Your first combine

[fjlip]

A 1964 403, too short to use seat so I stood all the time. Braced myself against the seat to use clutch and shift gears. Had to stand on unload auger lever to engage. Yup the dirt and chaff, filthy and cold.
Why did parents trust us out there?
Then 815 gas, very poor design, cab and heater but NO ac. Brand new was $12000. So enough IH, 6600 diesel, cab,chopper, ac and heater! Even tried a 7720 and 7721 with a 4640 and 4650 PS. Oops a 1680 for 3 years, then 9500, bullet proof, then 9600 only stopped for 3 hrs in 11 harvests.
Just had to try a 9870 STS, should be in the farm auction....most expensive repairs, spent more "fixing" it than all the combines prior added together! Cost more than prior 3 combines. About double a 9600 when DRY straw...

[Hopalong]

First one I operated was Massey 90, had Masseys in earlier years and JD in recent ones.
History on our farm use dates back to 1920's when great uncle had a McKormick Deering but stopped using it during thirties and went back to threshing.
In mid forties got a Massey pull type and a Massey 27 a few years later.
Kept seperater in shed for a few years and traded it for a new side delivery rake.
Harvest was and still is a joint effort with uncles, cousins, nephews and niece.

[crusher]

There wouldn't be any kids staying on the farm if combines hadn't improved exponentially. I started riding/sleeping behind the seat of a MF 510. Pretty sure dad didn't give me any earplugs. Then went to a MF 851PT, 860, then tried gleaners with an R50 and R60. Changed colors again to NH with a couple of TX66's. Now running JD 9760 and 9870. They keep getting better but I'm the first to agree the cabs are no hell in those JD's. I think we'll stay green for a while, dealer support is the reason.....but I do spend too much time at rbauction.com

[Hopalong]

Was told that my great uncle wanted to do custom work with first combine but was discouraged by his father who thought it would wear it out.

[bgmb]

There wouldn't be any kids staying on the farm if combines hadn't improved exponentially. I started riding/sleeping behind the seat of a MF 510. Pretty sure dad didn't give me any earplugs. Then went to a MF 851PT, 860, then tried gleaners with an R50 and R60. Changed colors again to NH with a couple of TX66's. Now running JD 9760 and 9870. They keep getting better but I'm the first to agree the cabs are no hell in those JD's. I think we'll stay green for a while, dealer support is the reason.....but I do spend too much time at rbauction.com

You just about wrote my combine story word for word

[Braveheart]

I remember Dad using a Massey 90. Then we upgraded to a new MF 410. I was 11 or 12 years old.

The day he drove the new 410 home from town my cousin had been staying with us for a week. We were at the stage where we were sick of one another and a fight broke out. It was a full on Donneybrook which ended with me dumping him on the ground and punching him out. He struggled to his feet, and started running for the highway saying, "I'll get on that new combine before you", (Dad was on the way home). I took off after him and we both got to the combine at the same time about a mile from home. Dad stopped and we both climbed into the cramped, non air conditioned cab for the ride home. We were ready for another fight by the time we got home.

Dad always got malt barley out of that Massey. He quit growing flax as that rethresher for the return would plug in flax constantly.

It was so hot in that cab that he left the engine cover open all the time to let out some heat.

I put a lot of hours in that combine and it was still in use when I started farming. When I rented the neighbouring half section we bought a used 6601 which we pulled with a 4020, to help out. We traded them both on a 7721, replaced that with a 7720 Titan 2, then a 9600, a better 9600, a NH 840, traded up to a NH 860, and now a Case 9120.

[woodland]

After reading these stories I'm obviously much younger than most on here (34 years). Before we could run the Massey 760 one kid was riding behind the seat of it and the other two were in the five ton with mom. Didn't run it on our own till we were 11 because the hills were too bad but custom combining on the river flats for the neighbors was the fondest memories. My brother and I would alternate days of running it and going to school. Then we added two TX 66's and it moved on to a neighbor but I think it was more reliable than what we got now.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

http://www.thecombineforum.com/forums/27-general-farming-board/119049-what-first-combine-you-drove.html

[bucket]

The first combine I bought myself was a new 1997 9500.

What an absolute gem.

Then I bought an additional 9560...another good machine.

Traded them for a "supposed upgrade" ....low houred 9670s. ......but I still end up combining in late November. But these things have run pretty good for 5 years...not disappointed in them.


Before that I was using dad's 7720 or 7721.

He also had a 750 Massey... before that I don't know but they were open air.

[Casered]

when I started farming in 2001 my dad and I ran 1480 case combines. We later switched to 2188's. At our most we did 10000 acres with 2 2188's. Im glad my dad is a great mechanic. He has showed me we don't need the latest and biggest machines to farm profitably. Now we run good used equipment. It has saved me a lot of interest and depreciation learning to farm with very little new equipment.

[Hamloc]

A Massey 510 was the first combine I road in, used to sleep behind the seat. It had a 327 gas certainly did bark. First combine I drove was a John Deere pull type 6601 pulled it with a JD 4040. Then we got a 7721 and pulled it with a 4640, it was a big improvement. Then a 8820, then a 9600 and a CTS. The story that sticks in my mind that determined why I run NH combines is one fall I am guessing about 2005 things were going slow so I rented a worn out old TR 95 from the neighbor, it had 3700 threshing hours. Anyway pulled in a canola field with the 9600 and CTS. Start going and I look in the tank and it looks like seed no pods not like the John Deere's. So I stop look behind, not throwing anything over but I open the sieves more and go again. Still really clean but I can't find anything thrown over. Long story short, the first combine I bought was a TR 96 when I got out of pigs in 2007. Now I run a 9070 and a TR 98, they are quite different from the old 510!

[samhill]

1st combine

Cut my teeth on an IH 127, then a 151. No cabs, worst when got married, threshing peas. I ran the swather just ahead of the 151 and my bride ran the combine right behind, sitting in the dirt and dust. And she's still with me. Never would have made it without her.
Last one a 1688, 2nd hand with 3600 hours on it.
Love that machine.

[SASKFARMER3]

A John Deere 55 and maybe I was a little young. But in a pinch while the grain truck was unloading it worked.

[may-be]

I started with my dads cables Massey super92. I then bought a 4400 JD combine. My first year with it I had some canola that grew 6 feet tall and my 103 cockshutt swather left a lot of piles. It took me 5 days to combine 60 acres, mostly from manually unplugging the drum...it was a smaller diameter drum that plugged easier and wrapped with flax easier. The next year I built a reverser for it and bought a swather that did not break down every single day. life just kept getting better after that.

[blackpowder]

First one drove was a IH 105. No cab, and tine style pick up. Then a 95 JD.
First one for fixing was a 750 MF. Then a 1680. Then 2 1680s and a 1688.
Finally dawned on me you cant get rich fixing or paying wages so now a 8120.