This good old girl....the Massey Ferguson 590, a staple fav. on farms in the 70's & 80's & many still running today. Here are are few facts if you are interested.
The Massey Ferguson 590 enjoyed a production run of 5 years during the late seventies and early eighties from 1977 up until 1982.
It is powered by a 4 cylinder, turbo charged engine manufactured by Perkins. It is the A4.248S model. The displacement of this engine is 4.06 liters.
Going forward the tractor has 8 gears while it has a quarter of this number when traveling in reverse with just 2 gears.The maximum speed that the MF 590 can achieve is 18.2 mph and it uses wet disc brakes to control it’s speed.
The Massey Ferguson 590 has the choice of 2 different chassis, either a 4×2 2WD or a 4×4 MFWD 4WD chassis. The great thing about the MF 590 is that it is able to accommodate a Massey Ferguson 2560 power loader. This helps to make this compact tractor very useful around the farm for a variety of tasks, whether it’s stacking hay bales or bringing silage from the pit. The fuel tank on the tractor is capable of holding 98 liters (15.9 US gallons) of diesel.
The hydrostatic steering on the Massey Ferguson gives it a minimum turning radius of 8.8 m (28.9 feet) for the 2WD chassis, but this increases to a 10.4 m (34.1 feet) turning radius if you are driving the 4WD version. The weight of the 2WD drive version comes in at 3020 kg (6658 lbs) while the 4WD drive version weighs considerably more at 3550 kg (7826 lbs). The total length of the MF 590 is 3.89 m (153.2 inches), but this will obviously increase a lot when you are using attachments. While the MF 590 has long since finished it’s production run and may not be remembered that well by modern farmers, it’s still worth noting that this tractor remains reasonably popular among farmers who were using during the eighties and nineties.
I'm just trying to get to grips with a 4 litre engine with a top speed of 18mph........... and having to go through 8 gear changes to reach that dizzying speed. seems odd. :)
A lovely old MF, It doesn't seem so long since it was the most sought-after and desirable machine to have on a farm, but doesn't it seem small and insignificant compared with some of todays giants?
Thanks for the follow. :)