john
Guest
Well cat, we owned an older diesel hydro 6600 and my uncle owned a later model gear drive diesel. If yours is the later model it should have the 404 diesel and the rotary screen. The earlier ones had a 329. Our machine was a fairly dependable machine and we used a 6 row head on it with no problems. It had the little 329 motor which was pretty reliable. My uncle used his with minimal downtime. Basically you need to check overall condition of the usual stuff, cylinder bars, walkers, belts, idlers etc. Check the auger bed bevel gears at the front of the separator, just under the concave area. Make sure they all turn ( that is with the separator engaged ) and the gears aren't worn out. Not uncommon for the bearings needing replacement under there. Another area to check is the inclined auger that enters the grain tank. The early ones used a u - joint inside, later ones had a little gearbox. The u-joint model should be checked to make sure it's good. If cutting soybeans make sure your combine has an electric header control on it, either the deere system ( which deere installed on the later machines)or an aftermarket one. The early deere machines did not adopt ANY header control but instead relied on a nest of springs under the feederhouse that you had to release allowing the header to float on the ground. The operator had to manually keep the head within a float range using an indicator ball that all deere heads have. Pure misery, especially if you're in soft dirt. You should also be using at least a 200 series header for this machine, i.e. a 213, 215, etc. If the old gal has had good care it should do you well for your acreage. You never mentioned if it was a hydro or gear. Obviously the hydro versions were much more desirable. The 6600 is a classic, very dependable, and with decent parts availability. It will blow the doors off of your old gas Massey. ( We had a 510 gas before we got the 6600 - like going from a buggy and horse to a jet fighter.) If you have more specific questions feel free to email me either here or at Jdeerfarmer46@aol.com. Good luck.