Pic-(3) JD 105's Custom Cutting Wheat In 1970

[1206SWMO]

I was recently going thru some old papers and found a neat custom combining story..It was from the June 7,1970 Kansas City Star newspaper...It was about the Gene Watson family from Wayside,KS...

In 1969 they purchased (7) new 105 John Deere combines (no cabs) with 20 ft headers..They also had 7 grain trucks,2 pickups,3 travel trailers,and the family car..Their total investment was some over $200,000..That wouldnt go very far today..

At age 44 this was Genes 6th season of custom combining...His 5 sons ranging from age 12 thru 24 were part of the crew..Their run started at Temple,Texas and ended up at Bismarck,N Dakota..

One of the pictures in the story showed them putting a new engine on one of the 105's..They carried a spare with them..

 

[Jim in Sask]

That's a great picture. If you can get ahold of the August 1972 issue of National Geographic it has an article entitled, "North With The Wheat Cutters" that followed the Max Louder outfit on their trek. They were using 4 Massey 510 combines, good article with lots of quality pictures.

Edit: Interesting what you can find on google. Here's a tribute to Max Louder and tells more of his combining history:

http://www.mmlphoto.com/tribute.htm
 

[Cooney Minnie]

Very cool... Not that 105 cabs were that great, but I wonder how much they would have added to the total vs operator fatigue.

Also note the 105s are set up to run on propane. This was NOT common in my neck of the woods (WI).
 

[Tech 7]

Can't you just taste the dust??? First combine I ran (IH 93) certainly had no cab and the following NH 975 and 1500 wern't a lot better in that regard. I remember that article in National Geographic...hadn't thought of that in years!
 

[Case Nutty 1660]

neat story wish I had a copy to read it thanks for posting I love these older machines/stories and running them, I still custom cut with a 1969 Case 1660 with a 20' hdr along with sevral others of mine I use every year as to the dust heck to me its part of the experiance LOL cnt
 

[DeltaRed]

Thats a great pic!!That could be me....'sept it would be 55-95-105.I'll never forget the time I saw 5 matching 105s in a field near my hometown of Wellington,CO.
 

[fixerupper]

Delta, a fella we harvested for by Sterling Co. came out with an aerial pic of his farm being harvested with ten 95-105's. The old bus bunkhouses were in the background. What struck me was the owner's mid-sixties car sitting in the middle of the stubble. I guess he wasn't worried about a stubble fire huh! He said the drivers would bathe in the cattle tank at the end of the day. After sitting in a shower of chaff all day anything they could take a bath in was probably welcome. Think of bunking out in an old bus at the end of a 100+ degree day. Jim
 

[gtractorfan]

Wonder if they ran that close to each other most the time. There'd be less dust if they stayed away from each other.
 

[fixerupper]

Gtractor you rarely see them that well spaced. When I was on the harvest we had aerial pics taken of six combines one time for company advertising. It was very difficult to keep them all spaced the same. Then one of them broke down in the middle of the shoot.

When we were running hard I sometimes shook my head at the young combine operators who thought they had to run right behind the machine in front of them. For one thing, in heavy dust it's not safe, but it didn't seem to occur to them that they were cleaning filters more often than the other combiners were. Duh! Saved a lot of time following that close huh! Jim
 

[tomstractorsandtoys1]

Thanks for posting,old stuff like this is neat.We have 2 95 combines and a 55.I am the only person in my area running old stuff anymore.There are very few 3300,4400 and 6600's left anymore.
 

[R Wyler]

Great pic. Almost never see 5 series here anymore. I am surprised those were cabless. Too bad solid practical machines like this are being done away with. Cabs are very nice and a water cooler works well here in okla plus alot less $$ than an AC to repair. I have a good roof to keep the sun off. The chaff irritates my eyes something terrible need to find some good aviator goggles.
 

[mike plotner]

wouldnt mind having those 105s around for a while. even if they are LP inteasd of diesel!
 

[R Wyler]

Yes those are built to last and be practical to repair and maintain. I would like to find a 95 or 105. Dad run a 95 for years. I know those are a big combine. Anyone that thinks they are small needs to pitch bundles into a thresher or better yet to it all by hand like in the past. We are liable to be getting back there if things keep up like they are and I do believe times are going to continue to worsen.
 

[DeltaRed]

Mike,I have 2 to sell in western Colorado....