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Ripley, Ontario Canada | All combines break, usually on the best combine day, just after 5 pm on the friday of a long weekend, with 5 acres to go. That said they all work too. You really don't have a lot of acres even if it is all the same crop. I understand that you don't really have the option to hire a machine so you need your own. First what do you have for dealers? If you don't have one close it gets to be a real pain to get parts in a timely manor, no matter the colour. Do you have aftermaket suppliers (like an outlet for A&I). I would recommend you buy an common model of what ever colour you chose. For gleaner that would be an F, L or M series. For Deer I would go with a 66/7720 series or if you get lucky into a 94/9500 series. In the CIH I would buy a 40/60/80 series. These are the most common and have more aftermarket parts. There are also more of these in junkyards to get used parts. When I went shopping for a combine the bigger/older ones were just as cheap or cheaper than the middle sized ones, heads are more available and the aftermarket parts support is better. The capacity of the big combines is really overkill, most of the 80 series CIH would likely do your whole 80 acres in one day if things line up, but it allows you to get something done if the weather is catchy and allows you to easily do custom work (just remember to charge enough) since with very few combines in your area you may get asked to do some when you have a machine. If you have not been around a combine for a long time, you may want someone experienced to go over it for you, but they are just like any other machine. Look for rust, and pieces wore through. If crop slides over it or goes through it, it will wear, make sure the steel is still thick enough, relining auger troughs or replacing elevator tubes is a real pain, look for a different machine. Make sure all the shafts are straight, the pulleys and bearings are tight, everything that wants grease takes grease, and everything that is adjustable adjusts. If it is electric it will corrode or the wires can break, so make sure it works. Check that the oil filled gearboxes have oil in them and are not leaking. Make sure the oil is clean. See the machine run, and then check it over for bearings that get hot or belts /chains that jump. After that you will really only know the machine after you have ran it for a while, and started fixing it. | |
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looking for a combine
