Combines MF Advocate

Ditto

Afraid I'm gonna agree with the fellar you talked to. Sounds like he had his gutfull of MF's just like me. 1000 to 2000 dollars a year in repairsIJIJ Man, that's alot.

I agree with you jhoag.I also had numerous people tell me that I should get out of the dark ages and get rid of my old Masseys.Of course I would laugh at them and offer to help them get done before the weather would change for the worst.I was running two 865 combines and had around 4500 acres of crop to pick up for myself and usually about another 500 for the neoghbours.When I traded the 865 for a couple of 8570s they both had around 4000 hours on the clock and were still in excellent condition.As far as I was concerned they were ahead of the competition in that era.

Your experience sounds like what I see, too. Anybody who tells you the guy who was selling Case was right is just trying to make themselves feel better about all the dough they blow every year on payments. Any machine with some hours, like 1500 and up will burn bucks in repairs like clockwork. Bearings come from the same manufacturer, as do the belts. I think you can run any machine as long as you keep up the PM.

2,000$IJ That's not bad,we just spent 2,000 on our 860 hydro getting the concave fixed and balancing the chopper and we are'nt done yet.However we have'nt put one dollar into them in the last 3 years.averages out to 650 to700$ a year. That does not make a payment one even a used 2188.So we will just keep going with our "old junk" !Our neighbor has a 2188,for some reason I can almost keep up with him in the same size swath he has 230 hpIJIJ I have 135 hp and I usually use about 60 gallons cdn of fuel in a 16 hr day.My combine isn't worth muchIJIJ BIG DEAl!!! Shadow

You missed the point all together.

No, I got the jist of your message. I'm not buying into it. I've put up with them for 23 years of headache. 2 machines for that fact and that doesnt figure in the 82 massey harris. I find your "myth" to be moreso fact myself. No, I got your message. I'm just not going to bow down to massey anymore than I would deere. I am colorblind but gaurantee you paid my dues in the massey area and am frankly quite sick of the products. I still agree with the other guy.

I was a mechanic when the 750 760's came out up to the 860. Around here there was a alot of different crops to combine. The dealer I worked for got into corn some if you went 50 miles to the west. I have been in the field with massey's in alfalfa seed, grass seed, carrot seed,canola,garbonzo beans, clover, wheat and some I have forgotten.These machines did a great job in all the crops. Some of you are not old enough to remember but, I remember going out with a 760 to demo and it was the biggest combine out there.And you would out cut the compition hands down.The tougher the conditions the better the Massey's looked. There were years when they sold 40 to 50 new combines.

I was a former MF owner. I got started on the 510s and moved up to a grey cab 760 that I bought new. We had always run MF until after the 760. I traded it for a JD 8820 because I constantly having bearings go out. It wasn't a huge problem but it was enough to be of nuisance. I traded for the 8820 and my repair bills per year went way down almost to zero. There used to be a lot of MF combines in my area but you hardly see one anymore in the field. I know of 5 people right around me that traded of their MF 760_860 because they were having too many problems. I talked to a guy the other day that bought my neighbor's 850 at their auction. He has had for 3 years and it was always taken care of. I asked him how it was going and he said every year since he has owned the 850, he's had to fire up his JD 105 to finish the harvest. This guy only harvests a 250 acres a year. The local elevator mananger used to farm. He had a 760 and a JD 7700. I asked him honestly which was the better combine. He said the 7700 would have cut more acres by the end of harvest just because it wasn't being worked on all the time. I would give you his exact quote but the language would be too foul. Nobody that runs the old MF combines has been able to answer this question I have. How did MF lose all of their market shareIJ You said you have a pretty good 860. Maybe they were better by the mid 80s. MF combines made in 1984 and after are really hard to come by because by that time they had acquire a reputation of being unreliable. Countless MF combines were traded in on the 8820 and IH rotary. Unlike some people, I am not saying MF equipment as a whole is junk. They made some good equipment and probably do so now. Right now I run JD conventional combines. I have looked long and hard at the MF rotary and I would probably buy one except for my JD dealer had been really good to me.

$1,000 to $2,000 is a lot for only 1400 acres if you consider the size and capacity of an 860. My costs weren't that high when I was running one 8820 on 2,100 acres.