[caelin]

Re: 7088

I went to Oklahoma this year to help with wheat harvest in june for an uncle (i'm actually from the Netherlands), who had a pre-production model 7088 and a 3yrd old 2388. We had a 36' (or 35?) MacDon drapers on both of them (can't remember the number would have to check video on it).

The biggest problem we had was that you could not run it faster than 2mph. This is in avg 50-60bpa wheat, we had a 2388 running along side of it, which would consistently run about 1mph faster than the 7088. The reason for this was that the 7088 would just not feed right. It would plug up as soon as you pushed it only a litte harder. We had about 4 guys from CIH and one from MacDon trying to figure out what was wrong, tried god knows how many settings for the feeder house <-> header connection but it just wouldn't feed good. It never got fixed during the entire season. Personally, with my limited experience i think it was the combination of header+combine that didn't match. It might have been that according to one of the CIH guys they changed the design of the feeder house only a month or two before, or that the MacDon header was just a lemon.

We also had a complete transmission failure, where the gearbox was destroyed because apparently during production a bearing wasn't properly installed. The transmission broke in less than 24 hours of operating time. After installing the new gearbox, it again broke down after a few days, this time it was impossible to
get the combine in third gear. I had to go back home before they could fix that, and haven't remembered to ask what caused it.

Now, it wasn't all bad. Some good points:

- plenty of power
- plenty of cleaning capacity (if only the d**n thing would actually feed it in..we never got to test it to the limit :/ )
- nice long auger, though it does swivel high into the air and you have to be carefull with strong wind blowing the grain over the cart
- strong lifting capacity. I'm putting this here because the 2388 struggled to keep the heavy MacDon header up - we should probably have used a smaller/lighter one on that.

All in all, the custom harvester i was working for obviously wanted to get rid of the 7088, he's traded it in for a new 7088 for the next season. I know my story is very negative, and to be fair i think we just had a lemon. I think that if you don't have one of these "monday-morning" machines they generally perform very well.
As for the sample, it was about the same as the 2388, but i don't think any combine can be set really well if you can't get enough material in the system for it to clean.

either way, it was the most fun i've ever had on a vacation (even though i was actually "working" heh) so i'm definately hooked to harvesting now...

 

[casefarmer]

Re: 7088

Thanks for the post and for being honest.... all combines have some issues....no matter what the owner says... lol...

we were thinking of a 7088 but were going with a 6088 our hourly rate we are charged is pretty low still so it would have cost us alot to go to a 7088 and considering its the same but more Hp just don't need that hp...glad to see its a 9.0L motor...not just a cranked up 8.1...or 8.3 can't recall right now..

did you have the electric sieves or grain tank extension.how did that work.....

also the 2388 needs that 3rd lift cylander to lift that head and then its fine....

if you had 2 cylanders maybe they just had the hydro adjusted and cranked up....

thanks for the informative report..

 

[caelin]

Re: 7088

i don't know if we had the electric sieves. I'm a software architect so i know very little about the inside of a combine

.

I will ask my uncle and let you know when i find out. I'll also put up a picture so you can see if it had a grain tank extension on there (though i think it had the standard grain tank; some 300bushel?).

On the 2388, yes we only had 2 cylinders. You could not use the lateral tilt either. While i was there i think we messed up the valve down at the axle in between the 2 cylinders twice. It started leaking and then the header would slowly drop down all he time. Not sure if he upgraded it with a third cylinder for next season (i think he's keeping the 2388 for another year)

I have about 1.5 hours of footage on the 7088, i'll see if i can get some of that posted/hosted somewhere.


I actually still had an image in my gmail! I'm driving the tractor, which i did most of the time:

 

[mx270a]

Re: 7088

Caelin, since you were running it in OK, it would have been pretty fresh out of the R&D labs. The whole point of field testing is to find and resolve bugs. I think there were probably a few of these out there. I ran one later in the year, and never had any feeding issues.

A few pictures from a distance are great, but I'd be reluctant to post much video, especially anything close up. You don't want to get your harvesting friends in trouble with Case.

-Lance

 

[casefarmer]

Re: 7088

yeah you need the 3rd lift cylindar and you will be good to go also we put fulid in the back tires to help with the weight and it handles the 36ft drapers great..

 

[justacase]

Re: 7088

Hello, I have one of the new 7088s in australia. Ran it beside a New 2588 both with 12 metre fronts. Horsepower is the main difference especially in heavy yielding crops. Auger is good, Grain bin is good,electric sieves are good, rotary screen not so good in wrong wind, couldn't keep clean. I Like the machine alot

 

[maple]

Re: 7088

How about the maintence of them, will one outlast the other in break downs, one built stronger than the other.

 

[torn]

Re: 7088

Rotary screen? 88 series have a new stationary air screen with a vacuum wand that rotates around the screen. Are you saying this didn't work well? Did you have the wiper brush option as well, or just the vacuum?

 

[caseihaxialflow]

Re: 7088

Not sure of internals, but they look exactly the same - same for the final drives too.

 

[caelin]

Re: 7088

thanks for the heads up Lance, i will not post any more pictures or videos.

By the way, the rotary screen on our 7088 worked just fine we didn't have any problems with that, but i think we had the vacuum+wiper on it.

The machine works well in general, though we had that feeder issue. But like i said that could also have been the header, or a combination of them. He intends to get a new 7088 for the next season so he definately believes the machine will work well and that we just had bad luck.

 

[justacase]

Re: 7088

7088 has non greasable unload auger,heavier chassis than 2588, internal is the same as 2588, 2 grease nipples on rear axle only,final drives are different i think maybe 20 series, side tilt on feederhouse 20 series hyrdo control handle, same gearbox

 

[cyfarmer]

Re: 7088

We ran a 7088 all fall along side our 2588. In beans we ran a 40' 2062 draper on the 7088 and a 30' 1020 flex head on the 2588. Obviously not comparing apples to apples, but the 2588 ran circles around the 7088. My advice is nothing bigger than a 35' draper on the 7088 because of the power issues. The added HP was a nice feature when running tough beans and also when unloading on the go. (Also helped in the hills, where our 2588 always needed to downshift to 1st gear). The unload rate was MUCH better than the 2588. We had the electric grain tank extensions on (same size tank or smaller than our 2588 with them). They worked awesome for transport and keeping moisture out. Just remember to fold them back out when you start up (they need a light or alarm or something to remind you). We didn't encounter any feeding issues, and the transmission worked fine, though they swapped it out for a new one when we had it. The electric sieve adjustments are a very nice feature, though I found myself playing with them too much, perhaps. You're less tempted to fine-tune the things when they're outside than when you can play with a switch in the cab. I was hoping they'd go to the newer cab style, but this is still okay, I guess. The new instrument cluster and controls for header height adjustment and sensitivity, etc. are confusing (at least to me). Liked the old style on the 2588 much better.

All in all, not a bad machine, but come trade time we actually went with a CR9040 because it was the same price and had a larger grain tank, faster unload, bigger cab, bigger cleaning area, and most importantly, self-leveling sieves. The 7088 is a good machine, and I wouldn't shy away from it, but I don't know if it's enough of a difference from a 2588 to warrant the price increase.

 

[casefarmer]

Re: 7088

U need a 36ft draper on that 2588

also how do the header height and other things work threw that A-Post

?

just curious to how that changed...i seen the buttons were missing from the console at the farm progress show

 

[caseihaxialflow]

Re: 7088

Final drives are 2588 style not 20 series. To adjust height sensitivity etc etc enter the menu on the A post and use the up and down arrows to adjust insted of the arm rest dials. Different but like anything new you will get used to it. The grain loss monitor is like the 10 & 20 series with the spectrum look. Header recognition is in the apost along with service screen. Easier to read as the screen is similar to Magnum/Steiger.

 

[midwest]

Re: 7088

cyfarmer,

I read about your reviews of the Cat machine and the 7088/2588 machines. I haven't been able to find your post about when you were running the NH CR 9040 machine and how it matched up against the machines you reviewed. Thanks

 

[cf]

Re: 7088

Lance, there are 2 new 7088s in Greenwood MS at Ayers, so I'd bet the cats pretty much out of the bag. None ran in my area this fall that I know of though. Tom

 

[elsewhere]

Re: 7088

we ran a pre/production 7088 along side our 8010 this harvest.found 7088 to have good hp,sieve adjust,auger,tank extensions,feeding off 35' 70d macdon was great. bads are position of pro 600,latches on all guards(clumsy and bloody slow to service need to carry toolbox in pocket),machine over all hight,no feel to hydrostatic control lever (simular to driving gokart),platform bads very untidy (catches every bit of straw on a loose wire or hydrolic hose) compared to our 45' midwest on the 8010,only has single braid hydrolic hose so one bit of wear on an edge you have a split(there pleny of wear points) but overall looks like a good product but at $12000 au more than a 7010 dont worry about bringing them to aust.

 

[casefarmer]

Re: 7088

latches on all guards(clumsy and bloody slow to service need to carry toolbox in pocket)???????

what do you mean??

also i love the pro 600 monitors are great but i agree just from the last 2588's weve had the past two years the position of monitor isn't as good as the greyscale....

 

[mx270a]

Re: 7088

In AU the 7088 is MORE expensive than a 7010? That seems backwards. The 7010 is supposed to have all the cool toys, and the xx88s are more bare bones.

-Lance

 

[torn]

Re: 7088

casefarmer - in certain markets (outside North America), all covers over moving components must be equipped with a latch that requires a tool (screwdriver) to open. No simple latches that can be turned by hand.