Tractor test: Claas Arion 640 Cebis Sticking with its policy of naming products after Greek gods, Claas’s introduction of the Arion range allowed the firm to put its stamp on the popular mid-size tractor sector – including the use of its Cebis control terminal. To find out how these tractors perform, we assess the top-of-the-pile 110kW/150hp Arion 640.
If you’re in the market for a new 150hp tractor, there is certainly no shortage of makes and models to choose from, incl-uding the tested Claas Arion 640. Just skimming through the stats you see it’s the largest model in the Arion 600 line-up, rated at 110kW/150hp (ECE R24), with a further 25hp on tap once the boost kicks in. And all this is packed into a compact tractor frame. In addition, there’s also a reasonable sprinkling of modern user-friendly technology in the mix, with auto shifting through the Hexactiv transmission and the Cebis control terminal for further performance tweaking.
Compared to its smaller Arion 630 sibling, the 640 weighs an extra 40kg and is the only model in the range to benefit from
a power boost feature. To access those supplementary horses, the tractor needs sufficient loading on the pto or hydraulic system, or the operator has to be using the transmission in C and D range. For instance, working a power harrow at 4km/hr will be enough to trigger the pto boost of 19kW/25hp.
All the six-cylinder Arion 600s feature the same 6.8-litre Deere Power Systems block with four valves per cylinder, common-rail injection and a variable-geometry turbocharger with external exhaust gas recirculation; this spec results in Stage 3a exhaust emission credentials. Under the DLG station’s spotlight our testers measured a boosted 111.6kW/151hp at the shaft with the engine running at its rated speed of 2,200rpm. Max output reached 117.5kW/159hp when the motor pulled back to 1,800rpm. The other keys stats are a 27% constant power range, nearly 6% extra power, 37.7% torque rise as speeds drops by 25% and 122% start-off torque, all suggesting that the Arion 640 has a strong heart.
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