Combines 8780 with HIlCO

Hi onion farmer!! I would love to see photo's of your leveler for the 760. This makes a lot of sense to me.. GS

Hi Greenstrat, if you can find an old Farm Profit magazine dated winter 1996, it will have photos and a small article in there. I'll see what I can do to get some photos on here. I farm in south eastern WA much of the ground we farm is not flat. We used Massey combines for years, on all that we could and other machines for the steep ground. Because I like the job the Massey's did, I decided to put leveling on a silver cab 760. I actually copied the early Hillco system, there were small swing frames on either side of the combine. When it was all done the combine was 16 feet wide, and would level up to 23%. The left hand drive tire would come up until you could not open the door cab, the steps had to be removed. I took ideas from almost every leveling system because I am not an engineer, and I didn't want to kill myself. The combine ran flawlessly for 9 years. Then I decided to upgrade to an 8780, the 760 was sold to someone else and is still running. Hope you find this interesting

interesting beyond what you might think. I have been seriously thinking of doing something like what you say you have already done. Sounds like the leveler deere used on its older 6622 hillside machines. I live and farm in hilly ground but all of it is less than the 23% your leveler would correct to. I run an older 6620 SH and like it except that the final drives are the weak point and sometimes are really expensive to repair. One failed completely and let the left side of the machine down hard tearing a lot of stuff up. Anyhow I was thinking of using an axle and finals from an 850 and fabricating a leveler like you describe for it or maybe even a larger machine such as a 7720 simply because of the abundance of repair parts. Maybe not such a good idea I guess but it looks better to me than spending so much money for a newer machine to do the same job. I have no farm profit magazines so I guess a trip to the library might help there.. Anyhow, good job on your hard work, hope to hear about it some more. GS

GS Here are some thoughts if your thinking of putting a hillside kit on any combine. I think the HIllCO design is the simplest way to go. With that system the whole combine pivots on one solid axle. This way you do not need any special drivelines. The hardest part will be making your header pivot also and still have it feed properly. The other option is in this area there are lots of used hillside combines. 6602's are selling between two and five thousand dollars. I know there is one for twenty-five hundred that is in pretty good shape. There is also MH2 Gleaners and 1470 IH. Depending on how much money you want to spend they might not be a bad way to go. One last thing the Massey final drive works well because it has the highest ratio of them all, which means less stress on drivelines and transmissions. Good luck onion farmer

thanks for the thoughts..I did not know there might be any of the old hillsides left around. Are the finals made stronger than the standard modelsIJ Bearings and bull gears don't last very long on mine. WHat is the final drive ratio of the masseyIJ I sort of thought since they all use the same hydro motors they must have close to the same final gearing. I agree, the hillco unit is so simple it makes the deere machine they sell now look real unappealing. Do you know if the center pivot has a replaceable bushingIJ looks like the only thing on it to wear out. Keeps the tires on the ground correctly too. If you want to email direct with a picture, my email is enclosed. Good luck in the new year, I hope things are going well for you. GS

GS You shouid see some photo's show up on this site. There are 2 pictures of the old 760, the new 8780 on about a 24% hill. There is also a Massey 4880 tractor with a bankout wagon. I don't know how long it will take to post them. On the Hillco leveler there are replacable bushings. Final drives are heavier on the older hillside combines. The ratios are MF-23_1, JD-12_1, or 16_1, IH-4_1, that is why they have transmition troubles. New Holland used a John Deer final drive. Hope those pictures turn out. I'll leave my e-mail address also.It might take me a few days to respond as I will be out of town. Talk to you later.