Combine

Donald Lehman · Nov 10, 2016

One of our renters decided to combine his own corn this year. He picked up an older Claus, model 116 "commander".
It was set up for small grain (rice specifically). Took them a while to round up the parts to get it set up for corn. It has an 8 row head. He said they are still learning about set up and such. According to him this particular model was not actively marketed in the US. It was originally purchased used in Germany and shipped here. It's got some miles on it but for the amount of corn he combines, it should do fine for years. He said they didn't pay much for it. Watched it work for a few minutes. It seemed to work alright. They just opened the last 30 acres a few minutes ago. The internals seem to be shielded well against crud buildup, so it shouldn't be real fire prone anyway.

Anybody familiar with this model?

centash · Nov 10, 2016

There were a few Claas combines sold new here in Canada, through Ford dealers when the combines were still olive drab with red wheels. The newer white/lime green ones are not as popular and I don't know who sells/sold them. Neighbour has a Dominator. Ben

Philip d · Nov 10, 2016

I think Agco owns them now? Our local Massey Challanger Fendt Rogator dealer also carries them

DLMKA · Nov 10, 2016

(quoted from post at 18:40:03 11/10/16) There were a few Claas combines sold new here in Canada, through Ford dealers when the combines were still olive drab with red wheels. The newer white/lime green ones are not as popular and I don't know who sells/sold them. Neighbour has a Dominator. Ben

I like the look of the lime green and white Claas machines but the feedback I've heard is customers in the US didn't like the "ugly" paint. They are sold in US mainly dressed in something close to Cat yellow. They are one of 2-3 manufacturers in the world with a Class 10 combine. Some nice touches in the cab, seems like it be a great machine to operate. Miserable to work on with all the DIN connectors on hydraulic hose and tubes though. No one carries DIN terminations in the US.

dzc3 · Nov 10, 2016

Claas has a large supply depot, I think it is in Indianapolis. Most of the Hydraulic hoses are made at Propulse a Schieffer Company in Peosta Ia. I don't know if they were bought out by anyone,

moresmoke · Nov 10, 2016

Claas US is based in Omaha. That one your neighbor has is just about an orphan on this continent. Claas originally partnered with Cat when they were trying out the ag market. With the collapse of that venture, Claas went out on their own, but still carry the yellow/black paint here. Most of the Cat dealers that are still in ag carry Agco and Claas. In some markets Claas is on their own. In Nebraska, the Claas dealerships are corporate owned.

The late model combines are quite the machines. In small grain crops, there isn't another brand that can keep up. Complicated machines, but total pigs when it comes to throughput.

oj · Nov 10, 2016

The Claas 116 Commander is the larger of 2 CS combines, no straw walkers, they have a conventional cylinder and then separating cylinders behind to remove grain from straw... they are supposed to be good in tough conditions, but I never run one so can't say for sure, i run an older Claas 106.
62 inch wide cylinder and about 250hp iirc... should have a Mercedes engine, they did make a tracked version with a Cat 3206 engine and full length tracks, no rear axle...

4520BW · Nov 11, 2016

There was several claus combines sold around here do to the headquarters being only a few miles away. Those guys could go straight there and get parts and not go thru the dealer. When they merged or what ever with cat they move there headquarters out of Indians and now its just the parts depot. In the 880s and 90s all the combines had Mercedes engines unless they had tracks. Cat would not sell them tracks unless they bought an engine. From what I seen they did a good job but parts were expensive and hard to find a repair man. The only ones I see running now are the big cat machines

paul · Nov 11, 2016

Claas has had such a difficult history in the USA, thry keep trying different partnerships and then go it alone and thrn back to partnering with someone.....

Blah. Parts get tied up in exclusive agreements. They are expensive and hard to find.

Blah.

They pretty much killed themselves with all that 'hustle' in this country. Changing paint color every decade as well as parts suppliers is death to a USA farm equipment company. They haven't learned that.

Weren't they basically the Ford combines of the 1970s and 80s?

They are actually good machines, but the company is too scatter brained and high priced for anyone running a farm to ever take seriously in the USA any more. They burned too many bridges.

Paul

Combine

Donald Lehman

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centash

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Philip d

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DLMKA

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dzc3

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moresmoke

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oj

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4520BW

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paul

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