Combines lexion capacity

[cat_lover]

Kevin I would say a 460 would be a good size to a 2366 but if you are wanting a rotor the 470 would be my pick. I have been running cat machines four three years started out 1999 on a 460 8rw and 30 ft. flex in 2000 ran a 485 12rw 30 ft. flex which it was to big of a machine IN 2001 got a protow 475R and put 210 sep. hrs. and 435 eng. hrs on it with 12 row 2000 ac. of corn and 2600 ac. of soybeans with a 30 ft. flex head. It to me is going to be the best combine I've ever run. I'd highly say it is the best.

 

[Illinois_Gleaner]

Your saying that you cut 2600 acres of beans and shelled 2000 acres of corn in 210 sep. hours. According to my calculator that would be a little under 22 acres an hour. I think you should think about that before posting,or was your crops so bad that you could drive in road gear. Not to mention haul it awayIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJ

 

[Mike]

Hey bozo. Haven't you been reading how great these machines are. With the spelling and wild claims on the cat site I wonder how many folks actually farm and how many are wishing they could. PS I cut 4000 acres of corn and 3000 acres of beans with an F2. It took me 8 days to do it but I got'er done. Yields not bad either, 240+ on corn and 75+ on beans. Didn't cut my wheat because my corn and beans made too much last year and I didn't have enough storage. Top that!

 

[vikes]

You are right, 22 acres an hour is a lot, but it is not impossible. Granted, maybe he hit a wrong key or got a wrong number, but 22 acres an hour is averageing just over 6 mph harvest speed which is very possible with the Cats.

 

[Coors_light]

Jealousy is amazing! Brings about some of the most contradictory folks I have ever heard. While at a farm show this year, I listened to a farmer, whom I was familiar with, tell the Cat dealer how much his neighbor hated his Cat 480 and that it was to be traded to a competitor. Funny, the owner of this 480 makes it his second Cat 480 and I know for a fact that he has had several 50,000+ bushel days witnessed, based on scale tickets, while harvesting in center pivot irrigated corn. As for the farmer telling of his neighbors disgust, well, he is ungracefully going broke and the funny this is, he probably doesn't realize it, or is in denial, probably wishing of such awsome machinery be found on his farm.

 

[Mike]

That would be over 260 acres in one day if the corn was averaging 190 bushels per acre. Harvesting w_ a 12 row corn head at 7 miles per hour(average including unloading and turning) on 1 miles length(section) fields would result in 4 acres per pass. At 7mph you would make 7 passes or 3.5 rounds. That's 28 acres per hour. And a Cat can't hold 1 pass so you would have to back out and unload half way down the field. Mathematically it is possible, but mathematically the Cubs have a shot to win the World Series

 

[Coors_light]

Harvesting is not performed in a linear fashion in these fields, they are planted_harvested in circular fashion, bisecting the circle and cutting out lands in the middle so that the machine can harvest outer to inner diameter in either half or three_quarter circle passes vs. down and back, turning on headlands. Two 1000 auger wagons, on average, filling 1000 bushel trucks every 20 mins (there are enough trucks and the elevator is not more than 7 miles, nor on-farm grain handling). Harvest hours are typically 14-16 hours_day.

 

[Mike]

Are we combining in Circles or talking in circles. Just kidding. like i said, mathematically I believe it. Can you do it in one dayIJ Probably. In the end it's what do you get done per day all harvest. We were Gleaner fans all our life until our local dealer went broke. So last fall we tried everything, 9650STS, 480 and 2388. It comes down to 5 things for us. 1. Soybean seed quality(we raise soybean seed). We could get some good samples from the Cat and Deere, but it took a while to get them set and it seemed like changing conditions affected those two the most. Case was the best followed closely by the Gleaner. Also, the Cat has so many interior pockets in the machine and in the grain tank you could spend a day cleaning it out. 2. Capacity. The Cat was the highest followed by the Gleaner then JD and Case. 3. Service. We broke the Cat twice in three days and the dealer sent us after parts on a Demo machine. Plus after warranty I don't feel like paying someone $75 per hour to fix it. I also don't want to buy $1500 worth of metric tools. One more thing. Nothing with over 100 automotive fuses can be simple. 4. Price. Cat is last, Deere and Case are tied and the Gleaner was a hair less. 5. Simplicity. The Cat and Deere are a service managers dream(and job security). The Gleaner is the simplist followed closely by the Case. In the midwest I can count the number of lexions within 100 miles of my home on some of the most productive soil in the world on one hand, maybe 2. The couple that are around usually get traded every year and the used ones go to Kansas or Nebraska. Yes the have great capacity, but I pity the poor sucker who has to run it with over 1500 hours on it.

 

[Brett]

Illinois Gleaner, It is possible to get up to 500 acres a day in a 480. Think I'm crazyIJ Maybe but here are the figures. The 480 going 7.5 miles per hour on half mile rounds with a 12 row 30" corn head is 27 acres an hour non-stop. Take this figure times .85% efficientcy for turns on ends, intakes and taking off ends. You get a 23 acre an hour capacity. In a 22 hour day times 23 acres an hour it comes to 506 acres. In 180 bushel corn that is 4140 bushels an hour or 69 bushels a minute or 1.15 bushels a second or 91,080 bushels a day. In order to achieve this the operation would need two fast unloading 1,000 bushel carts and a fleet of semis depending on how far to the grain system, waiting in line and unload time. The fields would also need to be fairly flat and in full quarter sections. The reason I used 22 hour day instead of 24 is for combine refueling, greasing, operator change and bathroom brakes. If the operation averaged 400 acres a day and 20 harvest days this is 8,000 acres for one combine. I know this isn't a very likely or realistic scenerio, but I thought I would through it out. later, Brett

 

[ferge]

looked at a 460 about aweek ago - opened the electrical door on the left side of the cab - looked like a telephone switchboard - I agree I woun't want to own that thing when it is out of warranty - probably is a fantastic machine for high yielding wheat in Europe where they have low acres but it remains to be seen how they far here in the long run..