Combines STS Visited

Chaps up the road bought one JD STS . Then another season just gone both replaced R62,S. They are impressed with them and i'm told 55 tons of wheat an hour each. Are they sending the good ones out here (OZ)for a change. Not sticking up for JD as i agree on all the bits here and there compared to a gleaner. Just curious as they have sold well here and have'nt heard much bad about them compared to what i've seen on the deere page and here. Have they really been bad news over thereIJ

I agree with Deere having too many parts. I rebuild burnt and wrecked combines in the off season and had the misfortune of buying a 9600 a few years back. What a nightmare. It was a 150hr. machine so we thought we had goldmine. Took us nearly 4 months of 8hr. days to finnish and then we barely broke even selling it. Never again. I run an R-50 that was burnt and rebuilt. They are not too bad to work on and keep going, but still too many moving parts for my taste. Especially those stupid roller chains. The ones that have impressed me the most has been CaseIH. They are a much simpler design than my Gleaner with quite a few less moving parts. I've rebuilt 2 1680's in recent years and have been really impressed with them. Got to run one beside my Gleaner a couple years ago and really liked it.

If you want to see something pre-historic, look in the cab of your gleaner. The STS has no daily grease fitings and only two chains to keep oiled. I've ran a STS for 2 seasons and love it. Just as reliable as the conventionals. Can't say much about Gleaners, since they are pretty much non existant here in Ontario. The STS may be considered complicated to some, but if it rarely breaks then who cares.

My neighbor has been trying to trade or sell his 3 yr old STS and no one will bite, but if you talk to any body in this area about that machine you will know why, JUNK from day one! The local JD dealer follows with a service truck so that it will stay operating for one day, if lucky! They have an older Axial Flow and it does most of the harvesting. That STS rates right up there with the first rotary combines of most brands over 20 yrs ago. Early N Gleaner, TR70 NH, 1400 IH, Claas_Massey venture. But will Deere be smart enough to fix or scrap the design like the rest have done in 20 yrs. And FYI Gleaner has the most roomy good visibility cab with the easiest controls to understand. Not looking all over the cab for buttons and levers to make the thing run.

Pre-historic IJ The rest of ya's have only just caught up to the level of a 20 year old cab and monitoring design and elect_hyd switchs. Not much to grease on a gleaner and who oils chainsIJThe ONE!on the table auger of my gleaner why bother. They're all combines to me. They all break. Glad you're happy with yours. Thats why i posted about the neighbours cause they like there's and was interested to hear that after all the bad reports here and there. The ones i've seen going where very impressive. Enough Green talk for me on the silver page.