SMV is illegal on a Tractor capable of exceeding 25MPH

George G · May 17, 2009

New York light laws. New NY laws cover farm equipment on roads | DairyBusiness

chh · May 17, 2009

I can tell you from experience that 25 mph is really moving with a farm tractor, especially if you are towing something. My MF 5455 will top out in the 24 to 25 mph range, with or without a round baler in tow. On a smooth highway it is not bad, but you do not want to attempt it on a road that is the least bit bouncy or that has a lot of patches, you WILL find yourself bouncing off the side of the road faster than you ever believed possible.

jimmyj · May 18, 2009

PaulChristenson said:
So what do put on the tractor capable of greater than 25 mph??

I know, a wheelie bar!

Seriously, I would not want to go 40 or 50 mph on a tractor. I'm not too experienced but even with my limited use that thought makes me nervous.

radioman · May 18, 2009

George G said:
New York light laws. New NY laws cover farm equipment on roads | DairyBusiness

thanks george. I did a google, but somehow it didnt turn up.

JIGBUILDER · May 20, 2009

wish my 50 hp tractor could go 25 mph. Especially with a bunch of mad bumble bees chasing me.

I made a dumb mistake of shifting to neutral going down a long steep hill on a county road. There was no other vehicle's around as I was from bar ditch to bar ditch and afraid to touch the brakes and having one wheel brake before the other. My wife was following me in the truck pulling a hay rake. She said we were going way less than 30 mph. Felt like 60 mph to me.

horse7 · May 20, 2009

The main reason I got the road transmission (40KM/hr) is that then added electrohydraulic MFWD wet clutch instead of a manual clutch. The clutch engages with the brake pedal (i.e., is partly for braking apparently) but I wanted the button on the dash to engage 4wd more easily on demand than a lever would be. And yes, I really like the rocker switch vs. a lever...

The down side is that ALL the gear ratios are taller so the very lowest and slowest creeper is sometimes just a bit too fast.

Redneck in training · May 27, 2009

Some tractors used in Europe are designed to go fast. They have front spring suspension and the new one also have four wheel brakes.

slowzuki · May 27, 2009

I drove my new to me MF 5455 home last week and it has 40 km/hr (25 mph) gears in it. It runs a whole heck of a lot better on our rough secondary road than my little Kubota. I kept it at 40 km/h the whole 20 km drive home. Stuff that throws me in the air in the Kubota at 20 km/h was nearly unnoticed in the bigger massey at 40.

At the high speed though I did get into a bucking bronco rock for a stretch that I didn't even notice in the Kubota. I should note the MF has softride on the loader which is nice for quieting things down and the 3 point has active transport (like softride) so in the winter with the blower on I'll have less banging.

DANOCHEESE · May 27, 2009

In Iowa there used to be a bunch of road tractors for hauling Corn stock bales into the plant. They could hit 50 MPH with 16 round bales on a auto aod trailer. Unfortunatly the stock plant jsut could'nt make plywood out of stocks that you could drive a nail thru.