Combines engine hours vs threshing hours

I don't think the 1660 I once had had the dual hourmeter, but the 2366 I have now does,1007 engine hours, and 758 seperator hours. That's like 75 % of eng hours. The wide variation is because we dump at the end of fields (no grain cart),take combine home every night (too many vandals,thieves),idles while fueling (warm up engine before full load),greasing, etc. You can narrow the differences by dumping on the go into grain cart, leave in field at night and service with engine off, etc. So if I run a 10 hour day, 8000 bu corn, 2 bu_sec unload equals 4000 sec or 67 minutes of each day just unloading, not counting drive from end row to truck, and 15 minutes to and 15 min back home, etc, WOW, this depresses me, that's not very effecient, is itIJ No wonder my neighbor does twice as much as I get done in a day. So that hours diff tells me either the owner run hard or took his time. Otherwise it's up to each operator. Ted CenOH

On the 1600 series I think there was an hour meter mounted back on the engine compartment for separator hours. The newer series have both hour meters in the readout in the cab. The difference can be much larger if you have a lot of road travel and aren't unloading on the go. I have never had a grain cart to unload on the go and run approximately 2_3 separator hours for every engine hour. I know some neighbors that have carts and run closer to 75% or better separator hours to engine hours. A grain cart would pay but do not have large enough fields or the labor. Hope this helps. Steve

If you want to cheer yourself up just leave the seperator engaged when unloading on the headlands... its more efficient lOl like you say the hours dif is more an indication of how the machine was run, and gives and indication of wear,concaves cages auger etc etc, within the machine.When shopping for a machine I personally would put more emphasis on the seperator hours vs engine hours.

I don't believe they ever put seperator meters in any of the 16 series combines. Hour meters are nice for the new machines with not many hours on them and for engine wear. When a machine has quite a few hours on it there is a lot more to look at than hours. It is nice to know what crops it cut and the bushels that went through it. A combine that has had a lot of bushels through it, but has been rebuilt is better than one with less hours and needs rebuilt. I'm from Kansas and 40 bu. wheat is half as hard on a combine as 200 bu. corn, yet the hour meters read the same. Hour meters give you some idea of the wear, but an overall check of the combine is better. Just my 2 cents!

I had a 1660 with a separator hour meter mounted back by the engine compartment. Now that I think about it may have been a kit the dealer could add on. Steve

Good question. I just took neighbors word. You can also add in the cost of compaction. I know those 1000 bu. grain carts can leave quite a track. Steve

Your saying that the customer gets the benefit but it's also the combine operator that gets the benefit don't you thinkIJIJIJIJ Take in to account your increase in harvested bushels per hour. For me it makes the difference of running one machine or two. My biggest problem is trying to find good reliable and responsible help running the long hours!! It took me some soul searching before I purchased my 470 brent but now I couldn't do without.

Brodale I was referring to your custom combining as far as bushels per hour. Yes it does not make any sense if your own dryer can't keep up and it probably doesn't help in a year like this. That is one of the main reason I'm struggling with the decision of my own drying system. What type of system do you runIJ ie. top dry, batch dryer, bin dryer with stirratorsIJ I have a natural air bin dryer but it won't do corn over 18-20% without spoil.