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Post by leemsutton on Jul 10, 2002 10:38:01 GMT 1
This thread is on FWI, but I thought it was a good one so I am putting it on here.
So I'll start the ball rolling then. The worse machine that has ever been here since we moved here in the early 50's would have to be a Massey 32 combine harvester.
Pile of scrap metal, constantly breaking down with various different faults. In the end it was sold to another 32 owner who wanted it for spare parts! Just shows we weren't the only ones who suffered at Massey's hands!
Lee
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Post by HPP on Jul 10, 2002 11:48:37 GMT 1
i guess this isn´t what you intended, but here´s mine:
BMW 320 Touring -89.
Really do miss my (several through the yers) Mazda 626!
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Post by eppie on Jul 10, 2002 19:31:33 GMT 1
My father's worst car was his Ford Taunus V6 (i think this is the European model, not the U.S. Taurus)
He bought it to pull the horse trailer. could reach 80 km/h in 3rd gear on high rpm, in the fourth it slows down to 60.
Replaced by a wonderful Volvo 240 (2.3 4cyl.) which pulled it to over 120 km/h if you'd like.
by the way: my brother had a Volvo 740 2.3 injection. It could reach speeds of over 180 km/h with an empty trailer... the engine was not up to this abuse, but anyway...
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Post by leemsutton on Jul 10, 2002 19:42:12 GMT 1
I was refering to Ag machinery guys. You cant all be completely happy with all your farm equipment that you've purchased over the years - can you! surely not!
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Post by Red_Painter on Jul 11, 2002 3:10:27 GMT 1
I've never seen one in real life, but I thought the Massey 32 would be pretty good combines. Aren't they Dronningborg design? Do you think the design is too lightly built? Is the workmanship or are electonics poor? Do you know if the later model machines are better under Agco?
We have never bought a brand new combine. Most of the used machines were in really nice shape as we looked carefully for good combines, but the last machine my brother bought was a mechanic's dream. (Years ago my dad had my sister paint "Mechanics Dream" on the back of our John Deere 95 when he was having one problem after another. Normally it was a good combine and his favorite for dry pea harvest. The sign drew a few eyebrows and one JD man wasn't too happy with it)
Getting back to my brother's combine. The previous owner told my dad that it was in pretty good shape and it looked pretty good from the outside and what we could see. Boy was he wrong. The worst surprise was that when we got down to the main beater shaft off which everything is driven, it had a major chunk out of the main shaft key slot. Replacing the shaft was out of the question, we managed to get enough undamaged key slot to key the main pulleys. I had to use a chisel and hammer in the field to take off the header auger screws to replace a broken picker which was poking holes in the auger. When I finally got in it was missing parts most operators would not do without. After harvest, we completely replaced main auger using one from an older machine that we junked out. I don't know how many bearings we have replaced or how many hours I've spent inside. What made me mad is that I could have been enjoying the Indian summer weather instead of having all the associated frustation. I know used combines can be expected to be in need of repair, but this was unbelievably bad based on the comments of the previous owner.
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Post by leemsutton on Jul 11, 2002 9:46:09 GMT 1
Oh dear Red_painter that machine sounds quite bad.
RE: MF 32 - dont get me started! I could write pages of problems with it and I think I have before in here somewhere but the main ones were:
Bearings
Concave
Belts
Gear box
Steering rods
Fuel system
Straw walkers
Sieves
Air con
The reoccurring things were defiantely bearings and sieves but the ultimate problem was when a complete straw walker flew out of the hood at the back and nearly took out the tractor that was following to unload the grain.
Then in its final year (7 yrs old from new) and only done 1100 hours it broke down every single day we used it! sometimes it was a silly little thing that took a few mins to sort out other times it was things that took 3 to 4 days. In the end we parked it up and hired in an older NH8080 to finish off. As it worked out the 8080 did more combining than the 32 that year.
I think the new MF's are better but we would never venture back to one now. The main problem with the 32 was its build quality.
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Post by Woodbeef on Jul 11, 2002 13:14:34 GMT 1
I've a few new dud tractors. The worst ones were two White 6065 (badge-engineered Lambos). The first one was so bad they took it back at 250 hours and gave me a new one. It was no better though.
Then I'd have to say a Ford 5640SL with the hydraulic clutch problem. It was a silent recall(fix as fail),that caused my dad to put it through the barn wall. Needless to say I was not very impressed with Ford,as it only hasd 74 hours on it. so i offed it before something else went wrong!!
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Post by Friedhelm on Jul 12, 2002 12:41:52 GMT 1
Little bit different:
Worse machines we´ve ever sold or repaired:
JD 2130 4-wd LS :
Hydraulic problems : Won´t steer, no LS Function, Won´t lift anything, PTO doesn´t work. Sometimes everything work properly and the next not one thing worked or only one thing won´t work. New Pump, new steering device, new Valves nothing helped. A Jd mechanic also tried to fix it. Machine went to South America for parts ......
Fendt GT 380 4-wd:
Clutch worn out 3 times within 1200 hours of operation. Engine head gaskets every 500 h. Lots of problems with the electrical stuff.
JD 6200 4-wd
Leaks of Oil all over the machine, Sound absorber mounted to the cabin fell off , Hole in the sound absorber above the engine, srews loose around the machine, Switches defective in the cabin and around
I worked at a JD Dealer before I went home. The other 6000 sold worked fine but this one ..
a nice fault to search for:
Batteries empty on a tractor over night. Not everyday only sometimes.
Searched for it about 3 days. Switched off every electricity using part of the tractor. Nothing! At least we found out the alternator was the problem. If the rotor of the alternator was in a certain position it eats up the batteries. just a few cm further on everything is okay. Alternator worked otherwise fine.
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Post by Belt Breaker on Jul 28, 2002 11:35:45 GMT 1
Our Vogel & Noot plough. As a plough it works brilliantly but in 5 years and 2700 acres we have replaced 2 sets of boards ( heading for 3) replaced the beam, the headstock land wheel stub all the bolts which hold the furrow carriage to the beam 3-4 times. Last season the turnover stub broke, most of this has been repaired on warranty 4 year but I simply want rid of it unfortunatly with barley at £55/t it looks like it will remain for a while yet. Going to try a little min till just so we don't have to use the thing.
Other machine was a 1982 MF 565 combine broke down after 200m on its first day and had to wait for 3 days for the bit. went on fire every year (should of let it go) used to min till as the automatic header would over-ride the operator and plough while putting <500 kg /ha over the back No-one could set this thing we were always last done of harvest. In 1988 bought an Axial Flow which we still have. done 3200 hrs but now struggling with the heavier crops and more straw.
Managed to get 12 acres of Siberia Winter Barley cut this morning 14.5% (a novelty) > 10 tonne a hectare crap specific wieght (but the bulls like it) OSR swathed yesterday, Spring Barley 3-4 wks away
Cheers for now BB
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Post by pudding on Jul 28, 2002 19:36:58 GMT 1
red_painter......funny you say the MF 32 is the worst combine you had
friend of mine runs a mf36rs hillside (1998) and loves it!......the later ones are better built.......believe me.......lol......this harvested wheat at 30% moisture on demonstration the farm.......10t/ha yield......that tickled me!.....lol we also got it stuck in a peat field....this farmer will vouch that the JD1085 was the worst combine he ever had......that thing broke down all the time.....
i have never owned a bad machine.....
cars.....i loved my toyota corolla i had and my ford telstar (mazda 626) i left in NZ.....that thing was a great car....i towed two ATV's on a 6 metre trailer a lot.....at 120km/h......all my motorbikes i have ever owned are honda......i never had a bad honda.....
worst vehicles i have worked with......well here in kentuck
farms jd4960 2wd is just a waste of hp
our jcb 185-55 (possibly the first or second sold in the US).......ain't worth the tires its on
our stieger 9170 is a nice rig......just damn useless on bigfoot tires.....can't get the power to the ground
our ford 9600......keeps jumping our of gear......
worst pickup?......friend has a ford f250....auto.....the auto tranny doesn't shift quick enough.....you have to rev it....i hate that
dad will tell you the worst tractor he ever owned is a mf1100.....american junk.....is words.....followed closely by a SAME jaguar 95.....and lepard 85......awesome tractors just had troubles keeping them going (both had backend issues.....from new), but he will still own another SAME.....cause of there pulling and hill abilities
laters
pudding
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Post by Red_Painter on Jul 28, 2002 20:31:57 GMT 1
Pudding, I was just asking about the MF 32 concerning comments made by Lee Sutton. The machine I was talking about was a poorly maintained IH of the late 70's. My brother has one that has had almost no trouble and one that was not kept by previous owner(s) even though the last the owner said it was in pretty good shape. Coming out of the factory, it was probably a good combine.
I was curious about the Danish combines since I thought they were good machines, but Lee seemed to have a bad experience with one. I'm glad to hear that your friend's combines are good combines and that the later ones are better. What does Agco sell in New Zealand for combines now? Are they the same as the Australian selection or can one still get European combines?
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Post by pudding on Jul 29, 2002 5:07:20 GMT 1
lol....ops it was leemsutton who had the 32 when it comes to machinery NZ is kinda a head ache we have no local industry for tractors trucks and cars etc soooo its free game agco = MF, fendt, iseki, etc in NZ........we get the drottingburg only in NZ.......in the red form, and i think you can also get the green version if you ask nice! alot of the promo pics for the fendt were taken here in NZ.....actually they had to import transfers and stick em on the machine and paint a farmers trailer green for one pic......(fendt was in NZ for testing......its the northern hemispheres off season.....makes sense eh!).....actually my friends MF36 has been used for the fendt development, it has the current software and new moisture meter in it. there are a few gleaner in NZ.....f2,l2,n7 etc, but they never took off like other brands.......i kinda thought they were too wide for a lot of places other combines..... we got both european and american types, kinda hard when sourcing parts, cause often it was the individual dealers importing combines, it wasn't the manfacturers themself so we got the german JD combines......and the US based ones...... this topic is interesting cause of NZ's geography, each wheat growing area is different, and often american combines don't like the straw as much as a european machine......if a axial-flow could meet these requirements........thats all you would sell....lol austrailia?....yup we get austrailian spec tractors sold new in NZ......JD's parts warehouse is in Austrailia and so is NH you talk about Aussie spec and same machines....yup it happens but, due to the cost of importing yadayada.......there are just as many european and american spec tractors and ag machines around too  where do you farm red_painter? laters pudding |
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Post by Red_Painter on Jul 29, 2002 16:35:27 GMT 1
We farm in the Pacific Northwest of the US in the Palouse region which is hilly land. All combines are hillside except some Gleaner rotaties that can operate on slope due to the cleaning system. I have found Australia and New Zealand agriculture interesting. I think this area has some similarities in grain production to the South Island of New Zealand. Saw an article many years ago about an IH dealer in New Zealand which caught my interest. He was sorry to see the BTD 6 go out of production.I found it interesting since of our neighbors used to have some similar tractors many many years ago and we have an old TD 14 that still is usable of that style.
There used to be a site on the internet of an MF importer in NZ. They advertised the MF Danish combines. I was wondering if those combines were still avaliable as that site is gone I think. I was glad to hear that those 36's have worked out all right. I always liked the looks of those combines.
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Post by pudding on Aug 3, 2002 4:18:54 GMT 1
hey red painter.....the td series allong with the cat d2, and later d4, did some hard yards in NZ, and earnt a lot of repect, i have a friend with a td9 with barely runs, ether to start it, and ......ether to run it!......getting tired eh!
that one i think had a tree dropped on it.....both final drives on the back are its second set......different colour........that one did bush work all its life, not too many dozers that came to NZ, were used in cultivation, almost all had blades, winches, rollover protection,
the ones with 3pt hitch etc are now more sort after at home, infact i know of one used to run a post rammer, making fencelines in country too steep for tractors, when they work in rock they drill holes, drop the explosive in, let rip, then drive the post in!......
the palouse area interested me, i have seen photos of combines working there..........i have also seen a profi video with a knudson hillside tractor in it, they looked neat, seen any of them in your area??
laters
pudding
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Post by Red_Painter on Aug 3, 2002 6:34:04 GMT 1
Interesting on the TD's and D's, Pudding. I didn't realize they were used mostly for bush work. I've seen pics of wheel tractors in NZ with roll bars with extentions going out sideways from the top of the frame. I assume that's to prevent rolling. Any ideas what those are used for? maybe pasture renovation or haying or just general farm use. Our old TD also needs ether to start many times. Our mechanic found some engine parts that had been on a shelf down in San Francisco area since 1941 a few years ago so we had new sleeves, piston's, and ring's put in. I used it for seeding this spring and worked better than the HD 6AC since it has a wider guage and turns easily on steep hilly corners going up hill and with little load, you don't have to shift.
As far as the Knudson, there was one of the late ones sitting in the dealer's lot last year. Quite a nice looking and ingenious tractor. I have seen several green and later yellow tractors though more in drier country with the steepest hills. If they had come out about 7 years earlier, they may have been more popular. At that time farmers were swithching to four wheelers from cats and by the time Knudson came in with the more expensive tractor, Steiger was well established through the bigger IH dealers in the area.
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