Combines Excessive repairs

Hey Ed, We got your point on the first post, you really didn't have to post it twice, but maybe you should have shopped around a little longer before buying the first "Bargain" you found. That machine was probably run hard and put away wet. K.A.

Ed, My Father purchased a 1460 in 1980 and we still have it with over 6000, one meter hours. I know how you feel with repairs and this can be a case of incorrect or more hours than on the meter. I find that if you have replaced a number of parts that you will get the kinks out and will reduce repairs bills in time to come. JWK

I plead ignorance in the combine purchase and stupidity in pushing the wrong button on the double post. I agree 1700 hour combines aren't a bargain and axial-flows don't seem to be built for heavy duty service, dry or wet. Ease and economy of servicing surely is absent from the design. Probably why so many get traded at the end of the warranty period.

Not to start any colour wars here, as my uncle has always run Axial-Flows and has good very good experiences with them. I do think, however, that Axial Flows rely heavily on proper routine maintenance, and if they don't get it they tend to present more problems "down the road" than conventional combines. It's no different than a car; - the odometer reading tells you NOTHING about how the car was driven or maintained. Knowing WHO owned and operated the combine previously and HOW it was operated and maintained is more important than the hour meter reading.

I believe your statement about care and maintenance applies to any combine or other piece of equipment no matter what the color. We have had axial flows for 9 years. The first one was bought with 3500 hours and never cost us more than $6000 total in repairs over the 5 years we owned it. We covered approx. 750 - 1000 acres per year of corn and soybeans. We've put 1000 hours on our second (bought with 2200 hours) and have spent approx. $2000 in repairs over the past four years. Before these we had yellow. The axial flow is much easier to work on then the TR. I would never say that an axial flow is difficult to work on or repair. We have found very few repairs we couldn't handle ourselves with no special tools or equipment.

I've got to disagree on the ease of servicing and repair, the Axial Flow design is pretty good for carrying out repairs and the simplicity of the drivelines makes it easy to spot problems early. Compared to conventionals and the current crop of twin rotor machines they are simple to work on and reasonably reliable. Ours has only 3600 hours at the moment so it's bad to judge what the reliability is...

Axial Flows are like any other machine. If you ride them hard and put them away wet, it doesn't take long for expensive repairs to occur. I know from experience. I bought a late 1460 six years ago that had been used as a rock crusher, mud hogger, thrashing frozen corn and soybeans and had every other form of abuse imaginable heaped upon it. The only thing positive was that the original owner kept it inside. The damage was all done in the first 1900 hours. The second owner started to rebuild it even to the point of an insurance job for the stones. He then ran out of money and I bought it dirt cheap. I knew exactly what I was getting. Over the next 2 years I had the local CIH dealer rebuild the remainder of the threshing mechanism such that when he was done It had no original parts left inside the threshing shell as everything had been replaced from the front of the feeder to the new CIH straw chopper I had installed. I also had the hydro pump and motor replaced with rebuilt units. The work was all complete by the time I had 2600 hours on it. It now has 3100 hours on it and I haven't had any breakdowns that have stopped me in the last 500 hours. The only problem that I still have is that I have a small hard to find leak in the air conditioning system and I have to get it charged every 2 years. On the other hand I have a friend with another 1460 that has about the same hours as mine and has hardly spent a cent on it and it is still reliable. He is a careful operator that looks after his machinery well. Furthermore the same guy that owned my 1460 new replaced it with a 1660 and did the same thing to it. When it was traded on a 1666 the dealer spent over $20,000 to get it back in condition to sell it. The guy did the same to the 1666 and no dealer would take it for a while. He finally unloaded it and is now beating the s--t out of a 2388. So if you buy one of those be prepared to spend a lot to get it in good shape

sounds like you bought one that was rode hard and put up wet.