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Aahhhh the 7300! I could write a book..... but I will try not. First let me say that I do not believe the 7300 is a product of Cockshutt engineering, at least not entirely. The 7300 was basically an improved 535. The 525, 535, 545 combines traced their roots back to the model 25 combine, which was a product of Oliver engineering at Battle Creek. The model 25 combines were produced from 1959 to 1962 at Battle Creek. When that plant was closed, production was moved to Brantford. The last of the model 25's were built in Canada. I'm sure Canadian engineering went into the improved model 525, but the foundation is still the model 25 of Battle Creek. I ran 2 model 7300 combines for over 25 years. They are a very reliable, simple machine. The last one I had I'm sure had a good 5000 hours on it. At that point auger troughs had been patched several times, and even the side of the combine next to the cylinder had worn through. Auger flighting was getting razor thin. Yet this rugged machine continued to operate in corn yeilds sometimes exceeding 280 bushels per acre. As far as major break downs are concerned I broke the axel on the left side final drive twice, and a couple of straw walker bearing saddles. It's also not a lot of fun to replace the concave in this machine, or change the front bearing blocks on the straw walkers. The 318 Chrysler engine is practically bullet proof, provides good power and is fairly fuel efficient for a gas engine. I always figured about 5 gallons an hour under a load. On mine the most we ever had to do to the engine was replace fuel and water pumps. The valve covers were never off of either machine and the engines were very clean and leak free. The 7300 is a nice match for a 3 row narrow or 4 row narrow corn head. They will handle a 4 row wide corn head in average corn at around 2 mile an hour. These combines are fairly light in the rear end so the addition of weight on the rear axle is necessary or fluid in the rear tires, etc. I found a 13 foot grain head is an ideal size for soybeans. You could get by with a 15 foot grain head in beans if they are clean. If the crop is dirty it is easy to plug the cylinder of a 7300 especially if grass pressure is heavy. Any of the Oliver or White quick tach heads will fit on the 7300. The early 7300's have a mickey mouse cab air filtration system. The filters plug easily when running soybeans. Later cabs on the White 7300 were much better. Do not over fill hydraulic system or oil will flood the cab through the dipstick when lowering head in soybeans due to oil heating up while operating hydraulic system in detent (float). Changing cylinder speed is a pain in the @ss since you have to change sprockets to adjust the speed, time consuming. Be sure to keep radiator clean with blow gun. If not an air conditioned model, cab gets very hot when running beans since hydraulic reservoir is along side of the seat. Not a real quiet cab but adding 2 inches of foam insulation behind the seat and on the roof helps a lot!!!! All in all these are a very rugged little machine but like anything they are prone to wearing out. The 7300 is simply an updated 535 with a quick tach feeder house and 318 V-8 standard. If the one you are looking at doesn't appear to be getting thin, then it will probably run a long time. I sold mine with a 3 row narrow 703 N White corn head and 13 foot grain head along with $1500 worth of new old stock parts for $800 and was glad to get it. P.S. sorry for the book!!!
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