What is your perception of the reliability of different combine makes?

[Feldspar]

It's very difficult to get an accurate idea of the reliability of the various combines that are on the market. Manufacturers don't give out any useful data and so the only way to form an impression is to listen to other farmers (I assume here that what the reps / dealers say is not exactly credible).

The problem is that everyone knows someone who's had a Friday afternoon combine in any colour which has spent more of its life broken than actually working. Bad news travels far and wide and can often give a distorted picture, especially if a view is formed upon only a few case studies.

The only way that I can see to get a better handle on the fact of the matter is to get as many answers together at once, and hopefully by some wisdom of crowds method get a more reliable idea - or better at least than simply considering a combine brand to be unreliable because a neighbour had an unreliable machine about ten years ago.

I've created a poll which allows you to vote for what you think is the most and least reliable combine make. Please comment also on related factors, such as quality of back-up service, availability of spare parts / replacement machines etc.

 

[Norfolk Olly]

For what it's worth in my own experience the best combine by a long way from an operators point of view and reliability it has to be a lexion 480, 100+ acres a day, everyday, hardly missed a beat, best day was 162 acres in wheat, the 580 was also a great machine but was never as reliable as the 480.
The worst I've had the misfortune to get near was a jd, that was a long and painful harvest!
Have not heard any positive comments from anyone who has a Massey around this way(either of them infact)

 

[Clive]

They all break sooner or latter - I think how the breakdowns are dealt with is the most important thing to consider in this respect and personally I feel Claas excel in that aspect, I have run JD and NH combines to compare against within the last 15 years

 

[Feldspar]

They all break sooner or latter - I think how the breakdowns are dealt with is the most important thing to consider in this respect and personally I feel Claas excel in that aspect, I have run JD and NH combines to compare against within the last 15 years

"They all break sooner or later" is a truism. Whilst I agree that back-up is important, if one make breaks down twice as often as another that is important too.

 

[Feldspar]

One might think that in theory Case, for example, has the potential to be more reliable than a hybrid combine, because of its relatively simple design with fewer moving parts. Whether combines actually are reliable in real life is what matters at the end of the day.

 

[Norfolk Olly]

If case were the most reliable I wouldn't entertain one as what they do to the straw! Also the facing around changing concaves

 

[Clive]

"They all break sooner or later" is a truism. Whilst I agree that back-up is important, if one make breaks down twice as often as another that is important too.

Ok the JD we ran probably broke down less than the Lexions we have run but honestly nothing in it and neither were bad or beyond acceptable. Claas support and service better though so less down time due to breakdown

NH were appalling 15years ago, no idea if that's still the case today but they were bad enough to put me off the brand for life - once bitten !

 

[Feldspar]

Ok the JD we ran probably broke down less than the Lexions we have run but honestly nothing in it and neither were bad or beyond acceptable. Claas support and service better though so less down time due to breakdown

NH were appalling 15years ago, no idea if that's still the case today but they were bad enough to put me off the brand for life - once bitten !

Is the excellent service and support you get specific to your local dealer in particular or true of Claas dealers in general?

 

[Clive]

Is the excellent service and support you get specific to your local dealer in particular or true of Claas dealers in general?

Our dealer is miles away - still bloody excellent though

Can comment on others of course but you do hear in general that Claas dealers are good

The company themselves are acessable if you have a problem beyond the dealer - you can speak to them direct. The year we had "issues" with a 750 Trevor Tyrell (uk manager) called me direct to apologise and try to see what could be done to help - they didn't walk away from a problem or dump it on the dealer, they got involved and sorted it. I have experience of other manufacturers that are not so good in similar situations and that counts in my book !

Worst case re downtime is you can collect bits at 3am etc from saxham if needed and I'm yet to come across a part we couldn't get by 8am next morning one way or another, to be fair JD were as good in that respect and actually closer at langer, JD dealer didn't keep much on the shelf though so we collected parts more often ourselves than we need to with Claas as our dealer seems to carry a lot of parts in stock

Iirc you run mf's so frankly anything is going to feel super reliable by comparison !

 

[Feldspar]

Iirc you run mf's so frankly anything is going to feel super reliable by comparison !

We also have a little Claas Tucano 320 which has never broken in any major way. Not quite as complex as a MF Delta though and not doing the same ac/hp. Maybe we should have a fleet of Tucanos!

 

[Partstech]

Perhaps sometimes there is a plus side to having a less popular brand, if the dealer has fewer to look after resources might not be so stretched ?

 

[Colin]

As others say, they all breakdown and its how the dealer or manufacturer deals with it that is important. Our last NH had maybe 4 dealer visits outside servicing in 6 years of harvesting, doing 1200 to 1600 acres a year. So not too bad really.

 

[tw15]

If case were the most reliable I wouldn't entertain one as what they do to the straw! Also the facing around changing concaves

Bugger the straw the best place for it is chopped but saying that they make tighter bales and nowdays most is chopped and spread by machine anyhow prehapes stock farmers should pay a bit more for straw bales as we would help save diesel for the stock farmers . Concaves can be a fad but once you get the knack they are not to bad.

 

[Feldspar]

Perhaps sometimes there is a plus side to having a less popular brand, if the dealer has fewer to look after resources might not be so stretched ?

Our local MF dealer has been excellent, on several occasions lending us their own Delta and even sending a driver on one occasion. One season their extremely good fitter seemed to live on the combine and they were usually there within half an hour. I think without them MF would have had one fewer combine customer a while ago.

I don't wish to be unfair to MF, we have found their tractors to be very reliable on the whole and continue to buy them with confidence. However, I do have a number of not very fond memories with their combines. In particular one harvest a few years ago when we had excellent weather and two of the biggest Cereas at the time both broken down in the same field which was quite irritating.

That said, I think MF are investing heavily in their combine department and are slowly getting a combine which has got a lot going for it when it works and at a much cheaper price than some of the competition. I think they need to do more to address the issue (or at least the perception of the issue) of reliability as the polls show. Again, for balance, I have heard a lot of first-hand horror stories with Lexions over the past few years which equal what we've experienced. Also, looking at the latest blurb through from Claas with their rental prices (£39,500 for a 750TT) they aren't all that cheap either.

 

[Feldspar]

As others say, they all breakdown and its how the dealer or manufacturer deals with it that is important. Our last NH had maybe 4 dealer visits outside servicing in 6 years of harvesting, doing 1200 to 1600 acres a year. So not too bad really.

Yes, but if you've had well over 4 visits in one season (let alone 6!) then the back-up better be nothing but excellent!!

 

[warksfarmer]

It's very difficult to get an accurate idea of the reliability of the various combines that are on the market. Manufacturers don't give out any useful data and so the only way to form an impression is to listen to other farmers (I assume here that what the reps / dealers say is not exactly credible).

The problem is that everyone knows someone who's had a Friday afternoon combine in any colour which has spent more of its life broken than actually working. Bad news travels far and wide and can often give a distorted picture, especially if a view is formed upon only a few case studies.

The only way that I can see to get a better handle on the fact of the matter is to get as many answers together at once, and hopefully by some wisdom of crowds method get a more reliable idea - or better at least than simply considering a combine brand to be unreliable because a neighbour had an unreliable machine about ten years ago.

I've created a poll which allows you to vote for what you think is the most and least reliable combine make. Please comment also on related factors, such as quality of back-up service, availability of spare parts / replacement machines etc.

Any make is reliable if hired because they are generally new.

To buy and keep you need simplicity for reliability assuming build quality is up to spec in the first place so Axial Flow.

 

[Feldspar]

Any make is reliable if hired because they are generally new.

To buy and keep you need simplicity for reliability assuming build quality is up to spec in the first place so Axial Flow.

Over the last decade we have always bought new, spent the first few years sorting out the niggles and then changed after 3/4 years to keep up with a need for more capacity with the last few years often being relatively trouble free. One could argue that it's best to let someone sort the teething problems out and buy a 2 year old machine. Different ways of looking at things I suppose.

 

[Dman2]

Our JD Probably has had more problems than the Dominator it replaced but to be fair easy to fix and a lot cheaper on parts

 

[tr250]

I think it's a bit unfair on the mf because people like to knock them without any experience. All that said we have had mf and class and class is a lot more reliable but I think this lies with the dealers as they know the combines inside out whereas the mf dealers only sell couple a year. Our mf was a mf badged lavereda was he'll of a good combine made a lot better job than Claas if you could get it in the combine as the header and trunking were rubbish

 

[Jock]

I think it's a bit unfair on the mf because people like to knock them without any experience. Our mf was a mf badged lavereda was he'll of a good combine made a lot better job than Claas if you could get it in the combine as the header and trunking were rubbish

All MF combines these days could be described as badged Laverda's
The same machines come out the factory in Laverda, MF, Fendt and Challenger colours.

I agree that they tend to be knocked by those with little experience of them. Bit like red trailers on here until recently