Using a hill side combine on flat land.

Tompkins

Member
Location
NE Somerset
Depends on the combine, our JD Hill master was always pitched slightly on even our flattest fields and the weight difference was unnoticeable really. I can't think of any real disadvantages apart from more moving parts?
 

Ruston3w

Member
Location
south suffolk
The cab height will be lower on the road on a hillmaster when lowered , as well as the smaller tank you may well be limited to A bit narrower tyres compared to the widest approved option on a fixed axle machine.
 

Simon Chiles

DD Moderator
The level land jD T series has a 10,000 litre tank vs hillmaster equivalent which has an 8000l That may or may not help with your harvest logistics .
The cab height will be lower on the road on a hillmaster when lowered , as well as the smaller tank you may well be limited to A bit narrower tyres compared to the widest approved option on a fixed axle machine.

I’ve got a T560 Hillmaster. It’s got a 10,000 litre grain tank. It’s only the 550 that has the 8,000 litre.
It also has tyres that can be run at 1.5 bar with a 24 tonne axle load.
We do harvest fields that are on it’s chassis tilt limit however it always surprises me how much it levels on fields that you would have been certain were flat.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
One advantage to Hillmaster/Montana type combines is that they can be quite handy for getting g through gateways without taking the header off. You can often just pick up over the hedge or tilt your way through.

MF Autolevel models can be jacked right up to lift over gateposts too. We had to widen a lot of gateways when moving from a JD Hillmaster to a New Holland rigid chassis machine.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
We are looking to buy a used combine, there are a few hill side models available locally, are there any disadvantages to running them on level land?

No. A few more moving parts, that's all. What you'll be surprised at is just how much you see it tilting on what you'd think of as flat. John Deeres have no other method of levelling the sieve box so they lose capacity on any kind of slope without Hillmaster. I can't speak for Claas these days but we had 3D sieves when I was on the fens and was glad to have it too.
 

Ruston3w

Member
Location
south suffolk
Re tyres, on max tilt the widest option on our old z series left a very distinct footprint on the downhill side. Eventually I put it on wider, more modern boots and it was transformed. Sure the new T can have wider tyres (as ours does) but the OP is looking at s/h so just bare in mind it might be wearing old fashioned tyres that don't suit , were they 30x32?, very round section and kind on the final drives but not field.
Totally agree how the levelling helps , even on a relatively flat field.
 

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