Increase tractor speed limit proposal

[mendiplogs]

I drive a fastrac for harvest it does 70kph/43mph so I easily keep up with the maximum speed limit in built up areas, but there will always be someone who has got to overtake simply because your a tractor.Ive had people pull out on me at the very last second and if the trailer hadn't got good air brakes they would be dead. You could make tractors do 70mph and it wouldn't make any difference to some peoples attitude ," its a tractor ,ive got to get in front of it!"

 

Hi varty your right mate there it about attitude mate last week we were down near porlock Somerset were large tractor was trying to turn no cars would let the tractor turn into farm yard so let me across it mad thanks Jon

[gensetsteve]

A friend of mine who has been driving tractors all his life ( now in his 70s ) was pulling out of the farm yard with a large trailer on the back . He looked and it was clear so pulled out . White van man came down the hill at an estimated double the speed limit and hit the trailer in the rear quarter . My mate got done for driving without due care . Even the coppers said it was not right .

 

That is a good point when pulling out you need something with a bit of grunt and fast auto box to get out of the way of loonys driving over powered diesels these days.

[Alycidon]

We do have one tractor with a 50 kph cog in the gearbox but it is only used to pull light loads. Heavy grain trailers are pulled with bigger conventionally geared tractors.

 

Dont think I fancy doing 50mph in a tractor, even 25mph on a old lady is way to fast given the normal play in the steering.

 

A

[Agi-Smash]

What a load of rubbish!

I agree with agrimob. Its nothing to do with the tractors themselves. The amount of jobs i go to where a farmer has dumped the old bale trailer in the hedge for ten months, decided he needed to use it so off he goes, brakes siezed on with a load of dry straw on and oh look, big fire.

Immersed wet brakes do not like high speeds and when you have a loaded trailer pushing you it only ends in accelerated wear. A few years ago there was a big uk wide initiative to test the average braking efficiency of agricultural vehicle trailed equipment. It was a shuddering 8%!!!

Also ag tyres are great in mud, but really not that clever on road, especially wet roads. Speed rating of ag tyres arent half as fast as what people drive.

So basically i disagree with raising the speed limit. And i also believe there should be some sort of inspection or test for ag kit.

My dads lorrys and trailers has to have an mot every year and a service inspection every six weeks, some ag equipment is running heavier and faster and have to do nothing. There is actually no legal limit for tyres on ag.

[s.varty]

What a load of rubbish!

I agree with agrimob. Its nothing to do with the tractors themselves. The amount of jobs i go to where a farmer has dumped the old bale trailer in the hedge for ten months, decided he needed to use it so off he goes, brakes siezed on with a load of dry straw on and oh look, big fire.

Immersed wet brakes do not like high speeds and when you have a loaded trailer pushing you it only ends in accelerated wear. A few years ago there was a big uk wide initiative to test the average braking efficiency of agricultural vehicle trailed equipment. It was a shuddering 8%!!!

Also ag tyres are great in mud, but really not that clever on road, especially wet roads. Speed rating of ag tyres arent half as fast as what people drive.

So basically i disagree with raising the speed limit. And i also believe there should be some sort of inspection or test for ag kit.

My dads lorrys and trailers has to have an mot every year and a service inspection every six weeks, some ag equipment is running heavier and faster and have to do nothing. There is actually no legal limit for tyres on ag.

 

Basically put agriculture is a law unto its own, no other hauling industry can run its hgv,s on red diesel, employ 17 year olds to drive 20 odd ton vehicles at 40mph, pay no road tax. Then get paid by the government to not grow crops (fallow), personally I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Billhook]

I drive a fastrac for harvest it does 70kph/43mph so I easily keep up with the maximum speed limit in built up areas, but there will always be someone who has got to overtake simply because your a tractor.Ive had people pull out on me at the very last second and if the trailer hadn't got good air brakes they would be dead. You could make tractors do 70mph and it wouldn't make any difference to some peoples attitude ," its a tractor ,ive got to get in front of it!"

 

My Fastrac 2170 only does 39,9 mph, how do you manage to squeeze three more mph!!

But I agree with you about people overtaking. The worst cases 95% of the time are women who sit right on your tail and look as though they are going to overtake but never do, even when there is a completely clear road ahead and I have indicated for them to pass. This means there is a frustrated queue behind and leads to an angry driver making a dangerous manoeuvre.

I always try to pull over where possible but it is sometimes very difficult.

 

The Fastrac is special because it has four disc airbrakes with ABS, but because it weighs eight tons and the trailer another three, I can only legally cart thirteen tons of corn to make up the 24 ton GTW

The old two wheel drive Ford 8210 since it only weighs 4.5 tons could in theory carry 16 tons in the same trailer which is a scary thought as the Ford brakes are not up to the job even when new. Another 5 mph with that tractor is really scary.

[openspaceman]

The old two wheel drive Ford 8210 since it only weighs 4.5 tons could in theory carry 16 tons in the same trailer .

 

I'd be interested to see how you work that out, the trailer cannot gross more than 18.29 tonnes so payload cannot lawfully exceed 15.29, even then it's problematic because not many balanced trailers weighing 3 tonne can carry that and the maximum drawbar load of an unbalanced one cannot exceed 6.4 tonnes. The tractor would have to have to have coupled service brakes and I suspect the 8210 is limited to a gross train weight of 18.25 tonnes by virtue of the road traffic act power requirement, which I do not think AMVs are exempt from.

 

Now whilst no policeman will be expected to realise that it's only after an accident that a barrister will check on all these things.

[agrimog]

the reason your fastrac is allowed to exceed 20mph is the fact that it has suspension on all 4 wheels, nothing to do with disc brakes, and I think you'll find gtw on agricultural setups is 19.4 tonnes, not 24, and the tow vehicle must be a minimum of 25% for an unbraked load. any agricultural equipment being towed in excess of 20 mph, the brakes must comply with commercial standards, not agri **** stuff, I.E. air brakes, abs if fitted to tow vehicle, proper lighting, etc, and farmer Jones isnt going to pay for that

[s.varty]

My Fastrac 2170 only does 39,9 mph, how do you manage to squeeze three more mph!!

But I agree with you about people overtaking. The worst cases 95% of the time are women who sit right on your tail and look as though they are going to overtake but never do, even when there is a completely clear road ahead and I have indicated for them to pass. This means there is a frustrated queue behind and leads to an angry driver making a dangerous manoeuvre.

I always try to pull over where possible but it is sometimes very difficult.

 

The Fastrac is special because it has four disc airbrakes with ABS, but because it weighs eight tons and the trailer another three, I can only legally cart thirteen tons of corn to make up the 24 ton GTW

The old two wheel drive Ford 8210 since it only weighs 4.5 tons could in theory carry 16 tons in the same trailer which is a scary thought as the Ford brakes are not up to the job even when new. Another 5 mph with that tractor is really scary.

Mines a 3200 maybe that's why it does a good 70kph. In agriculture ,especially harvest time all the laws on weight etc are ripped up and thrown in the bin, I doubt very much if a copper pulled me over he/she would know the laws on agri vehicles anyway,

[santacruz]

I thought that fastracs were not allowed to exceed 20mph. They were capable of exceeding 20, but registered as agg were limitted to 20 by law. If you wanted to run faster you needed to register them as HGV with all the associated etc etc. That was my interpretation of the law when I was looking into what vehicle to buy.