friendly combine discussion

[kenbob]

If a guy wanted to buy an old combine to do 30 acres, would you guys have recommendations. It would be pulled with a tractor with a super low gear so capacity would be an issue, but less of one. We have experience with AC all crops. I know some folks use a Case A6, there is an oliver, Massey and JD all of that era, but don't know much about them. Some friendly discussion on a rainy (i wish) day.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Depending on how fast you want to cut it I would look at at least something like a Gleaner A,C,E,F,G,OR K lots of choices and plenty of parts for most of those models. The Pull types are getting less available due to collectors. Cutting 30 acres with an old pull type combine is going to be a real slow job. Even with the small self propelled models like I mentioned and any of the other similar sized models will take more than a day to cut it and depending on the yield maybe even more like 3-4 days.

 

[rrlund]

Oliver 18, AC 90, Deere 30. All were late model without a canvas. There was the Deere 42, but it needed more room to store. Having had both a 30 and a 42, I think I'd take the 30.

 

[NY 986]

Buy one in nice condition as parts are most likely hard to come by. Small self propelled combines are actually very reasonable in price anymore as more farmers are up sizing or hiring their work done. JD 3300 or Oliver 525. Better parts situation as well.

 

[rustred]

the cockshutt 542 or 5542 would be a good choice. they are a simple machine that is easy to work on and can be bought cheaply and many have been forgotten in sheds. yes it is self propelled as that is a way better choice. plus they would have a cab. i used to have them and very good machines. trouble free. i know i still would look for one if i was doing hobby harvesting.

 

[Chester5731]

I am partial to mr JD55 square back.

 

[KL in Wi]

We had a McCormick 64 which did a real nice job of cleaning. There was also the 76, another good machine.

 

[560Dennis]

What are you combining ?
If grass seed need the scour cleaner attachment does and excellent job . We have the scour cleaner on ours ,I would recommend it to you .
Look for one you can obtain parts for .
Our AC 72 has the auger feeder from header. Nice ! no canvases the mice love to chew up . Canvas is expensive if you have not priced .
AC 90 get you finished a bit sooner.
AC has smaller grain hopper (35 bushel) so a lot of time unloading . Suggest the have grain bulk hopper close or following you to unloading.
The ihc 84 look good to me ,no experience with them , but the smaller ihc do a better job of grass seed cleaning than the AC so far . But also need to more experience with the AC ,
Lets know what you what you choose

 

[DanielW]

Keep the Oliver 18's in mind. I have an All-Crop 90 and two 66's, but have also used a friend's Oliver. The Oliver has a narrower cut width than the All-Crop 90, but probably gets about the same number of acres per hour because it seems to feed a little smoother and run with a touch higher ground speed. Whatever you get, look for one without canvases (if an all-crop, look for a 72 or 90). Also check the bottoms of all hoppers/chutes for rust. The canvas/draper style are nice for gentle handling of some clover crops, but for grains they're just a pain.

Nothing wrong with the All Crops if in good condition. One of the issues with the all-crops is the rubber concaves: They're fantastic if they're still in decent shape, but at this point they're all old enough that many are worn out and have the fixed rubber insert beat to heck or missing. If that's the case, they won't thresh worth a dang until they're fixed, and the rubber inserts are getting a little harder to get. The simple steel concaves of the other brands might be a little harder on fragile clover/grass seed, but there's a better chance they'll be in usable condition.

I'd look for one with a scour-kleen. They do an amazing job of cleaning out the fines. You can still get new screens for scour-kleens, and your end product will be a higher grade. Really useful for us as we don't spray our grain for the cattle and one of our grain bins doesn't have an aeration floor. The green weed seed that you'll get in the product without a scour kleen can really cause some issue with heat/mold. With it cleaned out from the scour kleen, it's a much better product to put in the bin.

 

[Leroy]

Were not in my area, never saw one.

 

[DR. EVIL]

Dad had a pair of Continental engine powered IH #62 pull type combines. One to run, the other for parts if and when needed, plus once hot, if the Continental engine died for whatever reason, it would not restart until completely cooled. Plus they had canvases, two per combine if I remember correctly.
Dad replaced the two IH #62's with a Pto driven Deere #25, unfortunately it had two canvases also. And Deere had a stupid design on the gearboxes for the 25 & 30, you could run the combine in one lever position. To unload even if stationary you had to stop and shift the drive gearbox from running the combine to running the unloading auger in the grain tank and unloading auger. When grain tank empty shift gearbox to run the combine, and the pto had to be turned off. Dad replaced the gearbox on his #25 and the #30 he bought off the new equipment salesman at our closest Deere dealer, his privately owned personal combine. Took about 2-3 days and we replaced the $400 gearbox, You had to stop the combine and engage the grain tank augers, re-engage the combine and continue combining until the grain tank is empty, then simply pull the control rod to disengage the grain tank while continuing to run the combine. We always pulled a wagon alongside the combine so to unload we stopped forward motion of the tractor, combine, & wagon, shut the pto off, once stopped engage the grain tank, engage the pto and start combining and moving forward. When unloading auger starts just dribbling into the wagon shut off unloading auger on-the-go. Only a 7 ft cut on the 25 & 30 and the 30 had NO canvases.
Took a good day to cut 20 acres of oats. We raised soybeans a couple years and Dad hired a guy with a 4400 Deere and a 13 ft header to cut them, same guy combined 120 acres of corn one year for us also.
I see these HUGE 8 & 12 row combines and see how fast they fill semi's. It would be real hard to mess with a small pull-type combine or mounted corn picker when you could plant 6 30 inch rows, or maybe 8 and let one of these monster combines harvest it. Dad played Grain Cart with his 1951 Farmall M and Heider Augerwagon that held 90 bushel, same as the the 4400 combines grain tank.

 

[Leroy]

The AC 60 in timothy or red clover would clean the seed good enough you did not have to run it thru a fanning mill and no one around here had those cleaners. I do know a Massey clipper or 35 will not handle the grass seeds. I had 3 AC 60, a MH clipperSP and a MH 35SP. Then Deere 45 had 4 of them and they would require an entirely different system for the small seeds, Only saw one case pull type and that was when being traded off. Any time seeing a scour clean it was in junk pile.

 

[Leroy]

None of the pull type combines were intended to unload on the go. Not until the self propeled was that feature designed in.

 

[connor9988]

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[Leroy]

I have never seen an Oliver of any model except one in scrap yard. And 65 years since I first ran a combine.

 

[Rick Remmert]

I don't agree with that at all. I ran a 1962 Gleaner C with a factory 20' header. It ran on propane. No cab and the unloading auger folded back for transport. It was 1 year old and used very little when we got it. I ran it from 63' until the early 80's. Parts were never a problem because we lived 20 miles from one of the largest dealers in the state of Kansas. I am guessing we cut 100 to 150 acres in a day. The biggest bottle neck was getting the 2 grain trucks back from the elevator. That was when cutting wheat was fun.

 

[rustred]

If ur in the US then they would be green and called Oliver , also the minneapolis 4292 is exactly the same combine. So this combine can be red, green or yellow. I still have my original Minnie 4292 here. They are the Chrysler flathead 265 cid engine . The 5542 is the 318 v8 .

 

[Leroy]

Ohio and lots of Cockshut but not the combines

 

[ss55]

Unless he intends to rebuild it anyway, on sixty plus year old combines start with the one in the best condition regardless of the brand.

 

[kenbob]

I should have said he doesn't care if it takes him a week to do 30 acres and it would probably only be beans. They don't do much wheat around there, and no grass seed so those who mentioned that, thanks, but not an issue. There is a chance he might do oats, but I am guessing with how much straw oats makes these days it would overtax most of those small combines. He could always windrow half swaths I guess.