New Holland W170C set for the ag test

With the aim of providing complementary products to its agricultural portfolio, certain New Holland agriculture dealers will be offering ag-spec versions of the company’s construction equipment. In particular, its three-model line-up of wheeled loaders – W110C, W130C and W170C – is a good match for the firm’s self-propelled forage harvesters.

Built in Italy and North America, the W Series is derived from an O and K design, a German firm which New Holland bought in 1999. While it has been available in limited numbers in agriculture for about seven years, it is only recently that the firm has started to push the product more into agriculture. It is a tried and tested product in construction, so it will be interesting to see how it gets on in agriculture.

Cab and controls

Cab access is pretty decent, although it lacks a large platform at the entry of the cab door. The controls are well laid out, particularly the right-hand console, which incorporates switches for all machine functions that are neatly organised into groups such as transmission settings, loader settings and lighting.

The joystick is also incorporated into the right-hand console, which includes an adjustable armrest for a bit of comfort – third service is operated by an adjacent lever. Direction changes can be made either via a switch on the joystick or by the left-hand steering column-mounted lever.

The lever also features a twist grip to change gear if operated in manual. If in automatic, the gear selected then becomes the upper/limit gear.

The dash comprises analogue gauges for oil, hydraulics, transmission, water temperature and fuel level, along with an LCD display for gear selection and direction of travel.

The display can also be used to change further machine settings, such as power modes and automatic shutdown time. Visibility is good all round and you can see all four corners with ease. Air vents are well placed up the pillars and provide cooling air all around the cab.

For some fresh air, its door and the right-hand window can be opened and fastened. The cab is light and airy and you can see quite a bit of New Holland family styling shining through, particularly that of the firm’s smaller tractors and telehandlers.

To help with reversing, an in-cab monitor brings up a reversing camera image every time reverse is selected. Usefully, the image also includes a graphic to help you judge how close you are to objects.

Engine and transmission

One of the unusual features of the New Holland is its engine bay layout, in particular its cube-shaped cooling package, which sees the main transmission oil and hydraulic oil radiators arranged in a box.

This package is placed between the cab and the engine, with the latter placed low down at the rear, using its deadweight to help stability and balance. Air is drawn into the cube from the sides and the top, with each radiator getting fresh air, and expelled out the rear.

If grills become a bit clogged up, the hydraulically driven fan can be reversed either manually or automatically. In auto, it will reverse every 15 minutes for about 90 seconds. If necessary, these timings can be altered by a dealer.

The main hydraulic tank is cleverly placed inside the centre of the cube to make the most of the drawn-in air to help cool the oil. This also allows hydraulic oil service intervals to be extended to 2,000 hours when using genuine parts, says the manufacturer. Naturally, power comes courtesy of a 195hp, 6.7-litre FPT engine using selective catalytic reduction only to meet Stage 3b emissions levels.

A smart touch is the electric opening bonnet, activated with the flick of a switch. If it does go wrong, it requires getting the spanners out to remove the electric actuator and then lift the bonnet open manually.

All daily checks can be done from ground level, including cooling fluid, air filter and dipstick. Transmission and hydraulic levels can also be easily seen via sight glasses. Centralised greasing points help and there is the option of an automatic greasing system. Providing drive to the wheels is a four-speed ZF transmission offering torque lock-up in all gears to prevent any viscous losses.

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