oliver combines?

[swindave]

any one have, or had, or used a oliver combine?
or one in your neighbor hood?
ive never been around one, but growing up, a farmer in a neighboring county bought a 7800
brand new, i think a v8?

never was up close, but from the road it looked huge,
must have been ok, he ran it for years!
whats your oliver combine story?

 

[J.Wondergem]

I was never around one, but, My Dad was waiting for one to come into a local dealer. Mean while a IH came in and Dad jumped on it even though the dealer really didn't want to sell it to him him. He got it home and started going through it and it was junk. He found a guy that was looking for one so he traded even up for a Massey Harris Clipper. Got that home and it wasn't any better than the IH. He was PO, talked to the other guy and he was PO at my Dad, so they were P.O'd at each other. He had me under and in it gas torching all the screens and shackers up every day for about a week. That was the first year I was in high school and he didn't know how to weld. He took it out and did some combing with it, brought it back for me to weld a little more on it and it was working. He got his use out of it for years. I think he got a Oliver one after I was gone from the farm

 

[rustred]

they could be any color also. red, green or yellow. did a lot of combining with the yellow one. 4292 minneapolis. and cockshutt or white 5542 is the same unit.

 

[oliverkid]

I’m running a 68’ 525 with a 13 foot head in beans and a green 72’ 7300 diesel with a 704N in corn. Good old combines. Really easy to work on. Just got done repairing Blane Bolte’s old 84’ White 8700 after he rolled it over 3 years ago. Going to start using that to shell corn. Bought a 13 foot White flex head with automatic header height to run beans with the 7300 and I’m going to get the 525 permanently set up to cut wheat.

 

[OLWHDA]

Dads first Oliver combine was a new pull type 18, tornado blew the shed down on it the first fall he had it, next was a Self propelled 25 with only a grain
head the first year, second year he got a 2 row corn head, then he traded for a new 1966 525, 13 ft and 522 2 row corn head. In 1968 I bought a 1964
used 525 with chopper, 13 ft and 522 corn head, picked up a used 1968 545, 4 row wide with 13 ft cutter bar, then later 2-3 years I traded the 545 and
525 for an RED 8600 diesel hydro 15 ft Kwik Kut and new 704 corn head, wore that out and bought a used 8920, 20 ft and 6x30 ran that a few years
and dealer retired so I went to Gleaner R52, and never looked back.
Lots of memories, had a great dealer, bought lots of parts esp for the 8600 and 8920, those final drives deep Missouri mud, and rice tires didn’t work
very good.

 

[big tee]

My Son had one given to him last June--We have always been Deere so this is the first Oliver combine in the stable so time will tell how much we like it!---Tee

It's been sitting for 40 years--

Tuff to load--

Ready to go West and follow the harvest--

The "shield"--

 

[ztrmowers]

dad had 525 and a 535 oliver combine first was two row unit second 4 row unit. later went to the 7600 oliver ,this was a big piece of trouble,got rid of it went to deere 6600 sidehill and been deere ever since . today no combine cash rent ground out.

 

[rrlund]

I've got a 7300. 318 Chrysler V8 gas engine. 72 model, the only year they were green. The 73s were red and had White decals on them. I just watched one of those sell on an auction last month, had a 354 Perkins diesel in it.

We had 2 model 15s years ago. I bought one with a motor on it. Uncle Claud had one with a PTO that he bought new. He wouldn't part with it for a long time, but he finally sold it to Dad. I don't know why nobody has ever done an article on them, but I can tell you that despite having the same model designation, they were two different machines. The one with the motor was a way heavier machine. Heavier frame and tongue, shaft driven reel vs belt driven on the PTO model, the grain tank was even a whole different thing. The tank sat entirely above the frame, had a V bottom with a cross auger to the discharge auger. On the PTO model, the tank was taller and sat down behind the frame. It gravity fed to the discharge auger. They both had canvases, that was about the only similarity. I wish I had pictures of the two of them.

 

[JohnRowehl]

My father bought a used 535 in 1973 from the Oliver dealer. We also had a 1964 IH 403 at the time. The 535 had more capacity and I remember dad saying how much nicer the handling was compared to the 403. Problem with the 535 was it was always breaking down. We also had to fabricate some shields to try and keep straw from plugging up the screen for the intake of the cleaning fan as they were stationary, unlike the 403 that rotated.

He kept it until after the 1975 harvest season was over. Bought a new JD 7700 and kept the 403. Despite warnings from my father about the reliability of the Oliver, a good friend of his who had borrowed it to finish up his season after his (Massey) had broken down, wanted to buy it from him. I guess it worked out for him. After all, all those new parts we had to put into it probably gave that Oliver 535 a second life. (LOL!)

 

[JK-NY]

A friend of mine who I used to help nights and weekend back in the early 1980’s when I worked construction full time had a Oliver 35. First time I was on a self propelled combine , I wanted to try running it so I got to a little . In oats and no cab it could be a pretty dusty job. There is a neighbor who still uses a 535 for a few acres of oats every year. I have seen a couple of old pull type Oliver combines but the most common pull types around here were IH, JD and AC.

 

[B A Star]

   Those old Oliver combines ground drives are interesting.   A group of friends restored a 33, it used a Charles City 66 transmission, had a ID plate with model # & S/N.

   I believe the 35 used a 77 trans.   The model 40 did not use the CC transmission, had a variable belt drive, could be ordered with a L head gas or Super 88 Diesel engine.

  I started working for an Oliver dealership 1, 64.   The company had provided a preproduction 535 for a customer evaluation.   One of the first things after I started was to bring that machine up to current production.

   Early Farm Progress Shows rotated between the three "I" states, I remember running 353 & 545 machines when the show was in Iowa.

 

[J. Schwiebert]

Look at Big Tee's picture. It shows the 88 transmission. There was also a Vari-draulic drive available on the 33 combine. The 40 was also available in a crawler model. A corn head was also available for the model 40. The model 40 used a model F 244 engine while the 33 & 35 combines used an F 226 engine.

 

[big tee]

Here are a couple more pics of the left side---

 

[Gambles]

I was just a small kid, but I remember my neighbor having an Oliver combine similar to that. I only remember the engine on the left side and it was close to the ground.

 

[J. Schwiebert]

The 7300 replaced the 535 and it was a very trouble free combine. I would need to look to see what all was changed from the 535.

 

[J. Schwiebert]

Local former M - F dealer has a very clean looking 8920 on his lot if you want to add to your collection. Not that far from you. It has a 706N corn head on it.

 

[billfromwisconsin]

I have a SP-110 Farmcrest, it was made by Cockshutt. Does that count? It is a 1952 model with a Chrysler flathead six in it.

 

[rdandersom]

My Dad bought an almost new 18 in 1965. used it in oats and barley until 2006 when he died. It was an excellent machine and it caused several nieghbours to get combines like it the next few years.