Combines Dakota Combines in 2004

What would you do if you had a piece of machinery giving you the same or even more problems after two yearsIJ

i would trade the 470 for a 480 or 580 .

I would change colors, but i havent had any major trouble, with very little minor trouble in 20 years.

I've done a little detective work on this board!!! Dakota,At a farm machinery show recently in Dublin,Ireland I spoke to an Irish guy who was wearing one of your "Neagele Inc" combine jackets, I think it had a Case axial flow on the back.Does This mean recently that the custom outfit you work for has ran in the last few years Case axial flow_J.Deere (9610+STS) and Cat_ClaasIJI also seem to remember a post from you saying there had been problems with Gleaner also.Can I be so bold as to point out that there are not many combine makes left in N.America for you guys to try that have not given you "problems" before!!! This guy (in Dublin) had worked with you on a harvest run and told me that your attitude towards the CAT_MACDON harvest support people left alot to be desired.I see you hav'nt responded to "landsurfer" and "greenthumbs" posts a few threads below on this subjectIJ We have ran two Claas combines since 1985 (along with one other Dania,MF or NH TX) and have found them to be totally reliable and with top notch performance as long as service intervals are kept.The 570 lexion we traded for this year was working in 180bu_acre wheat (yes 180bu_acre!!!) and we can only describe its reliability and performance as astounding.There are lots of little "performance bits" in this combine (along with the other preproduction models out in the field) which Claas will strip down and look at shortly before the full production of 500 series lexions starts in earnest. You guys in N.America are in for a treat when they arrive next year.

your conditions overseas are way different than here in the US Part of the Reason Cat had_has so many changeovers since bringing the lexions over. What might work great over there doesn't do crap over here.

Question. How many thousand acres or hectares to you run your combines over each yearIJ Custom cutters here expect these combines to go non-stop for months on end. Fancy elegant German engineering and designs sometimes have reliability problems and can be a expensive and difficult to fix, IMHO.

Claas lexion 570 2000 acres (wheat,barley,oats,canola) Claas lexion 430 1000 acres (wheat,barley) NH TX64+ 1000 acres (wheat,barley) yes,we do not expect the machines to run for six months solid but we do not have the long periods of dry weather you have.When the sun shines we have to have capacity to go "full noise" I did run a 02 9650sts for the largest custom cutter in the States during 2002 so I'm not totally dumb!!! Ref your "fancy elegant German engineering" thing that is why there are so many Mercedes,BMW,Audi and Volkswagen in your citiesIJ

We can all sit here and argue whats good and whats not all that matters is that your machine gets it done. Give me any brand i will run it in the ground and break it

Well, if you want to know it so bad and since I don't have anything else to do (rain),here are some answers. We have never had red combines. Naegele has started its business with Gleaner. When Deutz (another German company) took over, Naegele switched to Deere, like many other operators in North America did. We have always been happy with the combining performance of JD. We also have been looking for a more reliable and more durable machine than the STS. This is why we have tried lexions. Unfortunately the product did not perform as advertised. We are very pleased with the MacDon harvest head and their support. If you would have read my posts about draper heads on other sites, you would know. We've had MacDons for four years now and will continue to run those. I have just spoken to their harvest support manager again yesterday. He told me earlier, that my thankyou letter to them from our first year, was put in a frame and is hanging on the wall in their office in Canada. There is no need arguing with Claas people like landsurfer or GreenThumb on this web site. They have shown that since they can't argue the facts, they are attacking the person. Just like politicians are doing it.

The best is still red.