Combines looking to go red

What exactly are you smokingIJ A 1680 and a 9610 are both easy to work onIJ! The 1680 would have tons less belts drives etc than the 9610 and many fewer wear parts. While a 1660 would not be comparible to a 9600 it would be very comparable to his current 7720. There are quite a few green machines around here too and they spend way more on upkeep than you could ever spend on a red one. Chads

Not knocking the Deeres as I use to own one and they are good machines. But we have a processor nearby that will pay a premium for corn with minnimal stress cracks. A few years ago they were getting to much corn with high stress cracks so they setup meetings around the area with farmers and brought in techs to show the farmers how to set their machines to minnmize the s.c.s The only farmers they invited were ones that owned Deere combines. Also, back when Orville Redenbacker's popcorn co. was in business here in IN, the only combine they would let shell their popcorn was the Axial Flows. All else had to be picked on the ear and shelled in their cage sheller.

I agree that it is hard to avoid damaging popcorn, but I know a few guys that used to customer harvest it with Deere 9000s. Their secret was to install the soft cylinder bars (black ones),and then run them in several thousand acres of wheat to get them smoothed out and knock off the sharp edges. They could then shell popcorn with a minimum of trouble. It's been my experience that Deere generally makes the best all-purpose machines. Some other make and model may outperform them in specific crops or in specific conditions, but for general harvesting of various crops, and for switching between crops, they're hard to beat.

Had an interesting conversation with the CaseIH dealer Hastings said their was no problem selling against JD out there in high mositure corn they grind it all up and what they don't grind they through it out the back over there antique walkers. yes some can set one but most just make a mess out of it. an Axial Flow is a much easier machine to set an operate

I switched from green to red last season. They are both simple enough from crop to crop but the cih is much easier to fine tune.

i am in manitoba canada we have just about every crop i think that is hard to thash green long straw tough.we have set up units to up to double other dealer settings.if anybody has any questions you can email me at marlinj@mts.net .i might have some half desent ideas!