Combine reliability

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
We get a contractor in ,but have often wondered if it would viable buying a 90is class 98 which has stood inside all its life and giving it a complete re fit. Can you ever rebuild them like new?
I did just that, about £4k, new drum, concave, rear beater, most bearings, etc.
It's still here if you are interested.
 

Barleymow

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Ipswich
Fan belt tensioner decided to fall off , broke few fan blades off,they decided to hole the radiator. Was half way through got someone in to finish. At least 7 working days needed to repair radiator
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
JD 2256 - winter serviced it and did abit to knife sections and overhauled the Reel speed variator with new bearings and fork etc. Had combine fabs re-flight the bubble up auger as it had worn alittle and for Crimp grain (30%) that's the bottle neck to getting corn into the tank. Rebuilt the angle drive whilst I was in that area.

Combine decided to shred it's main drive belt 3rd field in to harvest, which would have been okay to carry on with, as I was left with 2 out of 4 bands, but the backing cagged on the header clutch wiring and ripped that to bits, so were an hour removing bits and a temp repair that's lasted the rest of the harvest. Stripped and replaced the non genuine belt that had only done 2.5 harvests on a damp morning with a Genuine one, about 3hrs work taking your time. Couldn't find any reason for the old belt to come apart as the remaining two bands were in perfect condition?

Had header wobble box crank arm splines strip which damaged the output shaft splines cos it came loose, but I carry a spare wobble box ready to go.

Header reverser has packed up at some point - I have forwards and a neutral! So that will need to come apart over winter to see where R has gone.

Everyone has a go-to flavour of combine, but I really love the 1100 and 2200 series busses. They'll do some serious output especially in wheat for their size, and for all JD's faults, parts availability is second to none.
My 20 series header reverse is a bit of a sod, its very fussy on how the control cable is adjusted (I did it per the book 3 times this harvest before it was right) I preferred the Hyd reverser on my old 1065. Another good year for the old girl otherwise, needs some welding round the wobble box before next harvest.
 

balerman

Member
Location
N Devon
JD 2256 - winter serviced it and did abit to knife sections and overhauled the Reel speed variator with new bearings and fork etc. Had combine fabs re-flight the bubble up auger as it had worn alittle and for Crimp grain (30%) that's the bottle neck to getting corn into the tank. Rebuilt the angle drive whilst I was in that area.

Combine decided to shred it's main drive belt 3rd field in to harvest, which would have been okay to carry on with, as I was left with 2 out of 4 bands, but the backing cagged on the header clutch wiring and ripped that to bits, so were an hour removing bits and a temp repair that's lasted the rest of the harvest. Stripped and replaced the non genuine belt that had only done 2.5 harvests on a damp morning with a Genuine one, about 3hrs work taking your time. Couldn't find any reason for the old belt to come apart as the remaining two bands were in perfect condition?

Had header wobble box crank arm splines strip which damaged the output shaft splines cos it came loose, but I carry a spare wobble box ready to go.

Header reverser has packed up at some point - I have forwards and a neutral! So that will need to come apart over winter to see where R has gone.

Everyone has a go-to flavour of combine, but I really love the 1100 and 2200 series busses. They'll do some serious output especially in wheat for their size, and for all JD's faults, parts availability is second to none.
That’s the thing with old combines,you really get to know what spares to keep cos it’s the same things seem to crop up all the time.There must be 30 belts on ours,but there is only about 6 at most that need watching regularly.I try to do something to it every year,new knife a few years ago made the biggest difference to it.Chap that used to service it said you can get almost new machine reliability on an old one if you really look after it.
 

Barleymow

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Ipswich
Will you keep her?
She is still reasonably healthy 2900 hrs
20210814_164648.jpg
 

Foxcover

Member
That’s the thing with old combines,you really get to know what spares to keep cos it’s the same things seem to crop up all the time.There must be 30 belts on ours,but there is only about 6 at most that need watching regularly.I try to do something to it every year,new knife a few years ago made the biggest difference to it.Chap that used to service it said you can get almost new machine reliability on an old one if you really look after it.

Course the guy who services it is gonna say you get perfect reliability if you service it regularly :LOL: I agree though!!
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Nearly 40 year old JD1085.
Unloader auger belt disintegrated but looks like original. Easily replaced. Did hydraulic pump belt while I was in there.
Cylinder speed getting difficult to increase and hold speed. Spool valve problem I think. Strip down spool block and reseal in winter.
Other than that no problems.
Forgot splines went on half shaft. Part from breakers solved it.
 

ewald

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Mid-Lincs
TX 34 doing about 250 acres - another reliable year, one easy bearing and an unloading belt.

One day we will have a major breakdown - grain pan is a known issue on these, as well as the bearings on the main countershaft. And a big engine failure at this age is probably a written off combine.
At 28 years and 3500hrs do we carry on, or look for something newer?
I feel a bit like the character in Dirty Harry - 'do you feel lucky?'
 
11 year old CR9080 - hydraulic pipe ( absolute git to change ) that supplies spool block for the header pin holed but otherwise ran like a dream again (y)
8 year old CR, after expensive winter going through, had a counter shaft, 3 belts and parts of the pre sieve have appeared in the grain pit! Not as cheap to run as the 2008 model we used to have, adding the dynamic feed roller has added complexity as well as a proper stone trap.
 

Foxcover

Member
TX 34 doing about 250 acres - another reliable year, one easy bearing and an unloading belt.

One day we will have a major breakdown - grain pan is a known issue on these, as well as the bearings on the main countershaft. And a big engine failure at this age is probably a written off combine.
At 28 years and 3500hrs do we carry on, or look for something newer?
I feel a bit like the character in Dirty Harry - 'do you feel lucky?'

If you know your machine inside out then you’ll have a good idea what it might need to keep it going? Or if you really have that gut feeling it’s going to die soon you could chop it in while it’s still worth something against something like this….
02D34A3C-9CED-4DBD-87B3-C998248025A9.png
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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