[phil]

Why did deere stop making sidehill combines

 

[rupert]

They discontinued the walker machines and they have been out of date on many features since the late 90s. Example lack of field tracker, restricted to a class 5, good luck on the final drives, conv machines were on the way out. Get a hillco machine much better off

 

[sdgreen]

We have always run sidehill John Deeres. 6600 sidehill then 6620 T2 sidehill & now a 9510 sidehill. We have never had issues with the final drives and we have extensions on the 9510 that we often fill to capacity.
I believe John Deere didn't think they needed the option on the STS machines, but now they are offering self leveling sieves on all models so thats a step in the right direction. The main thing that I would miss is not being able to use the entire grain tank capacity when on sidehills. I think I saw they are making a sidehill on their new walker machines...Tseries I believe?
They have had field tracker for a long time though....it's contour master and is available on all models back to the mid 90s I think.

 

[rupert]

Every sidehill machine i have been around didnt have contour master, it had the old spring and cable system. You must have some pull with deere to get CM on your 9510SH

 

[sdgreen]

Sorry about that...I misread his post. I thought he meant they didn't offer it on any machines. Our sidehill doesn't have true contour master...can't be run indepent of the tilting of the machine. After rereading his post I get what he meant and I agree with him that it would be a great feature to add. Sorry about that everyone.
Does anyone know if they are making a new version of sidehill on their T-series machines? If so, is it the same system or something new? I thought I saw a pic of one online somewhere...may have been on this site actually.

 

[idaho]

check out hillco web site, you can tilt header without machine tilting, its not CM but you punch header manually and get it done just fine.

 

[Hans Schwarz]

The WTS(now W),T,CTS(now C) and even the STS(now S) are all available with the final drive levelling system called hillmaster in europe.Disadvantage compared to Hillco and Rahco systems with a rigid axle is that it doesnt work with duals...
http://www.deere.co.uk/en_GB/products/ag....hillmaster.html

 

[basketrage]

They discontinued walker machines and eliminated the sidehill production line at the plant. There is too much retooling involved to only produce a limited number of machines a year. We are also in a pickle as to what to buy next since we can't function without sidehill machines. We have researched both Rahco and Hillco and the Rahco is much better in our opinion for several reasons. Rahco is made solely for Deere machines and will fit on various sizes of machines. They do not alter the wheel base or the feeder house when they install their units. Hillco moves the front axle forward 14 inches and the rear axle back 9 inches I believe. This greatly affects the balance of the machine in a negative way. You end up with no traction and very poor manuverability in the field. We have a neighbor who bought a new 9660 this year with a Hillco unit under it and they could not go places, especially up hills, that they used to go with their 9510 sidehill with no 4WD. They ended up having to spend $21K to have 4WD installed at the dealer and renting a machine while it was being installed. Moving the front axle forward now dumps the rock trap directly onto the axle instead of in front of it. Hillco also extends the feederhouse by 6 inches. This affects how the header mounts to the machine and they do not alter the sprockets or drive on the feederhouse. This throws the drive line out of wack and it is no longer straight. The above mentioned 9660 has a 6 row JD chopping head on it and they have already ruined two drive lines since the universal joints are bent so sharply especially when the machine tilts. They get quite hot after they have been run for a while. The first one lasted less than 100 hours I believe they said. Deere says it takes 100 HP to run the chopping head so it must turn pretty hard, placing a huge amount of torque on the drive line. Putting a wider head on the machine makes the drive lines longer and less out of line so they do not get as hot and fail. They have also been very unhappy with the chopping head. In very tall corn it takes so much power that it pulls the engine way down and they have to slow the forward ground speed way down to compensate. They have also burned out several clutches on the rotary choppers under the row units after having foriegn objects contact the blades or material wrap around the unit. From the cab it is impossible to tell if the blades are turning or not because you can't see them and there is no alarm to tell you of a problem. It is even more difficult to detect if it is an outside row that fails since the machine drives down those rows. They came to look at our Gerringhoff Roto Disc head the other day and were very impressed with it. You can check out both the Hillco and Rahco web sites and judge for yourself. Also check out this thread on this site. http://combineforums.proboards.com/index....ay&thread=16965

 

[98j]

There is a very good reason why the wheel base is altered. When
it comes time to dive off.....you want that puppy ( the front axle)
moved ahead:

Without this mod, the rear wheels have a nasty habit of coming
off the ground........not a fun feeling to be sure:

Yup......yer gonna need 4WD:

Lots of Hillco equipped machines out this way:

They stand up well under some tough conditions:

 

[basketrage]

Great pics 98j! What has these folks so upset is that they cannot go places with the new machine with the Hillco under it that they used to go very nicely with a 9510 sidehill with only 2WD. Had they been told that this alteration was going to so adversely effect the manuverability of the new machine they would not have gotten the Hillco unit or they would have gotten 4WD right from the factory. They tell us that the machine will hardly move at all in 2WD with no header on it at all. It just has absolutely no traction. They use a 25 footer for beans and wheat so there is no issue with the drive line. Obviously, by the looks of that machine, you don't have an issue with the drive line either. The issue only arrises with the 6R30 chopping corn head. Both of us have used 2WD and 4Wd machines and have experienced some rear end lift on occasion. We turned the windshield into the floor on two occasions and had to get a tractor to pull the back end back down to the ground. A six foot tall guy could not touch the rear axle. That was with machines that were not altered in any way. You just have to be real carefull when you are turning around at the ends of the field. Did you ever use JD factory sidehill machines and if so did you have issues "diving off' with those machines? Your hills are a little more steep than ours so i can see where that could be a real problem for you.

 

[98j]

Nah......never been in a sidehill machine. Spent a LOT of time in
true hillside machines like the 95-H:

Only 2WD on the 95-H; they got around pretty good......better
than the 6602....one of my neighbors used to joke that they put the
platform on the wrong end of the 02; the 02 would BACK up anything, but was pretty useless going up anything steep:

So, when the 1470 hit the market out here in the early 80's, the
whole county ( Wasco Co.) went from green..........to red:

 

[greencountry]

Awesome pics, love to be in one of those combines while cutting on hills, no unloading on go there and pray for final drives

 

[greenjunk]

great pics,not sure basketrage wants a rahco kit,they problems too. I have 9560sts with one and cant go where the 9510 went, it spins out easy. also I dont like the way it levels,only one side of the machine lifts and the other stays stationary and does not lower like the deere system and hilco. the cutterhead tilts down on sidhill as the feederhouse has to lower because the front end raises. I have to have it tilted back and leave longer stubbe on the level so i dont dig on the sidehills. the gound clearance is to low also. I only have 10'' or less with metric 30.8-32 deeplugs

 

[98j]

Nov 29, 2009, 4:23pm, blizzard wrote:Stunning pics there! Here in Minnesota we are advised to limit tillage on slopes above 8%. That would mean no plowing or ripping for sure for you. Do you grow any corn and soys or just the wheat? The cool wet cloudy weather there in Oregon dont allow it much I would guess.

Take a good look at this picture....does it look cool wet or cloudy??

You have us confused with the west side of the Cascades, the dope
smokin, tree huggin', liberal votin' side of Oregon where it does
rain quite a bit....but not as much as you have been led to believe.
And here around The Dalles, in the rain shadow of the Cascade
range, we are lucky to get 12 - 15 inches of precip in a year. So,
no, we don't raise any corn right around here. They do raise quite
a bit east of here under irrigation. The light precip allowed us to
do tillage on some pretty steep stuff....a 1470/1670 series combine
will level to 48% and I have used all of it on a few occasions:

The way our rainfall pattern is, we are pretty much stuck (dry land
anyway) with a wheat/fallow rotation. We got away with murder
for years doing tillage, but even with the light rainfall, it took it's
toll on the soil. So...........the whole county ( as far as small grain
production goes) has switched to no till: