Combines 475R 9650

[Old_Pokey]

lex, I can only answer the last question. Yes, you can run a machine at least 5000 hours. There are people that take care of their machines that put on over 500 hours a year that run them well over 15,000hrs. The good thing about long term ownership is you get to know the machine and its capabilities and limitations well. The bad side is you do have to pay for the maintenence and upgrades. Just plain hours dont hurt anything, abuse and neglect are what destroys a machine.

 

[lex]

I thought so also Old Pokey. However, my 9600 gets a green light inspection ever winter, all recommended repairs are completed and I stil cannot maintain reliability. Can they run machines 15000 and still be reliableIJ Mine only has 2400 seperator hours on itIJ I have alot of problemsIJ

 

[Big_Green]

I think that you will only get one sided views over here, you might want to post on the JD page also!!!

 

[Northern]

A year or so back, there was a talk on this page about combines in Europe with well over 10,000 hrs. I think they were talking about Deutz combines. Any machine that has a heavy enough frame should be able to be rebuilt. The new level of electonics in combines may be the limiting factor, as these parts become obsolete.

 

[dakota]

I assume you're talking STS for the Deere. Your own statement "... extensive work completed on each", should be a hint how good they last. I have overhauled 8820s in the 3-4000 hour range. I found, that a well operated grease gun makes a big difference on those. The crop also makes a big difference. Corn and beans wear terrible, with beans being the worst. With higher capacity machines we all harvest more bushels per hour. Since the sheet metal is not any thicker, the bigger combines wear out faster. Even JD admits that. The lexions I have seen had hardfaced augers in. As far as your comparison goes, there is pros and cons for each. From experience I would say, that the lexion has the more reliable electronic and a much more sophisticated operator station, that I always enjoyed. The tracs will be of advantage, too especially if you get'em as cheap as you say. The market value of both machines will not be very good in the future. The lexion is not in high demand and JD has flooded the market with STS's. I would both combines expect to do a good job in corn and beans. From my experience the Deere will have a little more capacity. And if that's not enough you can put a chip in it and make a 9750 out of it. If you have dry conditions in small grains, you will have trouble with the lexion. Since the concave does not close to zero like any other combine, dry and burned heads can't be threshed out completely and cracking will occur. The lexion flex head had a much better critic in the past than the green hydraflex. The yellow cornhead is mechanically nicer than the green one, but the green one produces less header loss. For wheat and maybe beans I'd recommend a MacDon anytime.

 

[FarmBuddy]

Hmmm, interesting, I've checked around some, but still have not ever found a working combine with 15,000 hours on it. Who has one and is that just engine hours and they let it idle alotIJ The way I see it, even at a high annual use of 500 hours per year, that would take 30 years to accomplish, and it would be classified as an antique combine. Inveriably, a combine is going to have a lot of worn out parts, some replaced several times, by the time it reaches 5000 hours. I'd expect all crop and grain engaging parts will have wore out at least once by then. I've seen some run up to 10,000 hours, but that takes new feederhouse floors, chains, pulleys, all new threshing and grain handling components, new unloading systems etc. If you look at the total tons or bushels of grain handled now days verses just ten or twenty years ago, it is no wonder the elevators and augers wear out. Yields are higher, headers are larger, ground speeds have doubled, so now we see harvest rates consistently with a 475R or 9650 up around 2,000 to 3,000 bushel_hour in corn. If you can get the 475R for the same price or even less as you stated, that's the way I'd go, since dealers are equal distance and provide similar service. The 475R tracks alone would probably be worth it in your northern area and again at trade-in time.

 

[lex]

I realize this is a different business, however, airlines run there jumbo jets from the 1960's with hundreds of thousands of hours on them. Keep them maintained and overhauled and they run nearly flawless. I just don't understand why we as farmers need to purchase expensive machines every few years just to maintain reliabiltyIJ Capacity yes, reliabilty no. Shouldn't or couldn't we develope maintenance (preventive maintenance) programs like the airlines useIJ Wouldn't a machine last 7000 hours without replacmentIJ Of course you need a solid stucture to begin with. I am thinking that the lexion maybe that structure to start withIJ Interested to hear other opinions!

 

[Old_Pokey]

No problamo Farmbuddy, I will contact a friend in ND who is a member here but not a very active poster that has over 15,000 hours on a 1480. Its that farms main combine and it is very well taken care of. Every year it is gone through and updated. This year he is going with the stewart steel rotor kit. Yes the sheet metal and all moving wear parts will wear out. He knows of many high hour machines that are still the first line machines of there operations. Yes you're right it would take thirty years at 500 hours, that is why I said over 500 hours per year. Everyones operations investment stratagies will be different. Some go with realestate, others go with equipment, others use the farm for tax purposes for their outside investments. This farm choses to run older machines and invest in realestate. One neighbor has all the latest equipment, and no land. Other operations with fruit and vegatable crops will buy the big capacity for labor and transport timing. There will be extreme cases in all viewpoints. We dont have a good IH dealer. There is no way to rely upon them for any repairs, least of all in a timely manner. I do all the work on our 1680. The good thing is, I can. There is no way I could work on the new stuff with all the computor controls everywhere. I dont care if parts become unavailable, I will adapt what ever I need to make it go. With the money we save running older payed for equipment, we have aquired a nicely equipted shop are still aquiring more tools all the time. The simplicity of these old machines and the ability to improvise the repairs has paid back big. I am not against new technology in any way. In fact I embrace it. All I want is the option to adapt to it at my own pace. That does'nt seem to be an option today, so I chose to make my own equipment the way I like it and I can repair or modify it at will.

 

[Old_Pokey]

Who does your green lite repairs lexIJ That is a big concern in this area as both our red and green dealers have help turnover about every six months. I wont trust either one to change the oil, much less inspect the machine properly. If you are in the position that you have to rely upon a dealer to do your work, it will be tough to expect consistent reliability from them. I dont blame it all on the personel as most of them are just there for the job. Its not very easy for a dealership to hire a mechanic with operation experience too. If the dealer personel is not involved with machine operation on a regular basis, they cannot know what to look for. All the seminars and factory schooling is useless when it comes to inspecting more than what is on the checklist. Your machine is just young pup yet. You are the one that ultimatly has to make the desision. If your machine reliability problems are based more on big ticket items like axles breaking or superstructure cracks, or the life expectancy and cost of wear items, get rid of it. If the machine does everything you want it to do and you're happy with the results on average year in year out, but the problems are more based on things like hydraulic valves leaking and roller chains breaking or belts slipping, these things are easily overcome. The problem is getting ahold of the right person to do the work.

 

[Harvester]

You want to own a maachine long term, that's great. That makes the choice very easy. Take a look under the shields and you'll see in an instant why the STS is the Wal-Mart combine, a throw-away machine that is made remarkably cheaply. The lexion, on the other hand, is made to run several thousand hours, with a number of serviceable components that you would merely throw away on an STS. No question, the longevity advantage goes to the Cat. Performance, again, the lexion. The STS remains a very finicky machine that can perform well, but is unpredictable when conditions change and not forgiving.