J D W540/550 combine

[Ruston3w]

Just wondered if anyone is running a W540 hillmaster and would care to share their views? I need to replace our 21yr old 2256 and am particularly interested in knowing if the 540 would do the job - I guess the local JD men will tell me I need a 550. Light land, never seen 4t crops before( or again?). Min or no-till mostly, is the fine chop worth the extra money/wear/diesel? All chopped, 5-600 acres, half WW, half S Barley + some odds and sods.
Wrightly or wrongly i'd prefer to buy nearly new small rather than be talked into bigger older machine,since we put wider tyres on the 2256 we have got on better with no-till, I don't want anything heavier than I need.
Thanks, Richard.

 

[solo]

Went from 2258 level land to a T550 hillmaster 5 years ago. Got tempted by a 12 hour demo machine at the end of the season. 400 acres but not much chopping so have standard chopper. Light land 3t crops in normal seasons. 620R header works well. This year it has been better off removing the central auger extensions and replacing with extra fingers instead. Much better and more even feed of full elevator width. Going from 2258 to 550 the straw losses in barley were poor until this year when 5 z series fishbacks were bolted to the middle of the walkers. A great improvement. Wheat has never been a problem. Probably average about 15t/hour in wheat and 12t/ hour in spring barley. 2258 would manage 12t and 10t respectively for comparison. Sloping fields were limiting it considerably. Unloading on headlands. 800 tyres on both combines. T series is heavier than the 2258
I would check the straw Walker area on the W series versus the 22 series because that will be your limiting factor.
There were a lot of changes to the T series around 2012/2013 . New versions have steeper walkers I understand along with larger diameter tine rotors to help with grain in straw separation . T560 is more popular as power can limit output on the 550. Not a big issue for me as I don’t need to be pushing on that hard.
Can’t help with W series as no experience.
Bit of a ramble but it may help with your decision.

 

[Ruston3w]

Thanks for the reply, I had hoped to track one or two machines down when working for a look but ..well..not that sort of a harvest eh?

 

[E_B]

We have a 2014 W540 hillmaster, and we're in Suffolk. Unfortunately I finished combining two days ago! Been a great machine though. Obviously not great output compared to the big beasts but pretty good in wheat with the pre cleaner as open as poss. Simple machine, changing from wheat to beans takes about 3 minutes. A couple of chains to regularly tension. Hillmaster wants greasing every 10 hrs or so. Only have a standars chopper as we only chop beans but it spread it well this year, better than previous years I suppose beacuase the stalks were so dry. Previous years the spread has been poor. We strip till so am also conscious of wheelings.

 

[E_B]

 

[Ruston3w]

Ah, thanks,what width header is it? I think there have been a few improvements to increase sieving performance over the last couple of years, so I was thinking the only reason to be talked into a 550 sounded like the extra hp to run the fine chop? We don't really struggle that much with DD behind the 2256 chopper so there is a limit to how much it's worth spending extra.
Did you run a JD before the 540?
Richard.

 

[ih1455xl]

Just wondered if anyone is running a W540 hillmaster and would care to share their views? I need to replace our 21yr old 2256 and am particularly interested in knowing if the 540 would do the job - I guess the local JD men will tell me I need a 550. Light land, never seen 4t crops before( or again?). Min or no-till mostly, is the fine chop worth the extra money/wear/diesel? All chopped, 5-600 acres, half WW, half S Barley + some odds and sods.
Wrightly or wrongly i'd prefer to buy nearly new small rather than be talked into bigger older machine,since we put wider tyres on the 2256 we have got on better with no-till, I don't want anything heavier than I need.
Thanks, Richard.

How do you get on with the 2256 thinking of upgrading my 1085 for a z series

 

[solo]

How do you get on with the 2256 thinking of upgrading my 1085 for a z series

2258 with 818 header here followed a 1065 with 1000 series header. Knife drive via wobble box is a great improvement over the 1000 series eccentric sprocket. The 22 series are designed with ease of adjustment and are a pleasure to work on for adjusting chain tensions etc.
I think @Ruston3w will be disappointed with a premium chopper on the T550 as it requires more power to operate. The T560 will be a better match power wise for the premium chopper. They are also a much more popular combine so second hand availability will be higher. I noted on the 2019 harvest page that wheattonrotty has covered over 1100 acres this year with his T560. That’s a good effort

 

[Ruston3w]

How do you get on with the 2256 thinking of upgrading my 1085 for a z series

Full of praise for the Z series, it cracks a few more grains than the Axial-flows we ran before but on all other counts i'd say have a go. Hillmaster is nice to have, even with just a few slopes, cutting across the slope sure helps with losses and forward speed. The same JD man has serviced it for us from new, I can only think of a couple of breakdowns in that time which stopped us- like drive belt last week I thought i'd get away with- never not going the next day though. Parts 5 miles away from us by 7.00 am the next morning, never failed.
I put a chaff spreader and some wide tyres on a couple of years ago to help with some land we (almost) no-till.
Richard.

 

[ih1455xl]

Full of praise for the Z series, it cracks a few more grains than the Axial-flows we ran before but on all other counts i'd say have a go. Hillmaster is nice to have, even with just a few slopes, cutting across the slope sure helps with losses and forward speed. The same JD man has serviced it for us from new, I can only think of a couple of breakdowns in that time which stopped us- like drive belt last week I thought i'd get away with- never not going the next day though. Parts 5 miles away from us by 7.00 am the next morning, never failed.
I put a chaff spreader and some wide tyres on a couple of years ago to help with some land we (almost) no-till.
Richard.

Is yours hillmaster then how many hours has it done I put a 818 on my 1085 and it's a different combine after that sits at 20t/hr cutting wheat
What do you think yours is worth I might be keen if you decide on up grading