Versatile tractors are known to be straightforward and easy to work on, and many 1970s-era machines are still in the field covering acres.
“We have a tractor that is easy to service, easy to operate and durable,” said Del Fast of Versatile.
“If you look in at some of the older tractors in the field, you will see a much bigger percentage of Versatile tractors than you will of any other brand.”
Fast said Versatile has always focused on building tough and heavy machines that hold up to decades of use.
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“We’ve always been a machine where we have a lot of horsepower to the ground,” he said.
“With our heavy frames and our heavy tractors, very little ballasting needs to be done.”
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High-horsepower Versatile tractors come equipped with a Cummins engine and the Cat power shift transmission, and Fast said the company has no reason to look at alternative power train configurations.
“It’s a very good selling feature for us because both of those products are very well known in the industry,” he said.
“Part of the reason people buy our tractors is for those two reasons.”
Ease of operation and maintenance has been built into the design of Versatile tractors.
“A guy can go to our tractor, if he’s got a grease gun in his hand, in 10 to 15 minutes he can have it serviced and ready for another day,” Fast said.
“You can put a hired hand into them, and he can understand the basics of it very easily.”
A scraper package can be ordered with a heavy horsepower tractor if it is intended for commercial operations.
“There are higher specs as far as the cab protection is concerned,” Fast said.
“Some options come standard when it goes to a scraper application. For instance, the hitch is different because you want to come as close to the tires as possible.”
DeltaTrack tractors come in three track options: the 30 or 36-inch track and a scraper track. The basic series track is the 3500. The 6500 series track comes with bigger lugs and has an extra belt for added protection. The dry lugs are lower but wider with the scraper track, which puts less pressure on them when on hard surfaces.
Fast said tracks allow the tractor to achieve slightly less than five pounds per sq. inch.
Tractors will continue to get bigger and more powerful as implement manufactures produce wider tools, Fast said.
“It’s really more the guys that are building the implements,” he said.
“As they build bigger and bigger implements, then we have to supply enough horsepower to run them.”
