Combines Combine purchase advice needed

I would not buy from the guy holding your deposit if he is treating you like that. Why did you give a deposit if you were not going to buy it and why would some one else give a deposit on a machine that is not available. We are not treated like that around here. The dealer should be able to hold a combine on your word for a little time. Sounds very high pressure to me.

I guess my primary concern with the STS would be repair bills after about 1000 hrs. This may have been addressed on the current models, but probably worth investigating. On the other hand, the AFX could have the same issue and nobody knows yet because they are so new. I'll bet you'll be happy with either one. However, if you keep your machines for a long time, CIH has a much better history of offering the future upgrades to older models. That would be my favorite feature of the red ones.

I have only run red combines. However, as the previous poster said, the primary problem with the green machines seems to be repair bills after 1000 hrs. lots of parts to wear out. The 2388's are pretty well proven out, the 8010's are another matter but should be durable as well. Neighbor demo'd a 9650 last fall and now he has two 2388's so I guess he wasn't too impressed! Chads

We have always run red machines, in high school I ran a 403, then we just changed the shades a little and bought a massey and have been with them since, we have been looking for a replacement machine for some time and looked at a lot of them and decided on a massey 8780xp, dealer isnt far away and mostly because everyone who has one is happy with them and it has the fewest moving parts of any machine on the market.Everyone has to make thier own choice.

Just wondering why alot of people say the sts are in need of major repairs at a 1000 hours.All I have to say is that we have one with a 1000 sep. hours on and just finish cleaning the outside and inside and I see nothing that needs to be replaced.For the record we run CASE IH ,JD, MASSEY equipment so Im not loyal to one brand,just want to know what people mean by major repairs.

In the past year I have run the Deere 50 and 60 series combines, the Case 2388 and 8010 AFX. Out of them all I really like the 2388. The knife vibrations are a minimum in the cab where the Deere and AFX have excessive vibration depending on the header you are running. The 2388 is also one of best machines you can buy in terms of a proven machine. To answer your question, I think the AFX is probably a better way to go since Case is still developing certain capacity settings that will likely make the AFX one of the best combines all around. If I may ask what headers you were feeding the combines with because that too can make a huge difference. Case offers a 36 foot draper that is designed for harvesting Soybeans. You can get that same unit for your Deere from MacDon. It feeds the combine so evenly that you will probably gain significant performance over an auger header. If you had an auger head on the AFX then I would imagine that the capacity will improve substantially in Soybeans with the draper header. That goes for the Deere too.

What crops did you cutIJ After a couple of seasons, the STS quickly got a reputation of high wear per hour. This might not be the case if a person always looked at it in terms of wear per acreIJ However, I've been told that some of these machines went into the shop for a lot of replaced parts in the threshing and separating area. I don't have personal experience with this, but have heard the same story enough to believe it. However, I suspect Deere took steps to minimize the wear on the later machines, but that's just my guess. Surely someone on here will chime in with personal experience.

Just for the record.....I say this...the JD guys come to me and brag about the STS and I tell them that I have been driving an Axial Flow for 24 years......so what else is NEWIJ JWK

Get the Deere. The 8010 is still too new and the bugs and high wear areas will have to be discovered and fixed. Deere had lots of bugs and wear areas on their early model sts combines and they have had lots of time to fix them. The 60 series sts from Deere should be as trouble free and long lasting as they can offer. In a couple more years the CaseIh 8010 will be in the same place. Do not put up with the unexpected breakdowns and problems. Buy a Deere now and then trade in a couple years for a 8010 and you will be much the happier.

The axial flow has been proven the last 25+ years compared to the greens.