Combines My first post inquiring about 9600 price

That is not to bad but I think it is still a little high.. We bought a 97 9600 and it has only 1150 engine hrs and 800 sep hrs .. Well taken care of always sheddedand washed and waxed. We knew the guy who owned it and that made a big differnce in buying it ..I have seen combines with 1500 hrs go for just over $30,000 around INDIANA and OHIO.. Where are you located at IJ Your job sounds real interesting !We only have 600 acres and also work in factories ! GOOD lUCK ON BUYING YOUR COMBINE !

Thanks for the response. The combine has 1500 engine hrs., but only 1100 on the sep. It comes with a 693 and a 925. I'm a little concerned about the 693 because the guy I'm potentially buying it from is getting out of farming and selling most of his land. He's keeping his 200 acre home-place, and I'm also in negotiation with him to lease it, bringing my total acreage to 2000 (900 corn, 515 soybeans, 400 wheat, 185 bermuda hay). 900 acres of corn seems like a lot for a 6 row head. I'm located in South Carolina. I attended the University of Georgia for my undergrad degree in agronomy, they offered to pay for grad school, so I accepted, got my masters in agronomy at UGA, then my Ph.D at Cornell. I now teach at Clemson, been here three years, I'm 31. Early in my college days, one of my professors sat down with me and we planned out stages for my farming career. I inherited the 1000 acres, and stage one was improving it from good ground to excellent. Over a course of years, I levelled it, layed tile, and put in irrigation systems. Next, I improved on the grain and equipment storage facilities. Now, I'm working on my equipment inventory. Where are you at, I'd love to hear about your operation and compare notes, we, as farmers, have got to stick together in these lean times.

We live in southern IN. 30 miles from louisville KY.Our farm is small but a real good one .. we have been averaging about 55 bushels on soybeans for the past 10 years ! only rotating with wheat in a double crop .. We have lots of clay soil here ..The farm my parents live on has been in our family for over 200 years .The tractors we have are a 1965 4020 and a 1977 4430and now are the proud owners of a 1997 9600.. If you are getting both heads with it that is a heck of a good deal .. We had too buy a 930 after we got the combine and got a great deal on it .. a 99 modle contour for under $10,000 but we are changing it to a regular head our combine doesn't have the contour master set up .. We also have beef cows about 60 of them . All of us work off the farm too , Dad is retired from Cummins engine company and is also and insurance agent .. Well I'll let you go ! are you on any chat lines like ICQ or Yahoo IJ

Dont't worry about the 693 and 900 acres. People in my area do 2500 to 3000 acres per fall with them on 9500's. Good heads. Nelson

No, I usually don't do the chat room thing. Sounds like you got a nice farm there, 55 bpa is a GREAT long term avg. for beans. My long terms are 47 bpa for beans, 156 for corn, and 59 for wheat. Those are pretty good for the south, but I guess they aren't much for you midwestern boys. Our soils are a sandy loam type, so we can pull bigger equipment with a smaller tractor. For example, I've got a buddy who pulls an 8 row planter with a 5000 Ford. My present equipment inventory consists of two 6620 combines, 85 and 87 models, they've got high hours so I'm looking to replace them both with the 9600. We really don't need two combines, I'm convinced the 9600 will do the job in a timely manner. My tractors are a 1975 4430, a 1982 4840 (may replace it with the combines),a 72 model 5000 Ford, a 90 JD 2355 with 175 loader, and a 1998 6310 JD (great utility tractor by the way),and I've got a New Holland skid steer, it's an 89 model, got some hours on it, but well taken care of. There's nothing wrong with being a smaller farmer, especially if you enjoy it. like you I inherited the land I own. It belonged to my grandfather, and if he hadn't left it to me, I'd be farming all rented and leased land. It's far to expensive to buy into farming. Good land around here, especially irrigated and leveled, is selling for a war's pension.

I have a 930 that I would like to change to contour master, any chance we could trade partsIJ

have you talked too anybody about doing this IJ we had a friend that done it and it is harder then it seems ..we have a 930 contour head and was going too trade a guy parts but thought better about it after looking into it more !

I bought the 930 on auction with the intention of putting it on a 9650 w_contour master. The header was cheap enough I thought. The way I understand it Deere has a kit that changes the back shafts, moving the slip clutch out to the right end. There would also have to be a bearing bracket welded on and then I would have to have the telescoping shafts if they don't come with my lease combine. They say that a contour master combine comes with the telescoping shafts. Alot of the information I am getting doesn't make any sense. I think I could build everything I need, or have it built, except for moving the slip clutch. There are guys running without a slip clutch but that doesn't interest me much. I usually take 2 of the bolts out of my slip clutch anyway so if I do plug the header it doesn't plug so tight. I think I am going to buy a MacDon Draper tomorrow anyway so now I need to decide what to do with my 930. I am curious why you would change your header from contour master because the way I understand it you can put an adaptor on the other combines to accept the spline shaft on your contour maser head. If you think I have bad information let me know.

No Turk I'm not syaing you have bad info .. I was saying we have talked to a friend who changed a regular head to a contour and said it wasa real chore .. We got a the contour head cheap enough and it was the beat of the three at the sale ..The tele. shafts cost around 750.00 for both and didn't come with the head .. We don't need the contour around here and our 9600 doesn't have it . I never knew that combines would change so much in so little time ! And some of the combines they are talking about I have never heard of .. ! Well i hope you do well with whatever you use ..! happy farming !

Sounds like you are kind of in the same boat as I am. You may be able to have a Truck Parts house build the drive lines cheaper than that. That was my idea but I haven't tried it yet. Good luck!