Case IH Puma 155 tractor

By: Terry Stevenson

Date: 09.03.2010

The Case IH Puma tractor is a versatile large tractor making its mark

Case IH Puma 155 tractor

Excellent levels of grunt
Easy to use transmission
Powershifting all the way through the gearbox
Front and cab suspension rides the bumps very well
Quiet cab with great visibility
A very manoeuvrable medium sized tractor
Headland management button

Case IH Puma tractors are now all made in its Austrian factory, and the quality of the product shows.

Puma tasks include mowing, mower conditioner, raking, fertiliser spreading with a trailer, under sowing work.

The cab

The three steps up to the cabin take you into the operator’s room, where all the controls are well placed.

The cab is very quiet, and only four pillars obstruct the operator’s view outside.

With a 4449mm wheelbase, the Puma 155 is the biggest short-wheelbase Puma in the range. The next four models share a 4916mm wheelbase and are 1250kg heavier.

The 50kph Puma 155 was extremely smooth on the road and paddock. With a comfortable seat as a base, the front suspension soaked up the bumps, and helped with stability at top speed on the road.

It has a 55-degree steering lock, making it easy to drive through any awkward gateways.

Performance

On a small downhill section there was good feel and plenty of power stopping the 5600kg Puma 155.

Having plenty of hydraulic power is important to run the big implements, and Len Olesen says his Puma’s four 113-litre/min outlets (two floating) don’t run short.

"I like the extra grunt and, because it’s so smooth, you can’t beat it. I’ve had a 15-tonne trailer load of dirt on it and it was no stress at all. It doesn’t use much diesel, certainly no more than the previous tractor," he reckons.

Engine

All the tractors in the range share the same 6.7-litre six-cylinder four-valve common rail CNH engine block, but with a different electronic chip and ancillaries.

The intercooled, turbocharged diesel engine produces a lot of grunt. I took it up a short but steepish hill several times in fairly high gears and only once did the motor drop more than 100rpm. So I tried going up at idle in 10th – the Puma barely flinched!

Maximum horsepower output of 160hp comes in at 2200rpm, with a power boost up to 178hp under load by sensing the torque off the PTO shaft. Maximum torque of 874 is at 1600rpm in power boost mode, while normal output is 774 at 1400rpm, fairly low in the rev range, for better economy.

Multi-controller

The multi-controller is a small screen with an armrest-mounted joystick with an array of buttons on top. I could operate forward and reverse changes of direction off the orange button, a repeat of the steering column mounted shuttle lever.

Incorporated into the front "A" pillar are more digital and analogue displays, such as fuel, road speed, time, linkage lift rate, hours and PTO information, to name a few.

Transmission

The full powershift transmission is fantastic. All you have to do to change up or down is to press a button on the multi-controller joystick – no manual gear changes or double-action range changes are required. The operator can quickly select a lower gear if needed on a hill, without stopping the tractor to make a range change.

On the joystick there’s an auto button for when you want the transmission to change automatically, to which I could still manually add or reduce a gear or two, and a few other buttons to operate headland turning, the linkage and two hydraulic outlets.

When I stopped, the Puma 155 automatically moved into the pre-set take-off gear, 12th. When I selected reverse, the tractor would automatically take the reverse gear half of the forward gear (when below 12), as displayed on the multi-controller screen. There are six reverse gears to choose from.

The only aspect I think could be improved was I had to press a button on the shuttle lever to engage neutral when I wanted to stop. I was always using the multi-controller joystick with my right hand to change rears and direction, which didn’t have a neutral button. Meaning I had to take my left hand off the steering wheel to engage neutral, and put my right hand on the steering wheel.

Read in-depth tractor reviews in the latest issue of Farm Trader magazine, on sale now.

See a range of Case IH tractors for sale here.

Specifications

Number of cylinders/type 6 turbo, intercooled
Capacity (L) 6.7
Bore x stroke (mm) 104 x 132
Rated power (kW/hp) 117/160
Rated engine speed (rpm) 2200
Max power (kW/hp) 124/168
Max torque (Nm/rpm) 690/1400
Fuel tank (L) 300
Max lift capacity (kg) 8257
Front lift hitch capacity (kg) 3568
Length (mm) 4449
Height (mm) 2985
Width (mm) 2682
Wheelbase (mm) 2789