Combines 9700 9720 white and 8590 Massey questions

TwinSilvers

Guest
These machines WERE monsters in thier day, and still are by today's standards. The biggest downfall was White didn't build heads big enough to feed these machines; - 8 rows of corn wouldn't even tap thier capacity potential, and 260 horsepower wasn't enough to utilize thier true potential. Overall, a winner of a machine from the time they were introduced. White did an excellent engineering and development job on these combines prior to thier introduction, although there were numerous minor field changes within thier first 2 years. Massey built a similar prototype machine called the TX903 about the same time, although that machine never made it to market! (too many patent infringements)
 

woody

Guest
Very True. I find it interesting to hear about the TX903. We are about to repower one of our 8590s with a 903 cummins @ 400 hp and hydro drive the chopper. With todays MF numbers should we call it a 9990IJ As to Red's comments, good 9700s,9720,and 8590s are hard to find. I have been looking for a vg 8590 for quite a while and i am almost convinced that i own to 2 best around(with the exception of the screwed 640 perkins in the one)
 

TwinSilvers

Guest
Yes, good "low-hour" 9700's_9720's_8590's are rare, but a "good find" when you locate one. As for the TX903, my uncle had that machine housed is his shed for about 2 weeks when Massey chose his farm as a test site for the prototype. The TX903 was almost identical to the 9700. Since both machines were designed in Brantford, Ontario, rumour always was that some Massey engineers "defected" to White, along with thier technology.
 

woody

Guest
It has always frustrated me that massey built the 8560 when they had the 9720(8590) size sitting right in front of them, after they took over WFE.
 

Harvester

Guest
Ah, but the 8560 is another interesting twist to this whole story. It too started out as a White, the 9320. Never brought to market, the 9320 was the little brother of the 9720 and was intended to capture a larger portion of the market due to its smaller relative size. So White's line-up of 2 rotary machines, the 9320_9720, with decal changes became the MF 8560_8590. MF didn't have any development work to speak of until the 8570. White was decades ahead of time with these machines, which is why they have excelled in the market with surprisingly few internal improvements until the recently introduced 9690 and 9790. Even so, the White heritage is unmistakable.
 

Mlappin

Guest
You're right there, our local Agco dealership is owned by a retired engineer from White, he told us that the 8560 was to be the next generation rotary and bigger ones were planned to take the place of the 9700 and 9720, since several problems were addressed in the 8560 and it was a much simpler design.
 

woody

Guest
It sounds like we would have been better off if WFE was left alone to do their thing.Has anyone heard anything about a bigger series of MF combines with the big rotorIJ
 

TwinSilvers

Guest
You're close! The 8560 was the same machine as the 9520, not the 9320. Edgar S. Martin Farm Equipment of Wallenstien, Ontario bought the only 9500_9520 prototype at the WFE Factory auction, and parted it out, since many of the powertrain components were also used on the 8900_8920 combines. The 9300_9320 was to eventually replace the 8720 as a Class IV, while the 9520 was to replace the 8920.
 

TwinSilvers

Guest
Our AGCO service rep "hinted" that a Class 8 rotary (similar in specs to the 9720) is in the works, and that it will be offered as a Gleaner, a Massey AND as a Challenger. He predicted it would be released in limited form for harvest 2006, with full production and availability for 2007. Just a rumour at this point, though. he did admit that he felt there was no more "room" for added capacity out of a rotary Gleaner.
 

Harvester

Guest
I think we're talking two different machines. The 8900 and 8920 were conventional combines and were radically different than the 9320, which has the same specs as the MF8560. It is possible that White decided to change model numbers, realizing there may someday be a need for a model to fill the gap between the 9320 and 9720, and therefore changed the 9520 prototype to the model 9320 production. This may be why MF soon realized that the 8560 was being outgunned due to low hp from the 5.9l Cummins and replaced it with the 8.3l in the 8570.
 
 
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