CIH 1660-Do you remember the first time you drove a combine?

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
Well, the girls helped me put together a video of us taking our first corn off the field. This is the small "test plot" that I have been asking you about all year. The cornfield is roundabout 7 tillable acres when you subtract the barn site (marked by the hay bale) and the trees. Feel free to critique, it is the only way I can learn!

Sorry it took so long!
Drivers Ed
 
First SP was a Cockshutt in about 1957. Ran a pull type for a few years before we went for SP.
 
Excellent video! It looks like that combine is putting out a really clean sample. Unloading a big combine like that into a gravity box, reminds me of that old game where you try to drop the clothes pin from the end of your nose into a glass jar! You did great, though.


You definitely can increase the ground speed of the combine. It should be able to handle 200 bpa corn at 3 to 3.5 mph. But overall, being the first time you ever put a head into corn, it was excellent. Lots of things to watch for the first time!




My first time was a Case 600 with 2 row corn head, being pulled by a tractor with a chain because the engine threw a rod through the block, so dad pulled it, and I got to sit in the seat and steer it while he pulled it out of the way.
 
Well, I wasn't driving a combine, I was actually driving a J.Deere "B" with a MH Clipper behind it, this would of been around 1961-1964.

First combine I drove was a J.Deere 45 Square back around 1967
 
nice video,good job.sure do oliver 5555 winter wheat I was about 7yrs. old did not run it but about 5 minutes,but long enough to say I ran it sure was fun wouldn't shut up about it for quite sometime lol
 
Adjust the snouts so they appear to droop down slightly from the rest of the header. Then lower the header so the tip of the snout floats along the ground. That way, yuo'll get most of the broken down corn without risking picking up a stone. Most combines will do a better job if they are run at or near capacity. You should be able to run 5 or 6 mph with a 6 row on that size of machine. Nice sample! Ben
 
25 yrs ago ,,.my ist wife got to run the 300 massey we bought together in a 40 acre wheat field ,she pulled up with a baler malfunction , while I fixed the twine on the straw baler . she took over the 300 and liked it ..later that nite she was all game for romance in the combine cab .LOL. wonder if anyone else here make it the xxx thresher club ?,, personally,my 1st time in a combine .. I got a little seat time in the ihc 203 , back in the 8th grade , ended up one extremely dusty year riding the back with a fire extinguisher and 2 buckets of water, to put out fires ,, that was 43 yrs ago
 
Appreciate the comments! I got good words at the elevator for how clean the corn was. Let's just say what I sold them was a heck of a lot cleaner than what I am gonna get back dry! I just followed the manual. Had a little trouble at one point with the tailings elevator so the PO came by and showed me how to balance the sieves a little better than I had them.

Funny you mentioned that unloading chute! My feelings exactly. I could not believe the distance I had to fire that corn and hit the wagon. Darn thing needs a scope on it! By the end of the day, though, I was adjusting RPM's to change the angle side to side and using the foot-n-inch pedal to move the combine to balance the load. Maybe next year I can unload on the fly?! Well...mebbe not yet. :)
 
OK...will do. I had a lot of broken down, wind damaged corn. A couple places it was lodged so bad I could not really make out the rows. Twice I had to clean the rock trap...after that I got better at judging where the actual gatherers were in relation to the ground. I was pleased with how it cleaned the corn. I never would have guessed that the husk generally stays on the stalk. Most of the junk inside the combine was dust from shattered cobs. It was a very interesting experience. Learned a lot.
 
I wish I could have gotten my kids in the cab that young. But that child in the cab with me is 18 and she is my youngest. It's been a very long road that ended me up where I am!
 
I've been reading your posts all fall, and admire your courage at taking on this project.

You've done a fine job, and that corn in the wagon was really clean.

Stan
 
I was 14 and dad was shelling corn and had to leave for a spell.when he got back I had the case 660 and bob truck full.He let me run that machine a lot that fall.All he said was be care full in the hills and watch for ditches,And do not tell mom.
 
1st combine experience was in 2003. Dad cut way back on cotton acreage and had me by a combine. I was 23 at the time. Bought a 1989 1660 with a 944 corn head and 22.5' 1020 head. Had 900 acres of corn and beans to get out. Never been on a combine before. First field of corn to get ready had been flooded in the spring. Wrapped up in weeds. 1st pass around the end rows, one of the snouts got caught and bent back up under the head 100 ft in. Fixed it and went another 200 ft and same thing happened to another snout. Needless to say, I raised them up after that.
 
Looking good. You had it set right to keep the FM out of the bin. If this weren't your first time running it, I'd say increase ground speed until the corn head is pushing stalks forward or grain is going out the back or through the return, then slow it down a click. In lodged corn or overlapped rows, you have to slow it way down but any other time you should run as fast as the machine can go and still do its job. Sieve and possibly air settings need to increase as ground speed increases. The balance point is keeping grain in the combine and cleaning it well enough.
 
Thanks Stan! Not a lot of money there, but it was a good clean effort. I was able to break even on the field, but only just. Yield was really poor and I don't care to know how many bushels I ran over in all those curves, or dropped out the bottom when I didn't close the rock trap properly the first time. I learned that (I think) the secret to good combining is in the planting along with a few tricks about how to handle curves and tight spots. It was a good field to learn on. I would like to own the courage comment but, quite frankly, there were more than a few times when I would have run screaming over the back property line if the girls hadn't propped me up. It was rough at times! :)
 
My first combine experience was on an International 93 with planetary steering (steering clutches instead of a steering wheel) It steered the same as the swather that I had swathed all the grain with so it wasn't a big difference until the main drive clutch gave up and wouldnt disengage. In order to stop you pulled both steer clutches back to the sweet spot that let you stop. This was tricky when you were unloading because you had to be fairly tight to the wagon and if you pulled back too far you would start backing up, usually with your back end heading toward the wagon!
Later moved on to a NH 975 then a MH 1500
 
IH 203, open station, that we had on the farm. Spent a good part of my childhood on/around that thing. Ran mostly oats. Was usually very dusty! We then ground the oats with corn and whatnot for dairy feed.

Had 1 gravity box and usually borrowed another one; fill one up and then either me, my dad or brother would go unload it with the 504 while we filled the other one. Used a 40' Smalley elevator ran by the PTO off of the M. Ran the oats into a bin in the machine shed.

Nice thing about doing the driving of the gravity box for oats was that unlike hauling flat racks during hay baling season, you could drive at a moderate pace; during haying you were always hauling a$$ to get a wagon either to the barn or field.

Good times.
 
I was about 8 or 9 years old and Dad had me run the DC and A-6 Case combine while he went home to milk. Told me to watch the return belt that it didn't stop turning. Lot of responsibility for a kid.
 
I got a little speed up after I left the headlands. In the long shot with me at the back of the field I am really crawling along. That back headland had 8 rows double planted. I had looked back to see the planter drum not revolving so I stopped and did repairs. I scratched around until I found where I "thought" it had stopped but I missed the mark by about 500 feet! So I double planted those 8 rows and that made for some interesting combining, 12 rows on a 6 row head! In the center, steering was easier so I would try more speed but December corn has seen a lot of wind and I kept having to back off due to lodging. It was a fun day for the most part though! Appreciate the input!
 
Lord am I glad I didn't have to cut my teeth on 900 acres! At least you had it spread out a little with two crops. I didn't get off completely unscathed. With about two acres left I lost one chain (stopped turning). It was third row from the left so I figured I would just finish the field with the right three rows and worry about it later. Then the far right row quit completely...both chains stopped moving. I was down to a tad more than one acre so I limped over the finish line using just the left two rows. I'll have to track that down this summer and see where the problem is. Thinking about an 8 row head...since I like to drive slow!
 
the first combine i drtove is this IH 403
a178680.jpg
 
my first machine was in 1969 running my Case 1000 with 18' header cutting Wheat at age six I got to cut four bin fulls that day!, the next year I got to run my own machine the other Case machine we had a 700, on the first truck load out I caught a high line pole with the unloading auger,,,,, mu Dad was more than a little PO'ed at me, I told him if we could just get it latched again it might work, he got on it and backed it against another pole and she went back 98% straight, cut the rest of the season with it then
cnt
 
I'll be honest with you that I know nothing about combining corn because we have never grown any here in Central KS. However, it looks to me like you were doing a good job and everyone was having a good time. A great family time, it appears and that should make it all worth the efforts you have put in. Great video and good luck with next year. Bob
 
I moved dads Gleaner E and E-III a few times but my first in the feild was a Deere 45 without a cab in 1989 shelling corn. It took a long day to fill an 800bu. trailer in 70-85 bu corn. I charged $25 per acre and paid for the machine the first fall. Tom
 
That's funny. The first machine I drove was a Case 1000 as well. It had a 14' header. I was about 10 when I was running it. We also had an IHC 151 at the same time. Bob
 
I drove my first combine this past fall it was a jd 95 with a cab I guess I just steered it since we had to pull it buy still a first lol
 
Well, that's a heckuva rig to maneuver in a small field. On the other hand, it is probably easier than our pull-type two-row John Deere picker with a wagon pulled alongside.

We picked two and knocked down at least two more rows when we opened up a field.
 
My first time driving a S P combine was about 1962. I was cutting beans with an old worn out CASE S P 12 with a 12ft header that was not made to match 4 rows of beans. Lots of not good memories ! clint
 
First combine I drove(and owned) was the '58 JD #55 that I purchaced in Jan '88.Drove it home 50+ miles.No cab..COLD! The next year It got a cab.Still own it(or rather bought it back after being gone for 15 years)
 
First time I combined was with my Grandpa's IH 82 behind his Ford 7000. Can't say I miss that thing. First S.P. I drove was a JD 7720. We had our combining done for several years. On that particular day, the owner had me cut several rounds while he went to help his son repair the Axial Flow he was running on another farm.
 
first experience was a 27 massey in about 1963, picking up 14' windrows. slow going, graduated to super 92 shortly thereafter.

Dick ND
 
Hey! I started out running big equipment. lol

A Massey Harris seven foot SP picking up wheat swaths. In 1950 or 1951.
 
the summer of 1978 I helped a neighbor run his IH 1460. the first combine I drove that I owned was a 1976 IH 715 in 1988. that was a long 13 year stretch. finally bought a 1986 CIH 1620 in 1999 and I still run it.

Duane
 
This was the first one I drove about 5 years ago cuttin barley for my cousin he broke a straw walker crank and sold it to me for a thousand bucks runs like a top .
a178763.jpg
 
I think I was 9 or 10 dad let me run the WD and the AC 60 pull type and I was on top of the world! 2 years later he bought a AC 100sp and I got to run it and I was hooked! I think it was the next year it was a wet fall and we had to wait till the ground froze to cut. We had a long 20 acre field and it was about 10* the day we cut the beans. No cab and a 10 mph wind blowing he would cut a round and get in the truck to warm back up while I cut a round, We did this for 2 days to get done. Its funny I have never owned a combine that had a working heater in it and still don't. Bandit
 
Yep that's it, when you plant keep in mind you have to run the sheller on the same rows in 5 months. A good way to open end rows is to shell from the center out. When you get to the next corner lift the head and back way up. Catch the next row over with the outside snout, shell a little notch. Back up and repeat until you have all six rows in head then shell to end of field. Back way up again and repeat on left side of combine. Now you have a place to turn your machine without running over any crop.
 
When cousin bought the 9400 he still had a couple of
the 150 bushel little giant wagons that where on the
farm for 50 years. I likened unloading into those
things like trying to pee in a coke can sitting on
the ground :)
 
I was 8 years old the first time I drove the tractor infront of the pull type Gleaner combine by myself. Dad was on the combine as the buttons were giving fits on the electric header lift. I was putting in actual full days running a combine when I was 12 with our 5542 Olivier. Between those ages I ran the combine but not full days.

The old pull type Gleaner is still here that my family bought new but I traded the Olivier for a G Gleaner in 1980.

But being a lifetime farmer I really can't see why there is so much excitement to harvest. My city friends and city family look at it as a big party or celebration. It's stressfull hard work, I guess I need a big city paycheck every week and then I may look at harvest as enjoyment. For me it is a stressfull job I dread.
 
Well, I find that post interesting. You have done it a lifetime and I have done it once. I enjoyed the equipment a lot. If you have never done it before, operating a combine is pretty cool. It is just an awesomely simple, yet complicated, machine. I still look back at the inputs and outputs of that machine and find it just amazing.

BUT, when we got home that night the wife and I looked at each other over dinner and I said to her, "I don't know if I want to laugh or cry!" I just felt kinda weird. So I have to agree with you. It was very, very stressful and there is a certain amount of dread of starting it all over again in the Spring. I suspect you and I, lifer and novice, will both be out there again though. I guess it boils down to this. I have been doing hay for over ten years now. I know the equipment and I know the process. But there is always the worry over the equipment failures, the weather, market prices, customers. Bottom line is that I love to make hay, but the days and weeks before I do it are a little tense. Maybe that is your issue too?
 
Made many many many rounds on the open JD 45 high low with dad driving.

Eventually ran it a few years. Wheat and oats with a dummy header, and beans with a straight table.

Got a Gleaner F in 1980 to replace it, flex head for beans and 4 row corn head, wow.....

Paul
 

First time was a Case A6 pulled by a Deere 60. I was just a little kid and the owner wanted to level the pats in the wagon being pulled alongside the combine so he showed me the levers and I drove while he leveled. First for a self propelled was when I was probably 18 or so. Drove a 'big' Deere 45.
 
Wow that was a long time ago. My first combining experience was running an IH 91 in windrowed oats. 8 ft at a time. Spent almost as much time unloading as the combining. I think that was a 35 bu. hopper. No cab and sat right next to that dirty cylinder.
 
I drove my first tractor at age 4 but Dad did all the combining until I was 17....The first combine that I drove alone was Dads 1965 model 203 IHC....It would have been in the fall of 1966 and I was shelling corn with it for a neighbor....I wish that I had a picture but none were ever taken of it..
 
Proudest day of my life, and that was 36 years ago. Cutting wheat with a JD 95 and 14' header. Boss had me ride with him down and back and then he said "You got it?" I think I floated into the seat! Later on I bought a 55 roundback (s/n 36979)and cut about a hundred acres a year. Put a bucket seat from a Ford Pinto on it and that was much more comfortable than the OEM.
 

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