Combines un biased 915 comments

Red, I have run a 915 for several years and feel it is a pretty solid combine for its age. Have had no trouble with hydro or motor. The DT 414 is a real good engine. The one main problem that I have found is that the cleaning fan design is not big enough to handle the rest of the combine. We run the machine mostly in wheat and you have to keep fresh, tight belts on the fan. Turn the fan up to about as high as you can get it and you can do a pretty good job of cleaning wheat with little behind the combine. Parts are getting harder to find, if you have a salvage yard close, that sure helps. I still have good luck with ordering bearings and most aftermarket places still make parts for the 915. A few other things that I have had to do on the machine: rebuild unloading auger drive, rebuild grain pan_top sieve, bolt came lose and shook things to pieces, rebuild both final drives. You have to keep the separator clutch adjusted or will start slipping. Keep linkage adjusted on clutch or will go though throw out bearing. I ran the 915 along side a JD 7700 and would take the 915 if I had to choose. Maybe I had a bad 7700 but I had a lot more trouble with it. I have also ran a 915 in corn, did very well with a 6 row head. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Hope this helps, JC

i was wondering about the after market places i know of only 2 lowen and shoup are there any others. also what is a 915 worth. what header size is the best for the machine. the one i'm intersted in is supposed to have been in the shed for its whole life i might be able to go look at it sometime around the 4th can you tell me anything that i need to be on the lookout for well thanks Red

I run a 24ft head on my in wheat and it handles it pretty well. Abilene Machine also handles parts for the 915, new and used. As far as price, I paid $5,500 for my about 9 years ago. It had 1600 hrs on it and had been kept inside. I paid $2500 for a 24ft head. I don't know if your machine has a head with it but if you are looking for one, try to find one with the big auger, it will feed much better. I guess if I were in the market I wouldn't spend more than $4500 to $5000 for a good 915. For a little more you could get you a good 1460. But I realize those are getting hard to find. If the 915 has been taken care of and you don't mind doing a little repair work yourself the 915 will harvest a lot of acres. Things to look for, just the common stuff, auger flightings, sprockets, belts. All can be fixed, just takes a little time and money. Hope this helps, JC