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East Central Ia | Dealer brought us a new Challenger 1046 (460 hp) to demo.
It’s setup with huge duals, 650’s on the front and 750’s on the rear I believe.
This is our first time operating any type of CVT, IVT, etc.
I was pulling our 17 shank chisel plow, a Great Plains Turbo chisel setup with all 2” straight points.
We normally pull it with our 855C Challenger (475 hp)
First impression sitting in my shop on a rainy day with my product specialist showing us the controls was “wow, this is complicated...”
But after about two minutes in the seat things feel pretty intuitive and easy.
I was very impressed with the ability to configure things to your liking.
My first thought was wow you can’t put just any steering wheel holder in this thing! But after running it I think this is the probably one of the best tractors to put a novice operator in. With a little guidance and an experienced operator getting things setup it’s literally just push a button and go.
I will admit it took me most of a day to get used to the low rpm this MAN engine operates at... I had the constant feeling that I was pulling the snot out of it. Sitting on the edge of my seat gritting my teeth, feeling like I need to throttle up or gear down quick before I kill the engine or kick it into neutral.
Once this feeling went away and I felt comfortable just letting the darn thing manage itself I was really impressed with its ability to pull! I’m not sure what it would take to actually stall this thing.
I was pulling it hard around 10” deep at 6ish mph. Max of 19 gallons per hour fuel use was impressive!
My dealer warned me that when new these tractors seem to be using an excessive amount of DEF. I would have to agree and hopefully this improves drastically after it break in as it burned a tank of DEF to half a tank of fuel!
The Cab is very comfortable, and feels like the controls are well organized. The fit and finish was very nice.
This is a very quiet comfortable tractor to operate. The ride was BY FAR the best I have felt in any wheeled machine. Independent front suspension, air ride cab, very nice air ride seat... a lots of rubber.
The steering was VERY difficult with these huge tires at really slow speeds, and impossible sitting still. I actually had some difficulty backing up to my implement to hook it up... I even had to pull ahead and get my implement straight a couple times while trying to back into my shop, the slow speed and concrete apron made this quit akwward.
My dealer also warned me about this and it’s not surprising with that much rubber on a fixed frame machine... but it’s definitely cumbersome. I didn’t notice any issues in the field other then the time I didn’t realize the differential lock was on and tried to turn lol... that didn’t go well.
The tractor sits up high and the hydraulic remotes in the rear are mounted shoulder/head high... I had to loosen some hydraulic hose hold down clamps on my tool to get enough hose to even reach the remotes!
My biggest complaint, and really the only issue that I don’t think you would get used too, were how the hydraulic functions work.
If you have a timer set for a hydraulic remote, you have virtually no manual control.
For instance, in every other tractor I have operated you move a hydraulic remote between the detents and have manual control. Clicking the remote activates the detent or set timer... then further clicking the remote puts it into float.
This tractor if you have a timer set you simply move the remote and it activates the timer. The remotes move VERY easily, and the click at the end of the travel is also very easy to do... but it does not activate a timer... it puts the remote into float.
While chiseling and coming up on a small waterway I was going to cross... normally I would just raise my implement manually out of the ground and then click it to activate the timer to lower it back down.
On this tractor I had to move the remote to raise it, then wiggle it a second time to deactivate the timer, and then move it a third time to activate the lower timer... it was pretty awkward.
It was also VERY easy to hit a bump while doing this and put it into float...
Not sure it’s a deal breaker definitely something that would take some getting used.
That’s about all I can think of at the moment.
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Frederick, Md | Your complaint with the hydraulics is also the same one I have with the Fendt. I also feel that sometimes the TMS doesn’t always work like l think it should. |
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WC MN | Thanks |
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West Central,WI | On the the Fendt multi-controller...when I have the timer set for the hydraulics and I'm coming up on a waterway I just double click the hydraulic button so it doesn't raise all the way up. On the Challenger l see you don't have that on your multi-controller. I don't ever use the remote levers. Maybe try using the crossgate lever |
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East Central Ia | DBW - 11/23/2017 20:25
On the the Fendt multi-controller...when I have the timer set for the hydraulics and I'm coming up on a waterway I just double click the hydraulic button so it doesn't raise all the way up. On the Challenger l see you don't have that on your multi-controller. I don't ever use the remote levers. Maybe try using the crossgate lever
To be fair I wasn’t real comfortable with the controls and was trying to do it all to fast. It helped once I realized it was easy to pull back on the stick and slow down a bit or even almost stop if I didn’t get the sequence right so I didn’t leave a strip untilled.
It’s still quit weird and could really easily be improved in my opinion.
But slowing down and then just bumping the stick to the right would re engage my cruise speed. Once I figured this out it helped. But I still didn’t like that part. |
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SW MINNESOTA | Not trying to hijack thread but how do you like your turbo chisel? I have been looking for something other than disk ripping every year for corn on corn. Does it turn corn ground pretty black? |
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western mn | Friend of mine bought four or five of them and I haven’t really been able to talk to him see what he thinks about them but I know this one didn’t turn out too well!!
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| Maybe you said it and I missed it but how was the pulling ability compared to your tracked machine? You said 10" deep at 6 mph but how fast and deep do you usually go with the 855C?
How big is the fuel tank and how big is the DEF tank? |
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Chebanse, IL..... | Thanks for report.
I guess they'd better hope that def consumption goes down! Why would def consumption be higher on new machine? Not sure I've heard of this before.
Is that tractor going to be available in a track version?
How far away is your dealer?
I'm guessing that tire configuration wouldn't row-crop on 30" rows?
Though I've always thought the MAN engines were good, how many engine types are Agco folks now supporting in tractors? Seems like a lot, but may be just my view. Seems every different engine type (Cat, MAN, etc etc) requires specific training & hopefully parts stocking....no?
Is the tractor going to replace your 855?
Thanks. |
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| Is the front weight bracket adjustable? It looks really low in that picture. |
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Modena, Wisconsin | Pretty sure thats not a front weight bracket but a front 3 point so yes very adjustable. |
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Wallis, TX | What % hp were you running when you were burning 19 gallons per hour? |
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East Central Ia | dpilot83 - 11/24/2017 04:29
Maybe you said it and I missed it but how was the pulling ability compared to your tracked machine? You said 10" deep at 6 mph but how fast and deep do you usually go with the 855C?
How big is the fuel tank and how big is the DEF tank?
I haven’t pulled the chisel this year yet with my 855C so I can’t remember how fast it pulls it. That will be on my list for things to do today, get the chisel switched over to that tractor.
The diesel tank is 211 gal
The DEF tank is 22 gal
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East Central Ia | hobby95 - 11/23/2017 20:58
Not trying to hijack thread but how do you like your turbo chisel? I have been looking for something other than disk ripping every year for corn on corn. Does it turn corn ground pretty black?
With twisted points it would probably turn things plenty black, with 2” straight points it leaves a lot of residue on top which we need in our rolling ground.
It’s been a good chisel. We don’t need to deep rip our ground imo, the frost takes care of most all our compaction issues. We just need to manage residue and mix the top soil. |
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East Central Ia | Ron..NE ILL..10/48 - 11/24/2017 04:47
Thanks for report.
I guess they'd better hope that def consumption goes down! Why would def consumption be higher on new machine? Not sure I've heard of this before.
Is that tractor going to be available in a track version?
How far away is your dealer?
I'm guessing that tire configuration wouldn't row-crop on 30" rows?
Though I've always thought the MAN engines were good, how many engine types are Agco folks now supporting in tractors? Seems like a lot, but may be just my view. Seems every different engine type (Cat, MAN, etc etc) requires specific training & hopefully parts stocking....no?
Is the tractor going to replace your 855?
Thanks.
I am not familiar enough DEF products to even venture a guess.
The new 700 series track tractors have this same cab, transmission but are a different machine.
They still run the Sisu engine in those I believe.
My dealer is about 2 miles from my home farm (:
No this tractor is not a row crop model.
I agree Agco does seem to have a multitude of engines at the moment. But our dealer hasn’t let us down yet so it doesn’t currently bother me. I have a C7, C13, C15, Sisu 9.7, and whatever is in my skid loader currently from my Cat dealer.
We are actually considering replacing our Magnum 305 with a 380 or 420 version of this tractor with row crop tires. This 460 was the model our dealer had handy for a demo. What we really wanted to see was how it operated. Either tractor will obviously be a big hp jump. We wanted to see the cab and controls and get a feel for the transmission as when it comes time to update our 775E this setup will be similar to the new 700 series. |
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East Central Ia | Gunner - 11/24/2017 05:36
Pretty sure thats not a front weight bracket but a front 3 point so yes very adjustable.
It actually is not a full front three point I think I was told. It is adjustable however that is only for quickly adding or removing that massive front weight.
The controls for it are with the three point controls and looks very similar however so don’t quote me on that lol.
Edited by bleedred 11/24/2017 09:02
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East Central Ia | rab1964 - 11/24/2017 05:03
Is the front weight bracket adjustable? It looks really low in that picture.
Yes it is much lower then should be, not sure if something settled as it was parked for a few days there. It sat in my shop for 3-4 days and nothing settled though so more then likely we bumped something lol.
The front suspension on the tractor could have been down as well... not really sure. |
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East Central Ia | twraska - 11/24/2017 06:59
What % hp were you running when you were burning 19 gallons per hour?
I assume 100% as I had the cruise set for 8.5 and in that picture you can see it was trying to run about 6mph but was actually running 5.5 or so on the radar from wheel slip.
I couldn’t find any place that showed actual %hp.
Looks like to took those pictures before I programmed into the screen which hydraulic remote to record and map from. Once I did that on that screen showing my C1 and C2 speeds that box for Gal/hr would correctly read.
Edited by bleedred 11/24/2017 09:11
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Middlesex County, Ontario | The front weight bracket is a block mounted to a 3pt hitch.
Fendt historically offered three configurations of front hitch and I assume this carried over to Challenger.
Option 1: full front three point hitch with its own control knob and float and depth control, etc.
Option 2: front 3 pitch hitch is just on a hydraulic lever and goes up/down/float, you can use your timers if you want.
Option 3: rigid arms that do not move relative to the tractors frame. You can move the arms up and down a little bit by dropping the front suspension, which is how you would hookup the weight blocks.
The mounts on the weight blocks look like they are set to carry it as low as possible and is adjustable to carry it a bit higher than shown. |
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Middlesex County, Ontario | If you move a hydraulic function to the cross gate (loader joystick) then it won't activate timer unless you click.
I believe the hydraulic levers actually function the same way, but you are right; they are sensitive and hard to feather while a timer is set.
I don't own a Fendt but have spent a lot of hours in one across various models. I usually set up raise lower with a timer on the main control joystick as well as the loader joystick. Click the buttons on the main joystick for timer, feather the loader joystick as required. |
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| the challenger 1046 1038 150 and 1042 are the same as the fendt models just adapted to the north American brand name so it will sell better we have a fendt and we cut our fuel bill in half instead of using the same horsepower jd |
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| I own a 1042 and a 1038 ; which are used on row crop. "For row crop I suggest 480 80 38's ( 18.4 38's) on the front and 480 95 50's on the rear. The sinlge 480 38's turn much better that the duals. We have no problem of getting the power to the ground. My 1042 out pulled my 775 E by 1 mph on my 23 shank parabolic deep ripper.
I have over 1000 hours on my 1042 and over 600 hrs on my 1038. I have replaced one def sensor on the 1042. The trouble free performance has been great. The Man engines are unbelievable . We cultivated all summer at 1050-1100 rpm's . 4 days on 1 tank of fuel. The engines are so quiet that we have to open the door to hear if it running or not , when starting.
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| W Tex Cottonstripper - 11/24/2017 11:31
I own a 1042 and a 1038 ; which are used on row crop. "For row crop I suggest 480 80 38's ( 18.4 38's) on the front and 480 95 50's on the rear. The sinlge 480 38's turn much better that the duals. We have no problem of getting the power to the ground. My 1042 out pulled my 775 E by 1 mph on my 23 shank parabolic deep ripper.
I have over 1000 hours on my 1042 and over 600 hrs on my 1038. I have replaced one def sensor on the 1042. The trouble free performance has been great. The Man engines are unbelievable . We cultivated all summer at 1050-1100 rpm's . 4 days on 1 tank of fuel. The engines are so quiet that we have to open the door to hear if it running or not , when starting.
Are you having the high DEF consumption issues? |
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East Central Ia | dpilot83 - 11/24/2017 10:33
W Tex Cottonstripper - 11/24/2017 11:31
I own a 1042 and a 1038 ; which are used on row crop. "For row crop I suggest 480 80 38's ( 18.4 38's) on the front and 480 95 50's on the rear. The sinlge 480 38's turn much better that the duals. We have no problem of getting the power to the ground. My 1042 out pulled my 775 E by 1 mph on my 23 shank parabolic deep ripper.
I have over 1000 hours on my 1042 and over 600 hrs on my 1038. I have replaced one def sensor on the 1042. The trouble free performance has been great. The Man engines are unbelievable . We cultivated all summer at 1050-1100 rpm's . 4 days on 1 tank of fuel. The engines are so quiet that we have to open the door to hear if it running or not , when starting.
Are you having the high DEF consumption issues?
What he said? |
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East Central Ia | The three point looks fixed to me...
I am 6’2” for reference on the remote locations.
Edited by bleedred 11/24/2017 15:26
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South Central MN | At least they put the trailer light connector down low. Seems like that thing is always a mile high, and there's no release lever on those to make it easy to pull them out. |
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Casa Grande,AZ | Deepripper? Looks more like a chisel plow! |
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WC MN | azcutter - 11/24/2017 22:50
Deepripper? Looks more like a chisel plow!
This parabolics look to have over 12" of paint missing. |
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Casa Grande,AZ | 12" isn't deep ripping |
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Middlesex County, Ontario | azcutter - 11/25/2017 12:24
12" isn't deep ripping
It is in some places. |
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Challenger 1046 demo impressions.
