Massey Ferguson 399

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Massey Ferguson 399 was released globally in 1987. It was first introduced with a black cab that was similar to that of its predecessor range, the 600 series Massey Ferguson. The 399 was initially powered by a 97 horsepower Perkins A6.354 6 cylinder diesel engine as standard. It was the most powerful in the range of the 300 series built at Massey Ferguson's Banner Lane, Coventry,(U.K) factory . Its brilliant red appearance stood out when the state of the art "Hi-line" silver cab was introduced in 1991 The engine was uprated to a 104 hp Perkins 1006 series engine in the same year . The company never had such bumper sales with a series of tractor since it first started decades previously. The years 1994/5/6 where good for Massey Ferguson when the Republic of Ireland and the UK had record sales of this series. The main reasons for this was its unrivalled reliability, excellent cab, strong features and powerful engine the latter sometimes receving dealer fit turbocharger kits to boost the 399's power to the 125/130 horsepower mark, this then gave the farmer a lightweight yet powerfull tractor for field work where a larger tractor might damage the crop. at the start of production It was available with a 12 fwd 4 Rev synchromesh gearbox untill 1991 when a 12 fwd 12 rev shuttle gearbox was introduced, 4 years later and a 18 fwd 6 rev speedshift gearbox was introduced, which was simmilar to multi-power gearbox fitted in the earlier Massey Ferguson tractors, both the latter two gearboxes where fitted untill the end of production & where available as 30 or 40Kph speed versions . In the U.K & Ireland the Speedshift tractors where offered with front fenders, flashing amber beacon & rear wash wipe as standard equipment in two wheel drive form or four wheel drive form, the latter being the bigger seller of the two. The tractor remained in production untill 1997 when the 4200 series was launched and the 399 was replaced by the 4270.