Combines Changing colors

Well said R.O.M. and Mike! Bottom line for me is value for dollars spent along with longevity and reliabilty of machine purchased. At the end of the day I prefer to look at the color of my balance sheet (black) rather than the color of my machinery sitting in the shed. Pete Hinrichsen

Hello Bill, Are you saying that your competitive dealers would take on a secondary full-line dealership and only represent "part" of the product offeringIJ If so, that was a very common occurance here in SW Ontario years ago. We had numerous New Holland dealers who were also Ford dealers, who literally considered themselves to be "Ford TRACTOR dealers" only, even though Ford (at the time) offered combines, tillage and haying equipment. My uncle inquired about ordering a Ford 642 combine and was told that the dealership only sold and supported New Holland combines (and NOT Ford combines),thus, the full Ford line was NOT being marketed OR supported. Oliver_Cockshutt dealers were just as guilty; - they would push the New Holland line in haying equipment (but not combines),and Cockshutt tractors and combines (but not haying equipment),merely because each respective brand had uniquely better "price points". In fact, the dealer would often discredit the very product of which he was a dealer for, yet didn't wish to sell. You're right; - Deere didn't follow this model, which probably helped them to forge a very loyal, focused dealer network. For example, even though some of the 14T and 24T balers were junk, the Deere dealer network sold and supported them to the fullest.

Yes, They would for instance take on oliver for the plow and the 770 tractor for instance and not push our d-17 and 9000 series plows. Some even took on New Idea for the financing they offered. It was not so much they sold competing machines as it took away from their ability to sell my machinery..less able to take trade-ins on combines for instance and just the time factor of being able to do the business. There is alot to the saying "If they stock it they will sell it" and if they are stocking someone elses product and not yours - well you know the rest of the story. When I was in the retail business I would have starved if not for my short lines Owatonna, Versatile, kelly ryan, Krause, vandale and New Idea. At another retail estabilishment I worked, we had Ford, Allis Challmers, New Holland and Keawanee and American Motors. We should have sold 20+ gleaners per year and sold almost none. Dad did not care too much as the dealership made money, but always thought his partner missed the boat on AC combines. The whole point to my post was you can only do so much with the financial, personel and facility capacity you have and it was fully utilized and then some with the capacity it had.

We still run a Gleaner, mostly due the the service and support we get from Kehrer's. We still have a few orange collectables, but the tractors are all red and blue. The planters blue and we switched from a Sunflower finisher and ripper to a DMI disc ripper and landoll finisher. You just can't close a big dealer and expect guys to stick with you. I wonder how many of the Heberer combine customers are running gleaners yet. I'm gonna guess at least half have switched colors.

From what I've seen read. Obit reel = no need for full finger. In Beans Full Finger = More loss (Shatter). I put flight extendation on my header. So I had a No Finger head. No combine can be built for all crops that is why Mod are done. So Obit reel = better feeding with less loss. I've only seen STS's on Soybeans and Corn. There great in Beans. But, grind more Corn. My 1660 with a std rotor is a Corn Eating Machine. But, doen't like tuff Beans. Put a Speciality Rotor in it and you lose Capacity in Corn but gain it a tuff Bean. So Mod's are a big help there. They,'ve help me harvest better a quality crop quicker. And I like geting my head dirty and turning wrenches. So maybe Deere has an advanage for people who don't want to tweek a combine. I like the idea the Bi-Rotor had with the removeable Rotor_Concave unit. You could have a unit for each crop if need be. Don't about cost tho.

For years I operated like that and ran Gleaners since 1965 except for a 5 year stint with a 6600 deere until 5 years ago when we decided to switch to a 2388 with AFX rotor and haven't looked back. Gleaner dealer wanted as much to trade as Case IH Told our exservice manager at least you won't have to talk to me every morning about a problem to fix. Seldom have any problem except past year end when cummins locked up. Traded every year and likewise with 2388. First year harvested 600 more acres with 2388 than R72 or R62 and put identical hours on machine (400hrs) 2400 acres vs 3000 2_3s corn rest wheat and soybeans

Sorry to hear of your trouble. I'm sure glad machines we put out didn't have a fraction of that amount of trouble. If you put in 10 hour days it would be 40 calls a year WOW. Maybe a good predelivery which Gleaner is doing the best they can at the plant now days would of reduced your problems. It would be interesting know why you were doing 1_5 less acres in the same amount of time. I'd assume you were going by seperator hour on both or all machines. If you were power limited you must of had a constipation problem with in machine. Gleaner didn't have a speciality rotor like CIH back then but they do now. When a guy is thinking about capacity I can't help but think of one of the storys I heard this year. Gleaner R75 loading out a semi load of wheat running 120 bu per acre in about the same time as neighbor with comporable size brand X would load out a 10 wheeler. Can't say he was pushing it to hard either for seed loss counts were easy to monitor because he droped all the straw for bailing. Kernal counts often represented less than 1_10 of 1% of yield. Fuel use was rarely over 10GPM. Now I won't say he didn't have a few of our tricks installed but even without he would of had little to no trouble loading out same amount of grain per hour as neighbor. Now I suppose the neighbor would say it was the other way around so you have the right to believe whatever you want. I'm sorry but I have quite a different opinion of Gleaner capacity, reliability, and longevity but that is my right. Have a great day.

Things in the last four years may have changed, but I blamed it on quality control at the factory. Our problems were more switches, valves little things etc problems. I would have probably been better off to of gotten a second year machine. With all the bugs worked out.There were many things on the gleaner that were much better design wise. Header hook up, changing crop ease, transverse system, accelerator rows, etc. Our harvesting problems were primarily in in green stem soybeans. My buddy claims the new gleaner rotor does better in them, but he still has the little daily problems. Not as many this past year as before though.Corn and wheat harvest were outstanding until caseih came with the new rotor. Neighbor with 9650 always marveled at our corn harvest capacity with the Gleaner.

Things in the last four years may have changed, but I blamed it on quality control at the factory. Our problems were more switches, valves little things etc problems. I would have probably been better off to of gotten a second year machine. With all the bugs worked out.There were many things on the gleaner that were much better design wise. Header hook up, changing crop ease, transverse system, accelerator rows, etc. Our harvesting problems were primarily in in green stem soybeans. My buddy claims the new gleaner rotor does better in them, but he still has the little daily problems. Not as many this past year as before though.Corn and wheat harvest were outstanding until caseih came with the new rotor. Neighbor with 9650 always marveled at our corn harvest capacity with the Gleaner.

Things in the last four years may have changed, but I blamed it on quality control at the factory. Our problems were more switches, valves little things etc problems. I would have probably been better off to of gotten a second year machine. With all the bugs worked out.There were many things on the gleaner that were much better design wise. Header hook up, changing crop ease, transverse system, accelerator rows, etc. Our harvesting problems were primarily in in green stem soybeans. My buddy claims the new gleaner rotor does better in them, but he still has the little daily problems. Not as many this past year as before though.Corn and wheat harvest were outstanding until caseih came with the new rotor. Neighbor with 9650 always marveled at our corn harvest capacity with the Gleaner.