When you receive a Siromer tractor, you will find a not-quite-flat package consisting of 1,200kg of metal, fiberglass, rubber and hundreds of nuts and bolts. In addition to this, you will also find several strange looking black lumps. If you look closely enough, you’ll also see what looks like an engine plus flywheel, lurking somewhere.
The question is, how on earth can this seemingly mountainous set of parts do the essential jobs on the farm? Will you ever spread manure or climb that steep hill while I tend to my sheep?
When my old John Deere was failing, I just didn’t have the money to buy a new one. I looked at a couple of old Masseys and talked to a few people at the Great Yorkshire show and that’s when they first told me about the Siromer Tractor.
At first I scoffed. I mean, a tractor that build yourself?
Well, the prices seemed almost too good to be true. In fact, I was quoted about a third of the price of a similar tractor from Europe or America. So, my arm twisted by my wife who was a little worried that I would succumb to some terrible misfortune in my old Deere, I placed an order with some skepticism and now in front of me was the Siromer Tractor…or at least the stack of components were!
I looked at the pile and put them on the grass. I took out the battery box, roll bars, fenders, weight bars, wheels, electrical system, fuel tank, hoses, air filter, and what appeared to be a host of other “parts.” “. It was actually easier than I thought to identify the parts and pretty soon I had a pretty organized array on my lawn.
I sat down with a cup of tea next and read the instruction manuals. Now, if you thought a flat backpack from Ikea was bad, you haven’t seen a thing! With this, I got a parts list that was 105 pages long, a 25 page maintenance manual, and a 70 page instruction manual. They obviously weren’t taking any chances here! It was a lot like having a giant Meccano game.
First of all I fixed the wheels to the chassis. Work done!
For the next 2 1/2 days, I methodically worked through the manual, and little by little, the tractor was put together. Apparently a mechanic can put together a Siromer tractor in about a day. The record is supposedly 2 hours. For others, the process may take longer, but Siromer is proud to proclaim that they haven’t had anyone yet who couldn’t put one together.
My final job was, quite proudly, to pin up the pristine looking seat. I then filled it rather nervously with diesel and water. I don’t know what I expected when I turned it on, but I didn’t expect to be puffing around my farm in a matter of minutes, awesome!
Siromer tractors have proven extremely popular and there are thousands in daily use in the UK. In addition to farmers and smallholders, there are some rather unusual uses. A window cleaner in Liverpool makes his rounds in one. Glider clubs have them, as do helicopter companies and schools. There is even an agricultural college that has purchased them for the sole purpose of students practicing their construction.