our fleet

[John 1594]

What we are currently farming with, 75 acre smallholding plus a lot of contract hedge/verge trimming, winter ploughing and equestrian hay work

DB 1594 commemerative, 1494, 1390 and 990, MF 525 combine, and i wouldnt swap them for anything

 

[buggerit]

I can remember driving one of those combines back when I was about 12 how times have changed.

is it still doing a good job for you?

 

[John 1594]

I can remember driving one of those combines back when I was about 12 how times have changed.

is it still doing a good job for you?

Yes she still flattens our acreage every year, and on a wet year she often helps others out if im finished my own. Last years repair costs were a staggering £1.50 for a broken chain joiner. Ive done a lot of work on it over winters though, its had a new knife, auger fingers, some intake bars, new drum bearings, later adjustable sieves, set of straw walker bearings, and a fresh set of drive tyres in the last 10 years. I only gave £500 for her though, so she dont really owe me much, certaintly cheaper and more timely that using a contractor

 

[sleepy]

Yes she still flattens our acreage every year, and on a wet year she often helps others out if im finished my own. Last years repair costs were a staggering £1.50 for a broken chain joiner. Ive done a lot of work on it over winters though, its had a new knife, auger fingers, some intake bars, new drum bearings, later adjustable sieves, set of straw walker bearings, and a fresh set of drive tyres in the last 10 years. I only gave £500 for her though, so she dont really owe me much, certaintly cheaper and more timely that using a contractor

What age is it?

 

[cormywormy]

Love the 525 combine, do you cut much with it every year? is it original or was it ever sprayed?

 

[John 1594]

Love the 525 combine, do you cut much with it every year? is it original or was it ever sprayed?

75 acres most years, original paint, she has gone pink over the years as MF paint does, so this year i spent a few days with some polishing compound and a rotary buffer to give her a facelift, she looks better for it, repainted the yellow as that had faded, she has done 2000 hours by the clock on the engine, not bad for a 1977 machine, always preffered the MF to a Claas, far cleaner sample i think

 

[cormywormy]

Ah she does look the business, the buffer did do some job to it. My neighbour has a massey ferguson 780 special combine he sprays it with hydraulic oil, diesel, kero and waste oil mixed in a knapsack . It really does keep the paint shiney. I love old massey ferguson kit, iv an old 1963 massey 20 square baler hope to strip it apart after next summer and spray it up.

 

[John 1594]

Ah she does look the business, the buffer did do some job to it. My neighbour has a massey ferguson 780 special combine he sprays it with hydraulic oil, diesel, kero and waste oil mixed in a knapsack . It really does keep the paint shiney. I love old massey ferguson kit, iv an old 1963 massey 20 square baler hope to strip it apart after next summer and spray it up.

Got one of those too, ours has been re-sprayed, still does 3-4000 bales a year, thousand times better than the IH B47 it replaced, that thing was going to be the death of me how much hassle it gave

 

[cormywormy]

Got one of those too, ours has been re-sprayed, still does 3-4000 bales a year, thousand times better than the IH B47 it replaced, that thing was going to be the death of me how much hassle it gave

She does look well there, i do about 1000 bales a year with mine. Once you baling a small row your grand, i was baling oaten straw of a 17ft combine and i had to take it really easy to let it feed in. Or else it started breaking shear bolts on the packers.

 

[John 1594]

trick with a 20 is to keep all the chains tight so she cant get out of time, mine ate the needles once when the spring fell off the ram stop, we managed to straighten them though! this goes well behind our 12ft combine, although ive had 18ft of barley straw through her, and 25ft of pea straw for a bloke with some cattle, pea straw is as hard on the baler as it is the combine though, awful stuff

 

[cormywormy]

25ft of pea straw well done massey baler. When you say that, i may go through mine and tighten the chains so. They are not very tight. We took apart mine last year and put in new oak slides in the chamber. No more banging when it is running. . The thing that slows me down is the narrow pick up. Hope to keep the 20 for vintage and buy a bigger baler for other work. Where the rows of 18ft of barley straw not very big for it, as in wide?

 

[John 1594]

25ft of pea straw well done massey baler. When you say that, i may go through mine and tighten the chains so. They are not very tight. We took apart mine last year and put in new oak slides in the chamber. No more banging when it is running. . The thing that slows me down is the narrow pick up. Hope to keep the 20 for vintage and buy a bigger baler for other work. Where the rows of 18ft of barley straw not very big for it, as in wide?

Oak slides, you missed a trick there lad. I done mine last year too, but i used the extremely hard plastic strips what you find in the throat elevator of a 460 lexion, 10mm thick they were spot on for the job. Quiet as a mouse, drives easier too, i run ours in 1000 pto with the tractor on tickover

Barley straw was out of a NH rotary, so it was pretty smashed up, was a full gobfull for her though, had to keep dead center of the swath and she just about took it all in

 

[cormywormy]

F

Oak slides, you missed a trick there lad. I done mine last year too, but i used the extremely hard plastic strips what you find in the throat elevator of a 460 lexion, 10mm thick they were spot on for the job. Quiet as a mouse, drives easier too, i run ours in 1000 pto with the tractor on tickover

Barley straw was out of a NH rotary, so it was pretty smashed up, was a full gobfull for her though, had to keep dead center of the swath and she just about took it all in

Sure learn something everyday, when the oak breaks apart i may try the plastic, never even though of it. I may put my massey 390 in 1000 pto next time and get her driving right in that. As the 540 box was just revving the tractor apart.

Yeah was prob easier to bale the rotary stuff as i was struggling to bale the oaten straw, had to watch then clutch to how much it was taking in.

 

[Penmoel]

I love old massey ferguson kit, iv an old 1963 massey 20 square baler hope to strip it apart after next summer and spray it up.

Surely it must be a 1973 model, at 1963 it would have been a 703 baler would it not? A 703 would not have all the pto guards as in the picture above

We have a MF15-8 , bought it new in 1976 when we had some good weather​

​

She snapped the knotter drive chain last year on the first bale which produced sighs of relief from all the family who were dreading small bales again!!

 

[John 1594]

Decided to get 1 good photo before the 770 heads off to pastures new, looks tiny stood next to the 990

 

[snowhite]

i all ways liked the DB

 

[Dave W]

Did anyone see my mates mf20 on ebay last week? It was immaculate and made £2550.
He's over the moon at that price

 

[John 1594]

Did anyone see my mates mf20 on ebay last week? It was immaculate and made £2550.
He's over the moon at that price

was she a petrol/parrafin one, or a diesel?. I sold my 770 on there start of this week, i gave a 1000 for it in november, spent a 1000 on it doing it up, and sold it for 4k. Wish every tractor i bought was like that

 

[Dave W]

MF20 baler

 

[John 1594]

MF20 baler

ah right, got ya now lol. Thats a pretty good price for one of those, i gave 130 for mine out of cheffins years ago