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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.