Ford’s 7840 was a top performer in every way

FORD tractors enjoyed great success in the 1980s in Ireland, with both the popular 10 and TW series tractors.

As the 90s dawned, these tractors were heavily dated and needed to be replaced which heralded the unveiling of the 40 series in 1991.

These tractors were an all-new design, with Ford claiming that only 5% of the parts were carried over from the 10 series.

However, one tractor in particular was going to be exceptionally hard to replace – the top selling Ford 7810.

Tasked with the daunting feat was the 7840, and while most Ford enthusiasts will favour the 7810, the 7840 had no problem out-performing its predecessor in almost every area.

Fitted with the newly designed PowerStar engine, the 7840 produces 100hp from the 6.6l six cyclinder unit.

Tipping the scales at 4.6t, the hydraulic pump churns out 75l/min with lift capacity a very useful 5.9t.

Two gearbox options were available on the 7840. The manual SL Synchroshift gearbox provided 12F/12R through a 4-speed gearbox with three ranges, with dual power doubling the amount of gears in each direction to 24.

The SLE Electroshift provides the operator with 16F/16R thanks to eight gears within each of the two ranges.

A semi powershift transmission, two buttons allow the operator to change up or down through gears 1-4, while clutching and moving the main lever forward provides access to gears 5-8.

Designed with Sekura, the Superlux cab carried little forward from the old reliable Super Q.

Slim pillars and large frameless doors and windows provide great levels of visibility with electronic linkage and PTO controls and four wheel braking with most other controls becoming electronic such as the diff lock.

Also worthy of note is the shuttle lever which is the first of the three gear levers which gained a button clutch during the production run.

This was the first use of orange handled gear levers which has become a familiar New Holland feature for almost 30 years.

Early 7840s are easily identified by their white roofed cabs and blue chassis. These tractors were fitted with a Carrero-later Fiat- front axle, and many had the gearpack solenoids and loom located inside of the gearbox-later moved externally for easy access.

As Fiat took over Ford 1996, the Fiat logo headed the bonnet, the colour scheme was changed to blue cabs and grey chassis, as well as other minor changes.

New Holland decals were fixed to the bonnet with the Ford name taking a minor spot above the model number and ultimately dropped.

• Contact Peter at [email protected] or see Instagram @flashphotoscork