Little story about a JD 95 combine

JD Seller

Well-known Member
In the late 1980s The wife and I decided to get debt free ASAP. So I had line of newer equipment that we owed money on. The prices of used equipment had started to go back up. So we sold some of the newer stuff and bought back good older stuff that we paid cash for.

One of the pieces that got sold was the 1985 JD 6620 SH combine. I was working in town so I had a hard time doing much custom work. So I had way too much combine for the acres I was doing. So I sold the JD 6620 SH.

I took the money left after paying off the note and bought a JD 95 combine. It was a 1970 model with diesel and hydro. I think I gave $2500 for it. It only had 1200 hours on it. It had never set outside in its life. So I rounded up a JD 443 corn head and made a JD 215 flex head work with a hydraulic pump driven off the feeder house for the reel.

I used that combine for 4 years. I never had very much trouble with it. The only reason I stepped up into a higher priced machine was the four row on the hill sides was too narrow. Just about up set it a few times.

So I bought another JD 6620 side hill combine. I then kept the JD 95 just to run soybeans/oats/wheat. I had all the screens for the bottom sieve for those crops. I will tell you it would clean soybeans like a seed cleaner would with screens in it over the adjustable chafer.

One day in about 1995 I was asked if I would sell the JD 95 to a neighbor. I priced it HIGH as I did not really want to sell it. I am thinking like $7500 with the heads. HE took it. DARN!!! HE still uses that machine yet today. HE only has maybe 100 acres of crops he combines after he is done chopping. It still looks like new and only has 3500 hours on it now. He brags on it every single time I see him. He loves it.
 
By keeping on top of the repairs a combine will last a long time.

A friend's dad bought a IH 303 new in the 60's.

He would custom combine several hundred acres of beans every year when the combine was new.

My friend still uses that combine today on his 200 acre farm.

It has no hour meter so who knows how many hours it has.

Gary
 
I have a 55, two 95's and bought a 105 last year. I have very few problems with any of them. We do about 60a. of beans and 70 of corn along with some wheat and rye.I would rather have a good older machine than late model junk. Tom
 
In the 80's two brothers and I each ran late model 95 gassers with 19' headers in wheat and milo. Mine was a hydro with the larger drive tires. In muddy conditions when they hit mud and had to back out or go around I could go straight thru usually without any problem. Still remember the huge difference the large tires and hydro made. Very low maintenance machines.
I have a short video on DVD of cutting wheat but don't know how to get it on here.
Thanks for the post that brings back memories.
 
I have to say that the JD 95 combine is one of the best combines that JD ever built hands down. For ease of operation and for working on them when needed you just cant beat them. Sense the early 70's I have run a lot of different combines, Mine and for other people. And after running JD's AC's Gleaners MF Oliver White MM Case IH and Ford combines old and new (at the time) I still go back to the 95 just because I like them the best. With a 16' grain head or 4 row corn head its hard to slow them down, They just want more!

I still think its funny that the 4400 that replaced the 95 that was so much better was changed back to the 95 style in the 4425 and 4435 combines. I guess too many burned up in the fields and them had to rethink there idea. You just don't mess with the tried and true! You just cant beat a 95. Bandit
 
The 4400 was considered as the replacement for the 55 not the 95. While the side mounted engine left a lot to be desired, there are a lot more of them still going as opposed to there predecessors.
The 4425/4435 combines were based on the combines made in Zweibrucken, and had very little in common with the 4400's other than the first two digits and green and yellow paint. They were poorly received in the US and were further hindered by poor parts support.
 
4400s were advertised as the replacement for the 95. Pretty sure that's not how it turned out in the real world though. 4400s and the rest 00 series were good combines too. Maybe not as good as the 5 series but they did have several advantages over the 5 series. Unless you have one of the last two years production of a 5 series you are stuck changing sprockets on the cylinder drive, add/removing shims on the fan, and fooling around with the shutters to optimize performance which can be a PITA vs a 00 series with the on the go adjustments.

Also, in my opinion, the squareback 105 was the best all time. Mainly because they had better engines then the 95. Can't beat a 404 diesel vs the 303 series which were prone to the O-rings leaking and dumping the coolant in the oil. And the engines before that which was the 217/248 were average on their best day.
 
I have sales brochures where they compare the 95 to the 4400 and the 10 to the 6600. They show timed field trials in corn with the 4400 and 444 corn head and a 95 with a 435 corn head.The 4400 out did the 95 only by a small amount. I wonder what the results if they added a quick attach feederhouse and a 444 head to the 95? If I have to do the repairs the 95 is 10 times easier to work on. Have you ran a hundred series combine with a rotary screen on a very hot day with no AC? You will feel like the main course at a cookout.
 
You guys are both correct on the printed comparisons, I dug through my brochure collection and found the same. Yes, when I had my 6620, the AC went out, and I combined corn in shorts for the first and only time (N. IL)! The 9500 cab gets pretty warm without the AC, in the fall, too, if the sun is out.
 
I have that one and the Grain/maize brochure. In it, the brochure states the 6600 out cut a 105 in barley by about 2,600 lbs in a 6.25 hr test. Can't blame the header on this one since both headers were more or less the same. But I knew a guy who has since passed with inside knowledge say to me that during some trials the 105 would out cut the 6600 every time. However, one day for some reason don't know if it was the conditions or if all the planets lined up right the 6600 out cut the 105. So JD took that one day and ran with it in their advertisement. In my experience and observations, it takes a 6620 to out gun a 105 in small grains.

The simplicity was lost when JD went to the 00 series. JD started out designing and finalizing the 00 series separator in 55 and 95 bodies. But then they went ahead and rearranged the rest of the components. They should have just left it alone in the 55/95 bodies because in my opinion, the 00 series internal separator design is superior to the old design. And yes I have a run a 1976 7700 with no AC. I was having electrical problems and didn't even have a blower. Wasn't too bad if there was a good breeze and you had both doors open. Lot of noise though. The 00 and 20 series are the only combines I have run that you need the AC on cold when its 50 degrees outside.
 

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