Your first combine

[rockpile]

I got looking at a video of guys harvesting with really old combines that have been well maintained. So I got thinking about everyone's own experience. When I first started farming it was with my dad and we had a Case 1660. I was the truck driver. A good machine but crude as hell! In 1977 I bought my 1st combine at the ripe old age of 26. A used JD 105 with 900 hrs total time. That was a great combine. It had a couple of weak points but I caught on and kept the spare parts on hand. In a heavy crop like 60 bu wheat or durum you almost had to pound in a fence post in the ground beside you to make sure you were moving, lol! Had 2 cylinder speeds - hi and lo. Adjustment was by swapping drive sprockets. Not much for creature comforts but it seemed pretty modern to me. I finally sold it in 1986 for more than I paid for it. Sure brings back fond memories.
So, what was your experience, good or bad?

[Guest]

914 lol

[AllisWD45]

First combine i ever ran was when i was 12. It was a Cockshutt 137 no power steering. 45 bushel hopper and 16 gallon fuel tank.I remember my Dad greasing something at every hopper dump. Must have been a 100 grease nipples on it. Oil change every quarter section it harvested usually 4/year. Moved up big time when he bought a 428. Power steering 60 bushel hopper and 32 gallon fuel tank. No clutch 4 speed and variable speed on a foot pedal. Have an original 428 to this day. We harvested 5 acres this fall hasn't missed a harvest since 1962 and has been shedded since new. If someone can instruct me how to post a video i would put it on here.
First combine farming on my own at Canora a mint Cockshutt 542. Took a lot of alfalfa seed off with that one 18 ft straight cut no reels. Best combine i ever owned was a NH 1500 diesel. Most unique i ever owned was a Versatile 5000 away ahead of its time. Hydro,cab and such a simple machine it was invincible.

[Partners]

First combine I drove at age 13 was a IH 403..No cab..Goggles and snowmobile suit when it got cold..

[Quadtrack]

510 Massey with a Perkins diesel that was a good engine but not a cold starter without ether. I think dad paid $11k for it new in 1967, added a cab in '68. No a/c of course and took a toll on ones' hearing, but she combined a lot of acres. I remember going at night and when a slug of wheat swath went in, a grunt from the Perkins and several sparks out the exhaust; no fires tho!
Ran it up until the first 860 Massey showed up-sure seemed like a step up. Ran both for a couple years then sold the 510 to a neighbor and got another 860. The 510 was used another 5 years at least-was a durable machine. The 860's less so.
One of the best memories is combining barley near our house with the 510. Mom brought out hamburgers all done up and wrapped in aluminum foil. It sticks in my head as one of the best hamburgers ever! Still like them at harvest and think of that time.

[farmaholic]

Saw Super 92s being used here.. I combined on a IH 403 without a cab-yikes....went to school the next day with the reddest of eyes and froze at night. Did some time in a IH 503 with a cab. Then Masseys. 550, 850s, 9790, 9895, and a Challenger 680B (same as the 9895).

Never a NewHolland or John Deere here in the slum of the Ghetto.

Cabless combines....the worst is dead calm with that dust billowing out of the feeder house right up at you....or a wind in the wrong direction and all the chaff and small straw pieces flying in your face. "The good old days"......really now?

[seabass]

JD 105 was the first machine I ran. Moved up to a 7700. No radios at that time so I learned how to sing to myself to stay awake at night. Got a 7720 in 82 with a radio and hydro. Cooking with diesel when we got it. Had some bad memories with it. Left the auger out and came around the corner and nailed a hydro pole. Dad wasn't happy when I came to the yard with the auger swinging and holes poked in the side of the grain tank. Next came a 9600. Probably the best machines we ever owned. Spent a lot of late nites grinding it out in those machines. Harvest always has its challenges but the most enjoyable job I do.

[seldomseen]

As a boy it was a Super 92 Massy and sit out in the wind and dust and cold but not the hours my dad did. My first one was a 510 Massy that I bought and it was nice with air and a heater but tricky to set with three sieves. After a few years with the 510 traded it for J.D. 7721 and it was a big jump up in capacity and reliability and the tractor cab was nice compared to the 510.

[farmaholic]

Speaking of kinking augers.....was backing the 680B out of the machine shed in the fall to chew up some swathed weeds in potholes...got a little close to the door opening thinking I was going to hit it with the duals....so I drive ahead sharp to the right and I hit the door opening with the auger. Good thing the "journeyman" did it and not the "apprentice".

Its just one of those things you walk away from shaking your head.
Silver lining. ..harvest was finished. Insurance fixed it that winter.

[furrowtickler]

First combine I drove was an L2 Gleaner
She was high tech for her time lol

[Rareearth]

Yup, I was the lead combine 914, probably 14 ish. Dark, at night got to the end of the field and fell asleep waiting for the other combines . They wentt a few more rounds( hours) back door opened and I almost fell out. Trees sloughs I was whipped.

Fond memory, thanks for reminding me, things are so easily forgotten.

[sumdumguy]

JD95 with a Super 92, then Cockshutt 555.

[jake550]

Started with dads pull type 914 at age 9 or 10. Lots of good memories. In fact I enjoyed harvest a lot more then than I do now with all the latest and greatest.

[Flatlander]

First combine I drove was a 510 Massey. No cab. Before I was old enough to drive it I remember making the first round of a field with dad. The phone line was right beside us, he reached over and let it run through his hand. Probably '71 or '72. '73 the phone went underground. I think that combine had a 350 or a 327 in it. Man did I love the sound of those pipes when she'd really bark.

[sawfly1]

first combine i drove , was a Claas Matador Giant, about a 1967, 12,000$
50 inch cylinder . 80 bushell hopper extended to 100. variable speed

we had the yellow fellow too , new holland's predecessor. 1965 ? 42 inch cyl.
they both had cabs, no air, no heaters
melrore pickups.

filling the diesel , with a quart a stroke pump, a lot of strokes.
opening the door or window on the clean side , closing on the dirty side.
then there was the direction where you had to close it all up and cook.

at least at night you could close it up and try and keep from freezing.

first modern combine was a new 81 1460 ,73,000$, great machine but should have bought
the 1480 for 93,000