I know your thinking about moving up a lil bit in capacity but I think you would be so much happier with an R62. Would have more capacity than you probably need but you would love it.
from what i have been told in the past if you are used to a m or l you better go with at least a 52 if not a 62 the 42 will do as much in a day but that is about it in good corn just what i have heard dairyfarmer
In the hills with 200 bpa corn you will not be able to keep the machine full and keep the corn from running out the back with an R42, the shoe is just too small. I would look for a later model R62 with the longer shoe. You will be much happier. This might not be what you want to hear but I don't want you to upgrade and find out you do not have any more capacity in the hills than what you have now. JMHO, Pete Hinrichsen
another thing i might mention i have noticed the 62's and 72's are normally a little cheaper and i think it would be a better bang for the buck just my opinion though dairyfarmer
I went from an M-3 to a R-62 several years back,went from 4 row to 8 row. Farm quite a bit of hilly ground, 62 has twice the capacity of the M even with twice the head, side hill loss is non existant.I also run a CDF rotor, runs whole cob , uses less fuel, and more capacity than the standard, cage and rotor are not modified, but do have a hump kit.
On hill sides, if you add the slope kit, long finger chaffer, and the accell rolls are new you will gain 25-50% increase in shoe capacity. One should look carefully at 42's as many had no chrome cage or thresing grate so wear at the 1000 hour mark will start to show. Since I have no idea how the unit is set up , it is hard to tell as to your capacity. A CDF or other rotor would be a nice switch if the bars are worn. Check the helicals as well as many 42's did not have chrome helicals. All of the 40's and 42's we have out have had the hp 'adjusted' to 52 status. loaded on hillsides the std rear axle_spindles of 2wd need to be watched as they can be a weak link as well. The later adjustables were much heavier.
OK, so how would a late N5 or R5 compareIJ They had the longer rotor and wider shoe, so maybe more capacityIJ Some of our trouble with M2 is clean grain capacity. Have good flighting on augers and new poly paddles on elevator. Seems to be maxed out at about 700 bph field capacity. What is the theoretical clean grain elevator capacity of the different combine modelsIJ