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Ian

Claas Lexion 580 Terra-Trac Combine Harvester

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Harvest time is not very far away, it's going to be an early one this year!

While I was digging though my photo's I found a few photo's of the monster Claas combine they use up here..  It's a beast to say the least.. Thought you might like to see it :D

 

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It amazes me how these combines work , I was told that they harvest crops via satellite information .

I did some work for a company that used to sell Massey ferguson combines in Bedfordshire.& I got to sit in the cab , it felt like you were driving a space ship. Great fun

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It amazes me how these combines work , I was told that they harvest crops via satellite information .

I did some work for a company that used to sell Massey ferguson combines in Bedfordshire.& I got to sit in the cab , it felt like you were driving a space ship. Great fun

 

true on the satellites, a lot of em use gps to stay on target so they are more efficient

 

 

Koen

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By 'eck I bet that can cut some corn !!

 

:coolphotos:

 

It clears field directly behind my place in about 5 mins!

 

 

 

It amazes me how these combines work , I was told that they harvest crops via satellite information .

I did some work for a company that used to sell Massey ferguson combines in Bedfordshire.& I got to sit in the cab , it felt like you were driving a space ship. Great fun

 

It's all a bit high tech these days, I did get a ride in the Claas a couple of years ago and the farmer showed me the cruise control as he called it.. Flick a few switches and it steered itself around the edge of the field!

all the high tech stuff can't stop the belts breaking though :D

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There is one of those machines that works around here and travels between jobs on the highway, doesn't hold the traffic up to bad either it trundles along quite well with the header removed, would not want to meet it head on in a narrow lane though! Makes the old Massey 788's, 400 and 500 combines with 8,10 or 12 foot fixed headers seem small in comparison and we used to get a police escort to deliver those out to farms.

Ray.

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This one is almost to big for around here, it can't get up my lane though and has to come across the fields from a different farm to get it here :)

 

Good to see another local member by the way Ray :thumbs:

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On the farm behind me they have got a new valtra tractor that inflates or deflates its own tyres to suit wheel slippage and ground conditions. Don't know how it works yet but told formula one cars also have it. Wouldn't like to fix it if it went wrong though, expect its a laptop job

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One of two being prepared for work on a friends farm last week  and a picture taken  in the early 60s when I was a pre-college student on the same farm. The two Lexions will each do in an hour more than the fleet of Masseys did in a very long day!

 

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Edited by Wristpin

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Do suppose we have seen the same machine? The one that I passed was a few years ago near Eastry on the Dover to Sandwich road.

 

It is possible, but I have a feeling that it lives on a farm not that far away in Benenden.

 

 

That's a great picture of the old Fergie combines Wristpin :thumbs:

The lexion looks like a big monster.. A very clean monster but a monster all the same D

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I am inclined to think they are not the same machine to much distance in between locations, I don't think that UK farmers are into the custom harvesting operation like they are in USA. Those guys cover immense mileages between farms never mind around there fields.

 

I think that the combines shown in wristpins photo are the Massey model 780 with the air intake to the radiator vertical, the later 788 had the horizontal intake. The machine nearest the  camera is not one that I am familiar with I would guess it is a Viking by the name on the grain tank but don't know who sold those around this area.

Ray

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The Vikings were imported by a company called Watveare (spelling?) down in the West Country and was bought by my Lexion friend's father for a farm that he had in Cornwall but as it had a single rear wheel it was somewhat (!!!!!) unstable on the banky ground down there so it was brought up to the flat lands of the Marsh. It was a strange beast with a narrow header but a wide drum. Consequently one could really tramp on without the risk of the dreaded wrap up. Push the Masseys too hard , particularly if there was a laid patch or the straw a bit green and you'd spend the next half hour unwrapping it much to the amusement of the other drivers and the displeasure of the Boss!

The pair of Lexions are new this year , the third pair of tracked Lexions on this farm, each pair bigger than the last. These have 42 foot headers; no wonder they need gps!

Edited by Wristpin

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Another quirk of the Massey 780 & 788 range was the strip of canvas used to cover the access to the concave located just under the threshing drum and accessed by climbing under the raised header and reaching up over the batteries and the engine. This was very popular with mice and was always eaten at the lower corners! It was held in place by a row of 7/16" AF nuts and bolts along its top edge and long pin running through an eye sewn along the bottom edge of the canvas and always seemed to be the apprentices job to fit the new ones - such fun.

Ray.

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Mice and combines seem to go together, last year one of the Lexions had to have an extensive rewire due to Micky damage. As for claiming up and under to change that canvas it was at least only once a year. The daily jobs of climbing in the back to grease the straw walkers, wiggling under the grain tank to grease the bottom auger bearing and sitting on top of the front elevator to paddle it round with your feet to line up the grease nipples all added to the fun and left one feeling like having done a days work before turning a wheel! Who said, good old days?!

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I noticed the beret worn by the Viking driver. Very popular head gear in those days for farm workers, motorcyclist, cyclists and open vehicle drivers/passengers.

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Lift off! The stand of rape may look a bit green and patchy in places but in early spring much was under water so it's not turned out too bad. The two Lexions dealt with 75 acres in afternoon!

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That is a lot of header to try to watch what is being swept up into the drum - things like lumps of concrete, old bike frames etc used to be the cause of damage to elevator cross bars, drum rasp bars and concaves on machines working near housing estates.

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Fortunately not usually a problem in the middle of the Marsh but years ago when the high voltage power lines from Dungeness were strung across there was all sorts of stuff left lying around, sacks of nuts and bolts and lots of lengths of heavy section galvanised angle iron etc !

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A 16 Liter V8 eh.. Now there's a thought :D

 

No harvesting happening here yet, but I did spot a Claas combine driving past Nigel's workshop the other day..

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