims, than on any other competing machine.

New tedder

Also present will be the new, four-rotor Volto 55 that replaces the Volto 52; it includes features such as the PERMALINK drive and the MAX SPREAD crop-flow concept (previously only available on larger machines).

It has a working width of 5.2m.

Updated tractors

Also expect to see the latest tractor additions – specifically in the Axion and Arion ranges (including the new ‘Touch Screen CEBIS‘ terminal and the additional CIS+ specification).

The new so-called ‘Touch Screen CEBIS’ terminal is intended to make it “easy and simple to enter and change settings”.

Meanwhile, the CIS+ package brings electronic spool valves and the CMATIC CVT transmission without the need for the full CEBIS specification.