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SW Ohio | I started row cropping on my own in 2022, had never previously ran a combine nor had my family owned one. Bought a cheap early R52 Gleaner, had 2k separator hours and appeared to have been maintained fairly well but still had a handful of issues including a blown fan belt. Paid $6k for the combine and trucking to get it home, $3k for a 20ft head/cart, and last fall bought a 6 row head for $1500 from an auction at Mayer's. First time i ran it was in beans and proceeded to plug the rotor in the first 100 yards. I was very thankful the feederhouse has a hydraulic reverser. LOL Best $$$ i spent was on a factory/dealer service manual. Between my own crops and some custom work i ran 40 acres that first year, 120 acres last year, and 170 this year. Very easy to switch between crops, and has done an excellent job in 100+ bushel wheat, 60+ bushel beans, and 200+ bushel corn. Always a clean sample, very little loss, and enough capacity to keep my grain truck and gravity wagons moving.
Dealer support is a big thing, i have 3 great Gleaner dealers that are within an hour in any direction including Mayer's. There is also a combine salvage yard a couple hours away i've gone to for some parts, although they are getting a little pricey IMO. I've done quite a bit of maintenance/repairs and very rarely have to order and wait on parts.
As for the Deere conventionals i've spent a good bit of time around them and have ran my R52 alongside a 9500 in beans. The 9500 had a little bit more capacity due to the bigger feederhouse, but side by side my R-52 is a lot more compact, lighter, and a lot less moving parts and simpler electronics. They've had some ECU issues and problems with a circuit board in the arm rest. My R-52 has none of that, honestly if i have any wiring issues with the console controls i think i could rig up a simple switch box and have everything back up and running again in a few minutes. | |
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beginner combine
