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Flagship cost of operation

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Glen89 
#1 ·
I’m considering upgrading from a 2188 to a 8120 or 8230 and harvesting for a neighbor who sold his machine. Obviously quite a jump so wondering what you figure an acre for repairs on average? Also how are they for fuel consumption. This would be mostly corn with some beans and wheat. Trying to figure out a budget so thanks for any input.
 
#2 · (Edited)
What are your current costs on the 2188?

We've owned a 7230 since new, and so far we've replaced only one bearing after 1500 hours, the bearing on the shaft that runs the rotary air screen. Oil changes and filter changes followed the manual recommendation.

Fuel use for us is very similar per acre to what our 2388 was. Fuel is hard to compare, as our crops are all hard grinds. 1.4-1.7 gal/acre is common. I suspect it would be a lot lower for you.

The 8230 will have DEF, but if it becomes a problem Ekotune sells a module to fix it.

Wear is harder to work out since different crops and different areas wear a machine more than others. In my case, our cone is fine after 1500 hours, but the vanes were wore out, so we replaced those. The rotor cage is showing wear and will need to be replaced in the next couple of years. Before next fall, we need to replace the bubble up auger (the auger housing is fine, just the auger is worn out), and we also need to replace the vertical auger in the unloader, which should be fun. We also need a new elevator chain (might be our second elevator chain). I'm pretty sure we replaced the feeder chain once already too.

Before you buy, definitely inspect the rotor cage and transition cone. You will probably want to remove a concave module and look at the transition area. Examine the vanes for wear. I found the vanes at the top of the cone wore more than the bottom for whatever reason, and they are harder to examine. In the grain tank look at the bubble up auger. As it wears it gets sharp and thin on the edges of the flighting. Also look in the unloader cleanout at the flighting there. Look at the clean grain elevator. The black adjustment bar on the back side of the elevator tensions the chain. If it's at its limit the elevator chain may need a replacement. You can also inspect the augers under the sieves. The bottoms can be removed, exposing the augers for inspection.

The 8230 should be at least 50-60% more capacity than the 2188. Not double, but a big step up.
 
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