HOW DO you prove that your biggest tractor is the best in the world? – you send it to Nebraska, in the US.

That's what happened with the largest model in Case IH's range of wheeled tractors – and it has set new records at the University of Nebraska's tractor test laboratory (NTTL), which is used as and international verification facility for tractor manufacturers’ performance claims.

The tests showed that Case IH's Steiger 620 – a wheeled equivalent of its Quadtrac 620 – had the most fluid-efficient and highest drawbar horsepower tractor in the world. New records set by the model include those for drawbar fuel efficiency, drawbar horsepower and maximum pull.

In each category the Steiger 620 outperformed all tractors previously tested at the facility and in addition to the highest horsepower figure of 594.08hp ever recorded there, its ability to efficiently transfer power to the ground was proven by maximum drawbar fuel efficiency figures of 242g/kWh – the equivalent of 75% of maximum pull power at 257g/kWh fuel use, mainly down to the use of AdBlue additive.

Those figures were backed up by similar results from the next model in the Steiger range, the 580, which scored the second-highest drawbar fuel economy figures ever recorded at the facility, at 243g/kWh, a figure 6.63% lower than the tested competition in its power class.

Both feature engines made in-house by Case IH’s sister company, FPT (Fiat Power Train) and feature a design in which there is no particulate filter to clean, no regeneration period and 600 hours between oil changes.