If you're new to looking at manufacturers' product lines when it comes to tractors, they are frustratingly complex. Most manufacturers are going to have categories of deluxe tractors and categories of standard economy tractors. Oftentimes it's hard to go through and tell the difference between them. In the case of New Holland, they call their deluxe tractors Boomers and their standard tractors Workmasters.
The New Holland Boomer 55 is in New Holland's deluxe line. It's the biggest of their compact tractors coming in at 55 horsepower and there is not a direct Workmaster equivalent of this tractor. There is a Workmaster 55, but it is not a simplified version of the Boomer 55, it is actually a very different tractor.
There are two spots on a tractor that the deluxe features on a machine are really going to pop out at you, the operator's platform and the three-point hitch. When you sit up in the operator’s platform there are a couple of things that you're going to look around and notice as being those deluxe features.
One of those is a rubber floor mat. As silly as it is to have a rubber floor mat on a tractor, in this case, it actually is more useful than you may think. It's not just there to collect the dirt off of your shoes, but it actually helps keep the noise and the vibration down on the tractor. There are a lot of pieces in the tractor's transmission underneath those floorboards and having that rubber mat across there helps to dampen the noise.
The platform is fairly large. I have enough space to stretch my legs out but I do have some pedals in the way. The brake pedals are right here under my left foot. They are split so if you're talented enough to use steering brakes you're able to do that. On the right-hand side, there are the two pedal-style hydrostatic pedals. Overall, there's a lot of floor space. It's probably one of the larger floors in the industry, but a lot of the space that is out in front of the pedals is not very functional space.
Another thing you'll notice is that there is a little hump in the middle when you come on and off the tractor and you're swinging your feet to the side. If you're an older operator and you have a hard time getting your feet up while getting on and off, then this hump might be a little bit of a headache for you. Some machines in this class are going to have full flat floors. This does not quite have that, but you do have that nice rubber floor mat down there.
When looking at the other controls you're going to find things are dropped down below the fender now. Everything is in nice plastic cowlings and you don't look through the seat and see down to the ground like you will in some machines.
These machines do come through with some standard rear remotes. The first and second valves are already installed, so if you're one of the people who will utilize rear remotes these are very convenient and not an added expense to you. These are generally used for transport wheels, angling cylinders, or top and tilt kits. While many people may not put these to use right away, having them included as standard equipment on this tractor is worth noting. This could be a fifteen-hundred-dollar addon for other machines if you need the rear remotes.
The selector for the transmission is one thing that is in a more convenient spot than others. A lot of manufacturers put this range selector for the transmission down below the seat. On this machine, it is right up by your loader stick making it easy to reach.
The stick to operate the loader is located right up here on the fender with some nice cowlings around it. This is one of those things that you frequently will see cheaped out on economy tractors. On many economy tractors, you are going to have the valve hanging off the corner of the tractor up here in front of the machine or see the cabling and coming up here to a valve body itself. This one is nicely encased in some nice sturdy housings so if you're driving through the woods and you're going past tree branches there's not much here in order to catch something on there's.
The button layout on the dash is unique. Many of the controls are common to most tractors. There is a knob for headlights, a switch for your turn signals, an inhibit button for the emission system, and a button for the cruise control. There are a couple of things that are a little unique. While you might be used to hitting the middle of your steering wheel to blow your horn, there is actually a switch down below the steering wheel which is kind of a unique location for it. The four ways are down below the turn signal Interestingly as the steering wheel is tilted down, the buttons are part of that steering wheel housing and move down with it as well. When the steering wheel is in the full down position, reaching down here to where the horn is can be challenging.
One thing that is positioned nicely is the switch for the PTO. The PTO switch is located on the dash itself. Oftentimes that PTO switch is located around the side of the tractor. Even big farm tractors can have PTO switches that are off to the side. Having this up in front makes it very visible to you. It's a turn and bump button to turn it off, so the operation of them is nice, and having that prevents taking off and starting to work only to realize that you don't have your mower turned on.
On the floor right behind the left foot is the bumper for the differential lock that can be pushed down to slide the pin in the diff to keep it from spinning if you're tied up in the mud. Most tractors do place them down here under the heel. What you do want to watch though is right beside it is the lever for the four-wheel drive. Instead of being up on the tractor somewhere, this is located right down beside the diff. They actually put a little sticker on top of it here telling you not to step on it. That's a lever that you're going to want to move by hand to go between two- and four-wheel drive. It's a bit of a reach down there to the bottom but it is not something that you're going to want to step on because that lever is meant to be moved when the tractor is parked and not in motion.
The mid-PTO lever is located next to the seat. Many tractors in this size have started eliminating their mid PTOs because big machines like this don't frequently get fitted with say front snow blowers or mid-mount mowers. You can still get a mid-mount mower and that's becoming unique in the industry. Not only is it available on this tractor, but the mid-PTO itself is standard equipment which is a big cost saver.
The other place you will find big differences between the deluxe models and the standard models is the 3pt hitch. It comes with extendable link arms that can be adjusted by pushing down on the tabs and then just sliding the arm to the necessary length. If you've ever put a three-point hitch implement on and off before, this is the better of the systems that are out there to make it easier. We do sell a lot of three-point quick hitches to be able to pick up and lift a lot of implements but that only works when you have the implements that are right for that quick hitch. Many of them aren't properly compatible. This system that comes standard is going to be compatible with any implement that you go to put on the back of the tractor. It is also going to make it easier to hook up, rather than having to use the boot all the time to kick the arms over the top of the pins.
This is a category one three-point hitch. You'll notice that it uses balls at both the top and the bottom. It can take implements up to about 84 inches. This would include your rotary cutters or your rear blades and 72 inches if you're using things that are more demanding and ground engaging.
To the left and the right of these adjustments of your three-point arms, you have sway bars so these are going to be the bars that go down to the sides of the tractor here to allow your 3pth hitch arms to adjust left to right. Cheaper tractors are going to use turn and threaded rods. They are not nearly as easy to adjust and when they get rusty and dirty oftentimes operators are using screwdrivers to break them loose. This is a much nicer adjustment and it's also a fairly robust linkage. I have bent sway bars before and this is a pretty stout sway bar on the back of the tractor
There are some important differences in the loader knowing New Holland is coming from an agricultural background. The things that they look for in a tractor are a little bit different than some other companies that might be more focused on landscaping or more utilitarian type work. This loader is going to have quite a bit more lift height. That's really important for people that are working in those agriculture type settings, particularly when you're manipulating round bales. When you're taking bales and lifting them up to dump them into a feeder or stacking them up into a barn, having a little bit more lift height on your loader is really important. That extra foot or so might help you get up to that next level of round bales as you're going through and stacking things. While New Holland may partner with other companies in manufacturing their equipment, New holland builds this loader themselves and it is a little bit different in that way. It's been their calling card, their historical difference that they've had in their compact tractors from the rest of the machinery that's out there for decades now regardless of how these tractors have been assembled and what company they've been partnering within their manufacturing process. If you look at the length of the boom, you'll see from the tractor out to the end that this is a long loader and that long loader is what helps give that lift height. Now there is a little bit of a trade-off here. As a loader gets longer you can lift less. Just like when you're lifting away from your body you're generally going to lift a little bit less weight so that while you've got that capacity to go up high, you may not be able to get quite as much off the ground because of that design choice. Another benefit of that longer loader is your improved sightlines from the tractor. Because the loader curves off and follows the profile of the hood you don't have a hood or a loader blocking your sightlines down to the bucket. The bucket is further away from the operator which also makes it easier to see from the seat and actually get an idea of where the level point is on your bucket.
Skid steer couplers are going to come through on this machine giving you two handles to lift up to take the bucket or the pallet forks on and off of the front loader making it easy to change out for other implements. The removal of this loader from the tractor is very much like what is typical in the rest of the industry. There are two parking stands on the bottom side of the loader that are going to pin it in place which will allow the loader to free stand from the tractor. Then there are just two pins to pull out from the tractor and four hydraulic hoses to remove it from the machine. For someone who is comfortable with this, it would probably be about a three-minute process to pull the loader off the machine.
There is a large torque tube in the front that is important. Sometimes, particularly when we're looking at imported tractors that often use fairly light duty loaders for the capacity that they have, you'll see loaders cracking in the area where the torque tube piece comes across the middle of the loader and supports the arms. This is the first line of defense in terms of keeping your loader from tweaking and torquing against your tractor. When there are structural failures in loaders, more often than not you see them in these torque tubes. Oftentimes those are just a piece of pipe that's stuck across there and welded in place. The one that comes with this machine is a much larger box assembly, probably two or three times the size of what's typical. It should make this loader really robust if you're crashing into things, which obviously we don't encourage.
The way that things are laid out down under the hood can often be overlooked. I always check out the position of the battery. It is inevitable at some point that you're going to be changing out the battery on your tractor. And the position is important not just because it goes dead but also because it's a very convenient machine to use for jumping other things. I like when the batteries are put clear in the front of the machine. This tractor has it right there in the front so it is easy to get out it is also very easy to get a set of cables on there if you're going to be doing something.
The next thing I look for is the air filter. You'll see the cleaner is right here. This is going to be one of your most frequent maintenance points on a tractor because air is drawn in hopefully through the screens and stuff on the front and catching a lot of the grass and stuff, but any of that dust and everything will get drawn up into this air cleaner and you're going to need to check them periodically. Far more often than replacing oil filters. This is your most frequent maintenance item on a tractor. It is nice that it's at the front of the engine and not buried somewhere where it's hard to get to.
When looking under the hood, you also see the bottles here for the radiator that's right here in the front and then a pre-screen on the radiator so radiators have another screen in front of them to catch that chaff before it gets into the radiator core itself. Some machines are going to have those screens that don't come out at all. This one has a simple nut to loosen and can slide it out the side in order to get that cleaned out.
When operating the New Holland Boomer 55 with a wide-open throttle, it feels louder than typical. However, the peak in the torque curve right where the 540 RPMs will be set is down quite a bit lower and that's a lot more tolerable noise level than it is when it's cranked wide open.
High range is really set up as a transport range and sometimes when you start to pull even the slightest hill on some lower horsepower tractors in high range it really will dog down. This machine seemed to perform well. Some tractors will get finicky when trying to shift through the gears, but I did not have any issues when trying to shift through on this machine. Often times in more deluxe tractors like this you'll see electronically controlled hydrostatic transmissions. This tractor does not have that, it is purely mechanical. It felt like it took me a while to come to a stop after removing my foot from the accelerator. The electronic versions are going to give you some adjustability about how responsive it is. If you're doing precision work and you're in a tight area you probably want your tractor to stop more abruptly when you take your foot off the pedal. The flip side of that is you do have the feel. When I push that pedal down really hard you can hear the engine RPMs bogged down and I could feel that in the pedal.
