Trying to plan a road trip...

Have a few possibles lined up. I never should have let that F3 get by me last February. It is the only one I have seen besides the green stripe last week. It has disappeared so I have to assume it has been picked up by someone.

This month I have found an L2 but passed it right by. Honest seller...too honest for his own good.

I have two F2's to look at. I cannot get them to answer their phones so these are on hold. I want a serial number on these so I know what end of production they come from.

Lastly I have an M. Seller is sending me pictures tomorrow.

The only "3" in the area is an M3 and at $19K I think I would look at something newer.

Thinking if I get out and look at a few in person I might start getting a feel for the mechanical aspects of them. I have received a lot of info here and watched a few animations on Youtube. All good stuff but I need to get hands on experience. Now that the corn is planted, I have time... and tons of motivation.

My M3 and 3 heads might have been between $14-15,000. Was very local and in good shape brought it home and was combining the next day. If that helps any. This time of year might have been a little cheaper?

I'm a little too far from you, or you could tour my Gleaner museum! Man I gotta clean out around here.....

Paul

Well, that went south in a quickie. The F2 I was wanting to look at dropped off Craigslist before I could get a time scheduled. Had a couple others I was going to put on the circuit. One was an M2 but the guy tells me it is a gear tranny and not many bells and whistles for the asking price. The other was not much from the description so trip cancelled for now. Looking in a different direction now. Have a couple nice F2's but one of those will not return calls and does not take down his ad. Third is an L2 I found at a dealer. Sounds pretty nice. All are in the same general area. Guess I could run over there and look at just the two. It's only money and time.

I have been doing this for two years now. First a bigger tractor. Then tillage and planting equipment. Now harvesting and storage. Sounds like fun but after a while....

It's all fun looking, I've been farming for 35 yrs and everytime I think I've got my machinery needs met seems like there's another piece I'd like to purchase as a replacement or totally new. My wife and I had been looking for a decent grain truck for over a year thought they were all too high when we ran across a sweet deal @ a auction last fall picked it up then we'd been looking for a bigger flex platform and head trailer well that's done and in the shed. So you'd think I'd spent enough and should be happy but no I've decided it's time to get rid of both of my ancient skid loaders that run very well and get 1 really nice late model one, will it never end. LOL

Good Luck hunting combines.

Thank you! I am sure there will be good days and bad days. Whilst accumulating all this equipment to diversify from "all hay" I have run into a lot of real characters. I have also been upgrading my hay equipment a little along the way so the equipment search is pretty much a daily routine now. Good day is when I finally convince that "hold out" that his 30 year old, nearly worn out jewel is only worth 2/3 of what he wants for it. Bad days usually end up with a comment like "If I caint get what I want fer it I'll just let her sit thar".

Most good days are when no one bids against me at the auctions. Da hail with Craigslist!

Dave I have been reading about your search for a combine. I am mainly a JD guy but I have traded/sold a lot of Gleaners too. Here are some things to keep in mind while looking for your combine.

1) Good small/medium size combines are selling for a premium. There are not any new ones being built. This makes the good machines sell very well and fast.

2) Watch out switching between series on the Gleaners. Example F2 and F3. There are differences in how the grain headers operate as far as the automatic header controls. Finding the correct kits/parts is getting hard to find to switch one over if you need too.

3) A good higher priced machine can very well be "cheaper" in the long run. The big reason is the cost of repairs is getting higher so the up front saving on a cheaper combine can be eat up real fast in repairs. You also have to consider timeliness of harvesting. I assume you work off farm. So if your combine breaks down you could be out of the field for days while you repair it. So if we have a rough fall to harvest in you can easily run out of time before snow/weather effects your harvest.

4) The higher grain prices has pushed the price of combines up. A good machine that would have been 10K 3-5 years ago can easily be 20K now.

Good luck in your search.

I appreciate that. It's a trial but somehow it will work out in the end. I will take you at your word for 1,2 and 4. As for 3? I learned that lesson early on. My first classic tractor was a SMTA owned by an elderly many who is probably going to outlive all of us. He was beyond meticulous...a-nal would be more accurate. One of the most annoying people I have ever dealt with. Even timed me on my trip to see the tractor. Asked me when I left home and then informed me that I had broken the speed laws...and he was not joking. That being said I gave him $4000 for that tractor a long time ago. To date I have not spent another nickel on it other than oil, gas and one battery.

I wish it had taught me a lesson, but I had to go the opposite route a couple of times before I clued in on it.

I am going to look at a couple here soon. I will keep it all in mind. Thanks!