Combines Need all of your Case IH experience

We were in the same boat about 10 yrs ago. Had an 860 that was always down, high priced parts, never had right part, and very hard on my liver by the end of harvest. Bit the bullet and traded to a 1660. It was almost scary. We could combine all day and never have to stop and fix!

So did you find any weak points to the 1660IJ Anything I should be aware ofIJ

I had a 1978 JD 7700 Turbo-Hydro all the rest was a very good machine . 216 and 643 heads . I wanted to buy a 1988 7720 T2 . The Deere dealers thought they were GOlD in 1995 , they were all asking $45-50,000 just for the machine . I had the 7700 sold to a neighbor and I was keeping my old heads . Got tired of their high prices and independent attitudes , found a 1991 1660 1200hrs ready to go for $5,000 cheaper , it had 30" tires , big bin ext. , incline auger , rocktrap and chopper . I'm a Deere Man and the Deere Dealers said " you wouldn't buy that " but I did , got a 1020 20ft and still use my 643 Deere cornhead . I now have 2600hrs on it . We do about 650acres corn and 250 acres beans a year . I have the standard rotor .Some say the sp rotor is better in beans but damages corn more , I don't know . After this season I'm going to rebuild the rotor . Far as problems , I'd say same things wear out as on the 7700 about the same time , 7700 I think was one of the toughest machines built . CIH is much easier to work on , much simpler than the 7700 and the 9000's are even worse . Thing I miss most is no variable speed on the head. If you have "ONE" rock in your fields DEFINATElY get one with a rocktrap , I get a 5 gallon bucket of rocks out of mine yearly NEVER YET have had one go through . Some say the rocktrap slows flow of material going in but I don't buy that especially after seeing the damage done to neighbors who don't have a rocktrap . Chopper I wouldn't be without either but it is like the rest you have to reverse or change knives every 1000hrs or so . My biggest complaint on the 1660 is the oil consumption 2 qts a day after 40 hrs on oil change . They say the Cummins engine uses that much normally and it hasn't gotten any worse in 6 years . The old 7700 would use 2 qts in 100 hrs , I just have to watch it . Chaffer area could be more, in 25% corn you have to run it too open and too many cob pieces come through .I like the 1660 and would buy another one , that's hard for a GREEN man like me to say but I'm satisfie with it, has enough power and fuel consumption isn't bad for what you get done . I ran on too long hope I helped . JIM

I would just like to say I 100% agree with what JDJIM said about a rock trap. If you have any rocks at all it can be a lifesaver.

We had the same problem with our MF 750 and 850. Thought I was going to go insane from the repairs. When I bought my '85 1460, the repairs almost stopped. I still love that girl, but have to sell her because I just bought a 1680. Drop me a line if you're interested at Ulrichd@Prodigy.net. By the way, I'm in Eastern Iowa.