[Doongie]

Hi all,

Have been looking at running a Lexion 600 (589 Serial) as a contracting machine and trying to get some input on the hours a machine will work in different crops with 980L tank and the fuel economy I could expect, the machines in our region are Mercedes 502 V8 engines with the Twin Turbo (Tier 3 I believe). Crops I could expect to be harvesting are Canola, Barley, Wheat and Edible Beans.

 

[nicko87]

You'll have to keep the motor in one piece for long enough first, there's a reason there's not many of them left around any more...

 

[phantom970]

Are you in AUS or NZ Doongie?
Why are you worried about fuel use anyway.? The grower supplies it. If you have any potential clients questioning fuel consumption tell em to jam the job.

But maybe your a kiwi and I know you guys supply your own fuel. From memory I think they were around the 50-60lts/hr
Engine loading will obviously increase that number rapidly. The 600’s I used to look after were always calling for the fuel trailer before days end. The small tank didn’t help

Yeah Nicko87 I was about to say something very similar, pretty good capacity machine but that engine didn’t like AUS temps. Probably more the cooling package those idiots at Claas come up with more so than the Merc.

 

[Doongie]

Yes in AUS, I know about the fuel supply from the grower side here, just trying to figure out if like you said the fuel trailer would be coming out and potentially slowing me down a bit on the big days. I am a CLAAS mechanic looking to start my own business, obviously this has its many challenges, tying to cover some bases, and Like Nicko87 said, I have also seen those tier 3 V8s throw rods out and blow 17L of oil out the exhaust in one day, however I have see some guys working them and keeping the maintenance up and getting around the 5k engine hour mark. Maybe I just love those old engines and the noise they make! I do remember seeing an old 870 Jaguar in NZ with 8700 engine hours on it, was on its third set of turbos though.

I could always push the borrowing power a bit further into a C66 770 with the dynamic cooler, this would be ideal but a much higher risk for myself. Sort of more thinking push the 600 for a couple years and move into the 770 if we're having some success and turning over well enough.

Yes the old planar screen cooling package isnt much to write home about thats for sure.

 

[phantom970]

Yeah well your just the man to keep a 600 running and look after that merc. Just keep it cool.

Word of advice, start with a cheaper machine like a 600. I have been in the harvesting world since I was a young boy, started on a Claas 116 Dominator. The contracting world in AUS is just about stuffed. Insurance is near impossible to get and keep at a sensible price. The harvest rates are barely viable. The harvest window in the east coast is very tight now. Throw in floods, droughts, wet harvest weather, and all that usual stuff, and you will find the contracting game is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Point being start off with a $150-200k machine and see if it all works to plan before jumping in deeper.

I find that the $800k machine gives you no more profit at the end of a season than the $200k machine.

What part of AUS would you be looking at work?

 

[Doongie]

Seems like you're just the bloke to talk to then! I'll take all and any advice I'm only a young fulla. Have you ever heard of adding an additional radiator with thermo fans or anything that could possible increase the cooling capacity of the old planar screen? I understand that pulling the radiator every year and just cleaning it properly is the way to go but anything additional? I have seen some additional coolers on 760s that have come from Wagga and Queensland.

My plan is to start in Wa where I'm from and use the contacts I've made from the Harvest centre to get work, then work through the winter months as a technician back at the dealer. Bad harvest years allowing my technician job to top up the repayments if need be. I did the last year here in Queensland and have made a solid contact with another bloke running Lexions, maybe given a few years and like you said if I see an opportunity to jump in deeper purchasing my own prime mover and bringing it east for Sorghum, working along side his 2 Lexions. I'm hoping my CLAAS mechanic experience can give me some kind of edge in what I've heard is a very tough gig.

As for the insurance you would be probably the 5th guy to tell me its tough, I've been working my figures on $40,000 a year for insurance, which seems kind of silly for a $200K machine, I could understand that rate on a new Lexion as they're pushing 1 mil now for narrows but on a cheaper machine half that still seems like too much, I am unsure in this area, its something I dont have a lot of experience in. I could see something like >4% being very normal for combines. A few guys I spoke with in Queensland say they run the insurance back through a family farm or something and they end up paying around that 3% of value, this could possibly be an option for me as well. How do you get around it?

I still find even factoring in $40k for insurance on top of repayments and repairs, it would be do-able given the right circumstances. Believe that first year would be the hardest but slightly easier after.

What would be your opinion on an hourly rate for a 600? What are you running and at what rate if you dont mind me asking?

 

[phantom970]

$600-650 hr for a Lexion 600
Maybe you could get $700 over in WA but Iam not aware of the charge rates over there.
Any less and you won’t last
Unless your near the coastal areas I would assume all the big DryLand areas would be Hectare rates.

I run 8010’s at $550 or $55 hectare base rate plus yield increments. Iam actually not running them this harvest but if I was the hourly rate was going up to $580 to help with insurance, accomodation, food, Super, Workers Comp and fuel costs for small vehicles, etc etc

I would like $600 but they just dont have the performance in the paddock to charge that rate

Don’t mention contractors on farm policies as it makes my blood boil. Iam a harvest contractor. Not a farmer. No land. I HAVE to pay full rates for everything. NO primary producer handouts for me.

Try WFI for insurance.
Elders won’t touch you.
I had quotes up to $50k for a $200k machine when I had my policies pulled by another insurer.

Public Liability is another hurdle you will have

Now remember, you need spares, lots of spares,. You need a good Ute and tools, you need an industrial compressor, it’s just constant needs with harvesting when starting from scratch. There’s huge costs just running your Ute around the countryside and food, accomodation etc etc
John Deere or Trimble Auto Steer will cost a lot. Obviously the fit out will be financed but there’s annual subscriptions
I can’t see how you can make it work with a truck and travelling to the east coast and back.

Do more research. The numbers are always fudged by other contractors and or “ farmer contractors “
I couldn’t make things work at my end with headers I own and insurance at $50k each.

I don’t mean to sound to negative but it’s not that easy. Find me a big time contractor with multiple late model units that started from scratch. There is no such thing. They have all had a helping hand from somewhere, whether it’s family land or death inheritance, etc

Back to your original post, yes, I was involved with plumbing an additional radiator into a 600 and running electric fans on it. It did help with lower engine temps but it was always choked with chaff.

 

[EBEAR]

You are basing your per hour on 10 hec/hour ? Must be some pretty good going .

 

[phantom970]

Yeah Ebear. + $1.50 for every 100kg over 2.5t/ha

Usually big open DryLand paddocks vary between 1.8 & 2.5 t/ha yield. Hot dry harvest conditions. So it’s usually easy enough to average 10ha/hr at the end of a working day.
If there’s lodged crop like barley or oats then the hourly rate is charged. Legumes and ground work is hourly rate.


Other fields like irrigation, cotton fields, pivots etc etc are always an hourly rate.

 

[Doongie]

That all sounds terrible! haha, all those small things you cant account for until you've been doing it for years. I have no plan of being that big time contractor with new machines, I prefer the older style lexions over the new 1000s, so far anyway. I'm certainly not putting all my eggs into the contracting basket and sending it, will always be able to come back to the tools because I love it and have built strong relationships with the dealer. Honestly would be happy just breaking even and making repyments and insurance, more likely than not I think I could minimise a lot of the risks you mentioned by just finding one or two guys in an area farming just on the borderline of needing another machine. Some guys in WA during 2021 harvest really pushed their machines hard due to good all round rainfall and saw 2x as many rotor hours put on one or two machines. Obviously cant expect rainfall to be great like that every year, but securing a contract with one or two guys every year for 400 chargable hours, that would be the plan, one man show, ute and camper + Lexion.

Like you said phantom, start small! But, start with the 16L v8 because nothing sounds better! Except maybe the MAN v12 they put in Australias Jaguars, they sound better....just