John_Burns
Guest
If you prefer to not say some things in public email would be fine. Am specifically looking at 2003 year models and newer. John
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Combines Good bad ugly of Challenger and Massey rotary combines
justapurrin
Guest
AVOID 03-04'S AT All COST. lATE 04'S AND 05 WERE BETTER BUT EARlY ONES WERE NOT VERY RElIABlE AND HAD A HEll OF A TIME KEEPING BElTS ON THE MACHINES. HAD 3 AROUND HERE AND NONE NOW
John_Burns
Guest
I appreciate the comment but wouldn't those issues be resolved by now with either updates or figuring out what was wrong and fixing itIJ What is different in an 05 over the 03-04 that makes them betterIJ lots of dollar difference. When you say there were three around here does that mean you had 3 of the machines or just three in the neighborhood that you know ofIJ In other words is your experience first hand as an owner_operator or second handIJ So far the two people I have personally talked to that had 03's said they had a few early issues that were fixed with updates and both had over a thousand sep hours now on them and were pleased with the combines. I have heard of the idler pulley for the main hydrostat drive being a somewhat regular replacement item. The ones I have been looking at are around 800 sep hours and the belts all looked good on the three machines I saw except for one main hydrostat drive belt and it had the backing starting to come off. John
justapurrin
Guest
first hand knowledge, i'm not exactly sure why the 03 and 04's were such a problem, but keeping belts on is like pullin teeth, mostly because the tensioners won't stay true no matter what, after 04 they were beefed up somewhat, but not fixed completely, chopper belt still comes off, o and i forgot to mention if it has chaff spreaders on it along with a chopper it WIll NOT spread corn chaff, those are only for small grain, challenger_ massey can not make them spread corn chaff. we had 3 only 3 and now none, they seem very well built, solid, easy to work on machines. But the problem is they need to be easy to work on because you do it so dammed often. Im not trying to put these machines down as they will alllll break down with time but this is my personal experience with 660_670 combines. Hope i didn't sound too pessimistic, and best of luck with what ever you decide to do!!!
John_Burns
Guest
Thanks for the feedback. From the feedback I am getting via email it seems like some guys have gotten along fine with the machines and others were glad when they left the farm. Almost like some machines were lemons from the start. Or maybe some operators tend to pay closer attention to their machine and avert problems before they developIJ I don't know - just kind of hard to understand the polar opposite feedback I am getting. Seems like it is kind of the same story with the lexions. Some guys swear by them and some say they were high maintenance high cost to maintain machines and glad to be rid of them. Interesting but still doesn't help me decide what to do. I found some very atractively priced late model lexion walker machines but they were 2wd and we just have to have 4wd about 1 in 3 years and the cost of a new Mud-hog isn't cheap to add later - so I kind of ruled them out. Thanks again for the input. John
justapurrin
Guest
yeah we've had most everyone around happier with the lexion machines but the challenger has it's place also and some have got along fine with them just no one close to here. deffinately 2 completely different machines!!
John_Burns
Guest
Update: Bought an 03 475R lexion, 900 sep hours. John
ferge
Guest
Good luck -- a friend of mine had a lexion -- he said that when his very young granddaughter knew the service man by his first name, it had to go!!!!
wildcat
Guest
Good luck on your purchase. Keep us updated on how it works for you.