Combine for a smaller farm

[A . M. Aitkins]

Hello all, I have recently been considering buying a small combine to do my own work. due to the prices of custom harvesting rising substantially in my area. But I wanted to get some opinions on what you guys think would be a good sized combine. We farm roughly 40-45 acres of corn and roughly 40-45 acres of soybeans. I was looking at possibly getting a glener k or f are these good machines or what would you recommend? Thanks

 

[rrlund]

That's exactly what I was going to recommend. Either one is a good choice. K would be a 3 row machine, F a 4 row. They share a lot of common parts. Big difference is, K has three straw walkers, F has 4, so the F is a wider machine.

 

[Mark EC.IN]

If I were you, I'd look for a 1440 or 1460 CIH Axial Flow. They are probably more dealer and aftermarket parts for them than any older combine out there. They are also easy to work on.

 

[casecollectorsc]

Where you located? Friend has a M gleaner diesel that could be bought reasonable.

 

[A . M. Aitkins]

Where you located? Friend has a M gleaner diesel that could be bought reasonable.

I'm in central PA

 

[A . M. Aitkins]

That's exactly what I was going to recommend. Either one is a good choice. K would be a 3 row machine, F a 4 row. They share a lot of common parts. Big difference is, K has three straw walkers, F has 4, so the F is a wider machine.

Do you know how well a K with a 3 row corn head in 170-200bpa corn would do?

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Do you know how well a K with a 3 row corn head in 170-200bpa corn would do?

That would work fine. You can go slow enough to handle whatever it's taking in. What I noticed when we got into 200 bu corn was bin capacity. I had a F2 with four row narrow head, (K2 with three row before that). I couldn't go a round in even a moderate size field. I had added a little on to the factory bin extension too. Working alone, I want to be able to dump on one end of a field. But that's just me. That may not be an issue for others.

 

[flying belgian]

That would work fine. You can go slow enough to handle whatever it's taking in. What I noticed when we got into 200 bu corn was bin capacity. I had a F2 with four row narrow head, (K2 with three row before that). I couldn't go a round in even a moderate size field. I had added a little on to the factory bin extension too. Working alone, I want to be able to dump on one end of a field. But that's just me. That may not be an issue for others.

Any field that we could not make a round with the ear corn picker Pa would plant huge headlands. 48 rows on each end. 60, 80 if we had to.

 

[rrlund]

Do you know how well a K with a 3 row corn head in 170-200bpa corn would do?

The guy I bought my K2 from used to post on here, but I think he's passed away now. Anyway, he told me that he had run 200 bushel corn with this one with no problems. I think you'll just want to be sure that the separator clutch is adjusted good and snug. That's about the only issue I've had. At the first sign of slippage, you want to tighten it up a notch.

 

[casecollectorsc]

I'm in central PA

Would be a long trip...

 

[A . M. Aitkins]

What would the fuel consumption per hour for a gleaner k be?

 

[rrlund]

What would the fuel consumption per hour for a gleaner k be?

Very little. I fill mine once a year, cut 20 acres of oats and open up my corn fields.

 

[paul]

Cost is going to be about the same. For close to 100 acres I might want to get the F series.

It was always tough to get 3 rows of modern corn yields through a K. The header drive worked pretty hard. The bin fills up fast. It works, but kinda slow….

Depends what you find of course. If you happen upon a good K first, I’d snap it up too.

Paul

 

[rrlund]

Cost is going to be about the same. For close to 100 acres I might want to get the F series.

It was always tough to get 3 rows of modern corn yields through a K. The header drive worked pretty hard. The bin fills up fast. It works, but kinda slow….

Depends what you find of course. If you happen upon a good K first, I’d snap it up too.

Paul

Ya, I'm with you on that. The one thing I don't really like on my K2 is, the header doesn't have a clutch to shut it off. If the separator is running, the header is running. An F can be shut off. But ya, If a nice K or K2 crosses your path first, grab it.

 

[560Dennis]

Sounds like a good start . Price , cost of repairs considering

 

[NY 986]

Going to be a K coming up for auction here in the Finger Lakes within the next few weeks. Pirrung Auctions of Wayland, NY is handling the sale and the combine is in their neighborhood. Advertised as non running and pictures will be posted. That is if you have your heart set on a K. I'm with some of the others in looking for a bigger combine with more capacity in terms of thrashing and bin size. John Deere in terms of dealers here does a good job of stocking parts for the more widely sold machines such as the 6620. I don't know your budget but a good retirement sale combine either JD or IH is what I would be looking at.

 

[yessam]

The CIH 1660 are going pretty cheap now. A lot more after market parts the Gleaner.

 

[johnnmr]

What do you have for local dealers? If you're running older machinery you don't need to drive all over for parts when it's time to harvest. A 3/4s clapped out 30-40 year old machine could suit you better if you find the right deal.

We ran a c2 for wheat and milo (neighbors cut our beans) until 2005 when dad had the high bid on a repossessed r50. Cutting our own beans for a few years paid for the machine.

 

[NY 986]

Going to be a K coming up for auction here in the Finger Lakes within the next few weeks. Pirrung Auctions of Wayland, NY is handling the sale and the combine is in their neighborhood. Advertised as non running and pictures will be posted. That is if you have your heart set on a K. I'm with some of the others in looking for a bigger combine with more capacity in terms of thrashing and bin size. John Deere in terms of dealers here does a good job of stocking parts for the more widely sold machines such as the 6620. I don't know your budget but a good retirement sale combine either JD or IH is what I would be looking at.

Pictures are posted on the K I mentioned. Looks fairly decent for being kept outside for the last few years.

 

[Destroked 450]

I have a K with a 2-38 head, it does ok in modern corn but I’d rather have 30” rows, 3-30 head in modern corn is going to have you crawling across the field and probably clutching a gait bit to let it clean out
It’s little 250 Chevy gas engine isn’t terrible hard on fuel but it doesn’t sip it either, the K2 diesel is better if it isn’t a hydro model, those are way under powered if you have hilly ground
I’d like to find a good F2 with 4-30 black strip head but good ones are getting difficult to find local and transporting cost are not cheap anymore
We use to run MF 525 and 550 hydros, good machines but a pain to work on, pretty much gone for my area as many were scraped
Friend had a Case 1460 that was a good machine that worked with a 4 row head, but I don’t know what maintenance cost are for rotary machines

If your set on Gleaner move up to a F2 minimum