Reviews, Tractors

Case IH Farmall 95C review

The Case IH Farmall 95C tractor is easy to drive, has good visibility and delivers good bang for your buck for its price, judge Jaiden Drought reports.

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Case IH Farmall 95C

Before I get onto the Case IH Farmall 95C, I should mention how we previously posted a teaser that mentioned how the trans-Tasman rivalry was going to be put to one side. Having not read this, or the kind words said about my good Kiwi self by the Aussie crew, I decided that, since there had been a number of underhand tactics used by the Aussies over the years, it was time to get some of our own back.

Enter the tight, winding tractor course with the chicane at the end. It needed plenty of side brake action, which I was more than happy to give in generous doses – purely for your viewing pleasure!

This, followed by the bark loading and hay stacking, was something that allowed the tractors’ capabilities to be shown while giving me an opportunity to become familiar with the cab layout.

All this action was being timed between my Aussie counterpart Tom Dickson and me, with plenty on the line and – in my case – trying not to tip the tractor over!

After two days of strenuous testing and a decent amount of sledging during the trans-Tasman time trials, there seemed to be quite a large gap between the times for all of the tractors.

As it is in the best interests of our readers, I will just cover off a couple of highlights: Six tractors tested; a total time difference between Tom and myself of just under 10 minutes; and an average hiding per tractor of 1:40 minutes – in other words, a yawning gap.

Rivalry and jokes aside, we did have some serious business to do, which was to find a winner for the best tractors shootout. And one of the contenders was the Case IH Farmall 95C.

First, a quick history lesson. In 1842, Jerome Increase Case founded the Racine Threshing Machine Works in Wisconsin, where he invented a thresher that separated the straw from the grain. In 1847 in Chicago, Cyrus McCormick founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. This would later become International Harvester, which in 1919 invented the first commercial PTO unit on a production tractor.

The first Farmall was also born under this brand in 1923. This was the namesake of the tractor we are testing in this shootout under the Case IH tractors brand, which was formed when the two companies joined in 1985.

So plenty of heritage, but the Case IH Farmall 95C also benefits from some well-proven components and some nifty Italian styling to reinvent the past and provide the livestock farmer with a great all-round tractor.

 

Case IH Farmall 95C tractor

 

Walkaround

Succeeding the JXU model tractor (e.g. the Case JX90 – check out our Case JX 80 review) that proved very popular in the livestock sector, the Case IH Farmall 95 C builds on this reputation using a new generation FPT Tier 4A-compliant four-cylinder 3.4-litre turbocharged and intercooled engine. The high-lift one-piece bonnet and fold-out radiator stack makes for easy daily servicing.

The key feature of this machine is the electronic high-pressure common-rail fuel injection, which provides fuel efficiency and a great torque band between 1900 and 2300rpm.

Emissions are taken care of using a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC). The reason Case IH has gone with this option over SCR/AdBlue (on its larger models) is that DPF/ DOC is single fuel, which suits the livestock farmer, and is said to suit this tractor class’s typically non-constant load cycles – something I tend to disagree with.

In my experience, in tractors with DPF that are under constant load, the heat will burn the particle matter and doesn’t create any issues. Conversely, tractors using SCR that are under very little load use less AdBlue and can gain scores in fuel efficiency as a result. Emissions regulations – might as well be rocket science!

Although the appearance is different thanks to the Italian design, JXU users will be familiar with the three-range, four-on-the-floor with a splitter and electro hydraulic shuttle giving a 24×24, 40km/h transmission with a 40×40 creeper option.

The three-point linkage has a nice, easy singe dial system for simple position control, and the Cat. 2 hook ends have a lift capacity of 3.4 tonnes which, although not market leading, will prove ample for most users.

The 64L/min open-centre pump provides flow to the two standard rear remotes with float (third optional) and the two mid-mounted valves for the loader. An additional 37L/min dedicated steering pump kept the wheel feather light, and with 600-hour engine and 1200-hour transmission service intervals and three-year/3000-hour warranty provides a very good package for this price bracket.

Two speed PTO is standard – our test tractor had 540/1000, although 540/540E is also an option when indent ordering.

Cabin in Case IH Farmall 95C tractor
The cab on the Case IH Farmall 95C appears small from the outside, but is actually a decent size.

 

In the cab

The cab on the Farmall appears small from the outside, probably due to the slim roofline. But once inside, the curved top of the front windscreen, front mounted sunroof (which aids loader visibility), as well as the pushed back B pillars and curved rear side windows, it doesn’t seem bad at all. And in the air-suspended seat, it doesn’t feel like you are in the Jamaican bobsled team.

The new pivoting dash and steering column with foot-mounted control does help access, and the light background colour makes the dials easy to read. Under the steering wheel are rocker switches to hack into the performance monitor of the tractor, and although there’s no RTK guidance level technology, this does provide useful options in terms of ha meter, L per ha, etc., which is enough for this buyer market.

The air-conditioner/heater has 10 vents, although the majority are mounted low because of the glass roof. But because the wind chill factor was about -10,000C, I was never game enough to rark up the A/C – besides, it takes up valuable horsepower when country pride is on the line.

The main gear lever is well placed to the right, with the range lever mounted low down beside the seat. The integrated loader joystick was in a good location although it was too easy to knock the dump action of the loader into float, which was a little niggly against the stop clock.

Case IH Farmall 95C tractor lifting hay
The Case IH Farmall 95C tractor was one of the most manoeuvrable in the 2016 best tractors shootout.

 

On the job

I posted my personal best time on the tight turns of the tractor course in the Case Farmall 95. Given that it was first cab off the rank, this says something about the manoeuvrability of the machine.

Having said that, it was the tractor I was the closest to actually tipping over. This I think has a lot to do with the heavy mild-steel loader fitted, as the European designed loaders on many of the others tested are much lighter high-tensile steel, and gave those tractors a much more planted feel.

Tom and I agreed (not on many things) that the Case IH Farmall 95C was the most unstable of the pack. In fairness, this had literally come out of a container, so nobody had run their eye over tyre pressures etc., and in a working situation doing the tasks we tested the machine on either a rear counter weight, wheel weights or water ballast would have shored the tractor up in no time.

Visibility to the loader on the Case IH Farmall 95C was good at height thanks to the sunroof and slim cab roofline, but the loader had the lowest lift height, nearly half a metre less than the best on similar profile tyres. I have had experience with these shuttle levers in the past, so I knew what to expect, although I still am not a fan. The shuttle is very conveniently placed and falls to hand nicely, but always retreats to the middle position.

This is fine, but to select N (which is usually in the middle), you have to push a button on the end of the shuttle lever – I often forgot where you take your foot off the clutch thinking you are in N and jerk forwards. I agree you will get used to it, but personally I struggled with that the most out of the lot. On a positive note with the shuttle, it does have three easy-to-adjust modulation settings for uptake aggression depending on the task at hand.

 

The verdict

The Case IH Farmall 95C was easy to drive, nimble and had good visibility, which allowed the PB lap time to be recorded.

On the flipside, it was unstable and at times may or may not have been on two wheels, which you could argue was in the name of country pride – there is also a relatively robust discussion based on the fact it is reckless.  Either way, some simple ballast will provide a quick fix.

 

Case IH Farmall 95C price

Given the little Case IH Farmall 95C price was $25,000 cheaper than the most expensive tractor we tested, with the longest service intervals and the most comprehensive three-year/3000-hour warranty of the pack, I do genuinely think it does deliver good bang for your buck.

Top Tractor Shootout 2016 scoresheet link

 

Hits

  • High visibility front windscreen and roof hatch
  • Manoeuvrability was excellent
  • Easy-to-use transmission
  • Adjustable shuttle modulation
  • Integrated loader joystick
  • Longest service intervals of any tractors tested
  • Comprehensive three-year/3000-hour warranty
  • Was the quickest around the course by 10 seconds

 

Misses

  • Small mirrors
  • Shuttle control with push button for N hard to get used to
  • Loader joystick was easy to knock into float
dual cab ute comparison
Top Tractor 2016 rating criteria
See how we rate the contenders

Photography: Ellen Dewar, video director: Josh Robinson, video editor: Bill Kalajdziovsi

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