Combines Repair costs per acre

[tbran]

Gee Ed. You've blown me away here. I certainly have not spent that much on my old R50 in 10 years, including all the upgrades. Your dealer's parts person ain't on the French Riveria now is heIJ No seriously, am now at the 3,000 hour mark- I have replaced front drum brgs and rear arms with brgs. and pivot shaft and upper feed shaft. (Didn't know you had to remove slip clutches and grease splines, and I'm supposed to know this stuff.- do now!)) Feed clutches. I have replaced cyl. Bars w_ 3_4 and 1"wide spaced and some heilicals and dischage paddle mods. I have had to rebearing spreader. I have replaced sep. clutch twice and most of the belts although one or two are origional. Have had one RWA motor blow and have had to replace a couple of hyd lines. (My late Dad burnt the rear tire off and probably was the cause but thats another story- what a story! more later) RWA swivel kits. Mouse ate the engine wiring off and fan belts once. I have replaced the high pressure relief valve o-rings on hydro. Bin loading auger and tube. AC change over to R134a w. compressor. Accel rolls, A few pop rivets... and half dozen misc.brgs - thats about it in ten years..still have origional cage and grate (with a few dings) One fan shaft and clean grain auger (see alerts post- light bulb),bin unload auger (danged light pole moved) and feed chains. Thats it to my knowledge. maybe 6 grand in 10 yrs.- big chunk was RWA. run hard, put up wet. But she's holdin up better 'n my MIl.....

 

[Dan]

Ed, I have been thinking of the most beat on and run hard R50's that I can think of. Best I can figure you are spending at least five times more than most. Ten times more than some others for your amount of acres. I still can't figure out how you could wear out a bin fill auger yearly like you had mentioned in a earlier post. I do have it in mind that you are talking Canadian funds. I just can't figure out how you can get so much money in that machine for repairs and not even counting labor. I'm not saying you beat on your machine but something must be very wrong. Maybe we should look at what is continually costing you the most and see if there is something to do to correct. I'd sure like to try help if I can. Dan

 

[Ed]

In 1998, we did some major work to prevent breakdowns.

 

[Ed]

We plant our light poles below the frost line so they don't move like that! I recovered a lost dual rod though while cutting soybeans last fall.

 

[Keith_Williams]

Do not want to IJ too much, BUT have you looked at the Shoup Manufacturing Company Spring CatalogIJ

 

[Dan]

Hi Ed, You sure do get an A+ for tring to prevent a breakdown. The new HD 557 feed chains you installed will out last the old or any 550 chain by at least 2 times if not 3 or 4 times. I hope you installed feeder shocks. You could of saved yourself about $170 US bucks on clean grain chain if you would of used a l2 chain and removed a couple links. I don't know why the R50 one is more but maybe it has chrome pins. You must of replaced tailings return to cylinder drag chain also going by your prices. I hope you moved your air cond. rec. drier up under the cab out of the heat and vibration of engine when you did your air cond. Be sure when you snug your clean grain chain that you don't over tighten for I've seen that break the auger. Should be able to slide chain back and forth across the sprocket. You could pick up a stethescope with long probe on it at a auto supply store which you could very carefully listen to most bearings from time to time to see if you are getting a noisy one. Prices are very scary for some of this stuff and worse yet when viewing in Canadian funds. I really think if we compaired 100% apples for apples here there wouldn't be a whole lot of difference in maintaining any color for the same amount of acres averaged out over time. Some people will replace a part a few years ahead of others and are they better off or not, who knows. let me know if I can help you with anything, Ed. Dan

 

[sam]

I got to agree with Keith. Check around for aftermarket parts. Most expensive elevator chain in loewen book for Gleaner is listed at $394.00, and the roller chain in all likelihood is built by same manufacturer, and of course source of rubber paddles is the same - from tires. Many of the aftermarket material sources come from the same suppliers, but the smaller manufacturers don't have the overhead the big OEM's have, so pricing can be substantially lower.

 

[Ed]

Have not tried Shoup. Contacted Drives Inc. who make chain for Case IH.