news Upgraded Zetor Crystal 150 and 170 next week

ZETOR TRACTORS a.s.

Zetor tractors, service and original spare parts.

www.zetor.com

Zetor announces the updated Crystal 150 and 170 to be seen next week on a Czech exhibition.
It will have the eco 40 transmission earlier introduced on the HSX as well as the new dashboard.

Rumors say that it will have the Forterra HD side console, yet with a short throw gearlever in the side console instead of on the floor.

 

[Renze]

Deere has its DSG gearbox and New Holland also in the T6. But in passenger cars as well as light commercial vans, dual clutch gearboxes dont seem to gain ground on the conventional planetary automatic transmission: quite the contrary, a lot is invested in planetary automatic gearboxes with finer ratio spacing so they can lockup the torque converter as soon as the vehicle is rolling..

ZF's new 8 speed has a lepelletier gear mechanism with only two open clutches (drag loss) at a time and allows silk smooth shifts because it shifts only 1 pack at a time.

Zetors best bet for the future would be probably such advanced 8 speed powershift which is faultless with simple clutch control, giving best operator confort as Zetor will not offer a CVT i guess. 8 speeds in 3 ranges gives full effectiveness similar to a CVT but better reliability.

https://www.zf.com/corporate/en_de/products/product_range/cars/cars_8_speed_automatic_transmission.shtml

 

[diyfarmer]

Seeing as their putting a Deutz engine in it why not put the gearbox too. My brothers Deutz tractor has 6 gears and 6 power shifts that get you from 2 km to 52km all in one short gear stick movement.

 

[Renze]

Yes ZFs latest reincarnation of the T-7200 series is a great improvement. But still 5 ranges, while 3 ranges with 8 speeds would give better field performance i.e. no need to shift during field work.

DSG gearboxes, the idea seemed great but the wear is bad. Ford recalled thousands of vehicles and VW has its share of problems.

While on the other hand, ZF introduces new fully automatic planetary transmissions with 6/7/8/9/10 gears, where they claim 13% reduction of fuel consumption of the 8 speed versus the 6 speed because of smart ratio choices and power paths with only two open clutches with less internal friction.
I'd say this one extra open clutch versus a DSG wont give that much extra friction, but gives greatly improved simplicity and reliability...

 

[international]

The new gearshift looks very low but one would have to have it for a while to know and they never change the steering tilt arrangement ones pre 08 had a much better system but it cost more and took up a little extra floor space

 

[zetorfanpl]

Crystal 170 prototype on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeRlEFo0mHU[/]

 

[Renze]

Crystal 170 prototype on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeRlEFo0mHU[/]

This looks like a 3 year old Crystal 160 prototype with the cab elevated by 10cm to see if it indeed improves visibility as everyone said it would.

It still has the gearbox whine of the old gearbox, the new Eco 40 gearbox has different ratios so shouldnt whine

And does it have a decent rear axle already, or do they still put the badge HD on a light duty tractor with a 6.5 ton rear axle where the market calls for at least 8 ton ? They now write 6.5 instead of 6 ton in Forterra HD 2018 manuals, but 6.5 ton still isnt a contracting unit. Fendt 700 has 8 ton, Deere 6170M has 8.5 ton. Zetor still isnt very good at benchmarking...

 

[diyfarmer]

I seen someone wrote about the new Crystal that it was a shame it was not a 50k tractor, which is true so many other makes at 150+ HP are all going over the 50 - 60 Km now.

MF, JD, NH/Case, SDF, Claas, Valtra, Landini/McCormick, Fendt all do them and so to make Zetor the choice of contractors wouldn't think they do the same?