Combines CR s are not complicated

[JD]

Don, It's been a month since I looked at the CR so bear this in mind. I crawled all over it then so my memory of it is failing but, I saw lots of things more complex and complicated on it when compared to a TR. Maybe they did away with a belt or 2 but what they added made up for it I feel. When you look up at the "turret" there is a belt up there that must be 20ft in length that makes a couple of wraps. I don't recall what it pulled just now. That was something that I couldn't understand, was the added length they made most of the belts on this machine. The chain that pulls the unloading auger had to be about 15 foot in length and it ran on 6 different sprockets if I remember right. The header_feederhouse drive looked to me to come across the top of the machine just behind the cab, I may be wrong here so correct me if I amIJ It looked to have a variable drive on both sides of the machine , then down to the feederhouseIJ Hyd. lines criss-cross the sides, the motor area was much more conjested. How do you remove the sievesIJ It looked darn near impossible from a historical point of viewIJ Did the straw chopper need all that extra conglomeration hung on itIJ I won't go into the returns issue again. Yes, the top of the rotors are now exposed and have trap doorsIJ I've never had to replace anything on a TR where this area hindered me, it is maybe harder to clean out but I can deal with thatIJ The self leveling shoe is sure to work well for many. The CR should come with a "cherry picker" because most of the belts where over my head and out of my reach and I'm 6'1 with a 3 ft reach on tippy toes. If you read the replies of guys who don't own a TR and who have seen the CR up close, the majority have said the same thing...the CR is too complex! You may be correct with assessment of the CR and I wrong with mineIJ But I know what I saw and I did not like it at all from the standpoint of maintainence, wear items and moving parts, overall size, height and weight and the kicker....price! But then again if it never breaks down I would be in good shape with itIJ lOl! I'm have not tried to imply that it will not work and work well which it probably will. But do you feel it will out perform a TR of like sizeIJ I just don't like the path that NH chose to follow instead of staying on their own course which was working well from all standpoints in my eyesIJ To many of you out here I'm sure you will be glad to hear.......This will be MY last post on this subject(which has garnered more attention to this site than it has ever experinced and in a orderly fashion I might add)as I JD...."have left the building" )))

 

[NHD]

JD you are gradualy seeing some of the good features of the CR's. The simpler things are 1.The stone trap is much simpler and better.2. the feederhouse drive is like you say up behind the cab with the variable on the right side and just a belt on the left down to the top feederhouse shaft. You know that NH did recommend the fixed drive for a 12 row head. They finally had to admit that the problem was no grease zerk on the inside bearing of the variable.3. NH has as standard equipment a terrain tracer. Most others didn't even offer it without going to a short line.4. The unloading auger system looks like a night mare. It does work ok as it does on the others. Those chains you are talking about run at a low speed so the should last a long time. The unloading auger is the fastest of any.5.I like the simplicity of the rethrasher right down where you can easily get to it. Just open a little door and look. You can look in on the sieves too and the light switch is right there. You can adjust the sieves right at the rear or up in the cab.6. The straw chopper is the best of any with it's high speed, searated hammers and adjustable tail board from the cab. A+ for windy conditions to avoid throwing straw into the standing crop. We have several jobs out west that are NH specific because we chop the straw saving the farmer maybe $7-14 per acre.Did you ever try to apply fall NH3 after a JD combine did the beans. Forget it the straw bunches up and will be there next spring too.JD uses a blunt hammer and slow speed. 7. Taking the sieves out. I don't know but it looks like there is room to take them out as we do now.8. Hyd lines-did you ever have to change the line under the grain tank on a TRIJ Did you ever have to put out afire after the line ruptured. The CR has the lines out in plain sight similar to a JD only lots fewer.9. I know things are up in the air. There is a fold down platform to stand on. Better than the 5 gallon bucket I carry on the TR's. 10. The monitoring is really very good and the monitor is adjustable for better viewing.11. The long belts-they are slow spee belts like the clean grain drive. The elevator is really tall so it gets away from the troublesome TR's bubbleup auger.12. The sensors to monitor grain loss are good in that the operator can monitor whats goin on without a time consuming kill-stalland a flashlight. There is a gain loss sensor at the back of the rear rotor cage too. The door on side lets you see whats going on in the area of the rear beater which you can't do in a TR without dismantling the combine.13. The rear beater is serated too.14. Price-if you add up all of the features mentioned the CR is a bargain compared to others. What else JD have I forgotten to address any of your last concernsIJ

 

[Pete]

I agree with you totally NHDon. The improved a lot of things that were soso on the TR. I really like the size and self leveling of the shoe because I have rolling ground and a lot of Winter wheat. I demod a CR 960 in soys. In our area the beans run 40 to 55 bu_ac usually. A 30' flex head is not big enough for it unless you get into really weed or though conditions. The only negative thing that I found was soybean straw hanging from the chaff spreader. I assume the rear beater did not through it far enough. I just read a report in Profi magazine about a CR 980 in Europe harvesting Winter Wheat. The gave the combine a lot of praise. The only thing they recommended was to improve the Straw chopper. The article mentioned that the CR980 had a capacity of 2200bu_hr (if you do not count turns and stops) with less than 1% loss.If you use 75-80% efficency I think that is still a lot of acres an hour. Pete

 

[Pete]

I agree with you totally NHDon. The improved a lot of things that were soso on the TR. I really like the size and self leveling of the shoe because I have rolling ground and a lot of Winter wheat. I demod a CR 960 in soys. In our area the beans run 40 to 55 bu_ac usually. A 30' flex head is not big enough for it unless you get into really weed or though conditions. The only negative thing that I found was soybean straw hanging from the chaff spreader. I assume the rear beater did not through it far enough. I just read a report in Profi magazine about a CR 980 in Europe harvesting Winter Wheat. The gave the combine a lot of praise. The only thing they recommended was to improve the Straw chopper. The article mentioned that the CR980 had a capacity of 2200bu_hr (if you do not count turns and stops) with less than 1% loss.If you use 75-80% efficency I think that is still a lot of acres an hour. Pete