.... i wouldnt be able to say if this is my nr one of the technic sets or the 8860. Both were so much fun to build, both looked great, both were much fun to play with. The design of this one is awesome, the colours of lego back in those days (just red, blue, yellow and black here) were used in perfect harmony which makes this set to some outstanding thing. i own the 851 also, it never impressed me that much as this one did.
Even today this one is an eye catcher when its build and standing around somewhere in your rooms :)
5/5

I have this and the 851 / 952 red tractor. When I was young, I thought this set was much cooler than that one.

Box/Instructions

I remember that it was sometimes challenging to see where they were putting parts, though not as challenging as the all-blue moon lander set.

Parts

At the time, this had a lot of "special" parts relative to other expert builder sets that I had. The 12M technic beams were hard to come by, the steering parts were new, and this set had those 4- and 6-long plates with the holes at the ends that could either pivot or lock into place. It also has 4 of the massive wheels and tires that were what most technic vehicles used at the time.

The build

Not any more challenging than the original Auto Chassis, though this one did use rubber bands.

The completed model

In spite of another reviewer's comment, this was fun to play with. The base attachment was a rake with spring-loaded teeth that you could actually drive over a lego pile and watch them spring. The raise-and-lower mechanism was simple and functional. The pistons worked as long as you didn't tighten the axle bearings too much. The steering was indeed geared too high, but was still usable. And this thing was big - it towered over most other creations.

Overall opinion

I enjoyed this set thoroughly when I was a kid. Of the expert builder sets I had (helicopter, red/yellow/blue auto chassis, red tractor, this tractor, engine, motor), this was my favorite. It looked like something more than just the skeleton of a vehicle, but it still had lots of working parts inside to make it interesting.

Having already reviewed 851 and 8849, here we have the middle one (though not in size!). A mighty looking beast of a thing that I liked very much 30 years ago and still do. A clear attempt to produce a more modern looking tractor after the decidedly vintage 851, this model sought to be bigger and better and didn't quite succeed...

Bigger it certainly was; almost as big a set as 8860, the ultimate at the time. The trouble was, despite making things like the three point hitch and steering mechanism more complex, these things didn't work quite as well as the simpler systems of 851. The implement had an unrealistically small range of movement and required a latch to save from dropping - this wasn't needed on 851 (over-centre action) or 8849 (worm gear driven). The lever to control it was well placed, though.

Steering was all or nothing - a tiny flick of the tiller had the wheels on full lock. Why such a large gear acting on the rack ? Or why not gear it down ? There was plenty of room... It could have done with a hand of god system (a la 8849) due to the simple but effective body getting in the way.

Still, at least it had an engine - made with the old square pistons and geared to make a satisfying noise as it was pushed. Worked very smoothly, too. Neither of the other two had this; there had to be something more for all that extra size! The bonnet opened as well, with a simple but effective stay to keep it up.

It has it's flaws, then, but 8859 is a good tractor, albeit not a great one. It could have done with a few more gears and yellow pieces to give this the range of working implements that can be built with the 851 set, but at least it could take such things without tipping backwards (as 8849 was wont to do).

So there we are. The 1980s tractor wars have been fought and the results are in:

1st place (by quite a long way): The useful, fairly basic but utterly charming 851.

2nd place : The big and impressive but far from perfect 8859.

3rd place (but not by much): The - in some ways ingenious - badly flawed 8849.

The straight lines of farm machinery definitely lend themselves to blocky Lego designs! The 8859 cost about 85 DM at the downtown toy store in Giessen brand new in the fall of 1981, and was my fourth Technic set. The working engine certainly moves this set up slightly from the 851 tractor (in terms of realism). The 8859's alternate model, a mid-engined van, is a bit fragile, however it too is gratifying to build. You can fit a version of the 8858 3-cylinder engine in front of the 8859, but it looks a little funny. Overall a good set, not too crazy, easy to motorize, big and impressive looking when built. 9/10. 25 April 2004

My second set. Looked good on the box, but never seamed that great once built. The engine wouldn't drive from the backwheels well for some reason (maybe i overtightened things), and the various back attatchments didn't do much or work well. This was quickly abandoned in favour of 854, and the 'received very soon after' 8860 car chassis. Became most used for spares and 'own creations'.