sirhc

Member
Went to look at 550 today machine look very clean always kept in no rust other than a little surface here and there had new rasp bars and concave last year new walker blocks the year before.The reason he is selling going out of row cropping has an 1143 corn head look good also only thing i could see it had an older bean head with wood slats.Would this combine be big enough to do 50 acres of corn and the same of beans and wheat?
 
A couple 100 acres of each wouldn't scare me with a good 550.

Like anything else that old, your preseason maintenance is the key to having a smooth harvest. Check every belt, bearing, chain, and hidey hole for signs of trouble. If you find any issue, change the part or at least have one on hand.


Where did you find this, dealer or individual?
 
If you have a MF/Agco dealer around that keeps MF parts, then it would be OK for the acres you need to do. It would need to be pretty cheap as MF combines have a real low resale value. Finding a good grain head maybe hard to do.

They are not a bad machine when they are working. They just are a major pain to work on.
 
The 550 is a good machine in corn and beans, but you have to add a 3rd sieve for small grain. You may have to travel a bit to find a later model bean head but they aren't too hard to find a decent 16 foot 1859 header. You will love that 354 perkins for fuel economy...
 
All the small MFs back east that I have come across have 3 sieve racks. I was at an auction Thursday that where a couple decent(need minor work) 1859s sold for scrap. I bought a runnable 1163 missing a snout for $200(I bought it just to keep around for parts, as my dad seems to smash a snout every time he runs my combine). A nice 9118 sold for $500, hindsight is kicking me in the backside on that one.


All about being at the right place at the right time. Dealer around here is going to be $1500-$2000 on a runnable 1859.
 
Rg I found for sale with a individual he had turned it around in his tool shed with a for sale sign on it.It has the hart carter floating cutter bar.Going to look at it again today he didn't give us a price the lat time as his brother in law is half owner of it.
 
If the price is right I would say buy it. MF use standard bearings and the belts can be bought aftermarket. I get a lot of parts from shoup.

Guys would give their right arm for a good 1143 head. I couldnt even buy one years a go for less than $2500. I had to cut down
my 44 head to get a narrow corn head.

when the 550 was new guys farmed 800-1000 acres a year. A 550 set up right will handle a 6 row corn head. But you would need 23.1x26 10ply tires
 
I have ran one for the last 20 years most parts can be gotten after market quick then thru agco back when they were new they were considered one of the best combines of the era.

Any machine that you get with some age on will have it's problems.In my book it is a lot easier to work on then a
JD of the same age.
 

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