My impressions of our S88. Overall I was very pleased with this combine!
Before I get too deep into testimonials I will list a few facts readers might find of interest: 1) traded from S77, 2) traded to 40 ft Dynaflex from 35 ft 8200/Crary Air Reel, 3) grow corn and soybeans, 4) ’14 yields were substantially below APH’s, 5) when in soybeans it was accompanied by our tricked out ’94 R72 that likewise harvested with previous machines (R75 & S77), and 5) put on about 280 sep. hours.
In soybeans the S88 was like nothing we’ve had before. Power was never a problem. All day every day we just drove the speed we felt comfortable given the terrain etc. That said, most of the time we drove 4.5 – 5 mph. Did push well beyond 5 a few times just to see what it would do. Only once did I get the “beeper” to come one and I had to try very hard to do it…I intentionally hit a green patch at a high speed. Lack of power was never a problem.
While I can’t make a direct power comparison with the S77 it replaced because they were never side by side, I have a hunch it would have made it look silly. There were instances in the past where our R72 looked like a real over achiever compared to the S77. This year despite low yields we could work the R72 and yet the S88 would be rarely show engine loads over 80-85%.
Feeding in soybeans. We NEVER once plugged the feederhouse. I know this is the first time we have ever gone an entire season in soybeans without using the reverser. Not sure how much to credit the changes in the 8 series or to credit the Dynaflex. We went from plugging the feederhouse 3/year in the R75 to 3 times/day in the S77 now to never. These results are especially pleasing since we have the ridge-till off set kit installed on the Dynaflex which closes off about 5” of opening on feederhouse...I was very nervous about this.
As for corn. Have 8 row hugger so not much of a challenge. We demo’d a 12 row Fantini chopping head. We have no experience with chopping heads so can’t make any sort of comparisons. Can say engine load indicator ran about 70% most of the time at 4.5 mph. Maybe the Fantini is a low horsepower requiring head? I have no idea but certainly it never taxed the engine. Variable speed pulley was warm but never too hot to keep your hand on it.
Fuel and DEF. We did not verify any fuel or DEF usage with a metered pump (of course even this method is not perfect since one only gets an average and operator efficiencies can make a big difference). Going by the monitors in the combine, when in soybeans, it seems most often I would be harvesting at a rate of 22.5 acres/hour with a flowmeter reading of 16ish gph. Again these seemed to be the most common readings I saw and I suspect even if the flow meter is off by 10% as some people say they can be and factor some in case I’m stretching it I believe I would still be under 1 gpa in soybeans. As for corn, monitor would say 16 acres/hour and flowmeter 13ish when using fantini head. That seems really low compared to what I hear? To reiterate, I’m not saying this is what we used for fuel I’m saying this is what the monitor said. As for DEF, again not metered. Typically we would go 30+ hours in soybeans before refilling and over 50 hours while in corn. I believe tank is 24 gallons?
As for mechanical problems. The rod on spring tensioner for chopper belt broke (could see flaw in the steel at a bend), two hydraulic solenoid valves loosened thus wrecked o-rings and leaked a little oil, and had to replace the two bolts in bin unload auger stub shaft (not sure if they sheared or were not installed properly). Total downtime was less than 3 hours and that includes the time it took for dealer to bring out grain vac to get corn out of hopper to install bolts into unload auger.
2 speed hydro. Nice! Once I got used to it being there I used it all the time.
In summary, great combine awesome engine.
Before I get too deep into testimonials I will list a few facts readers might find of interest: 1) traded from S77, 2) traded to 40 ft Dynaflex from 35 ft 8200/Crary Air Reel, 3) grow corn and soybeans, 4) ’14 yields were substantially below APH’s, 5) when in soybeans it was accompanied by our tricked out ’94 R72 that likewise harvested with previous machines (R75 & S77), and 5) put on about 280 sep. hours.
In soybeans the S88 was like nothing we’ve had before. Power was never a problem. All day every day we just drove the speed we felt comfortable given the terrain etc. That said, most of the time we drove 4.5 – 5 mph. Did push well beyond 5 a few times just to see what it would do. Only once did I get the “beeper” to come one and I had to try very hard to do it…I intentionally hit a green patch at a high speed. Lack of power was never a problem.
While I can’t make a direct power comparison with the S77 it replaced because they were never side by side, I have a hunch it would have made it look silly. There were instances in the past where our R72 looked like a real over achiever compared to the S77. This year despite low yields we could work the R72 and yet the S88 would be rarely show engine loads over 80-85%.
Feeding in soybeans. We NEVER once plugged the feederhouse. I know this is the first time we have ever gone an entire season in soybeans without using the reverser. Not sure how much to credit the changes in the 8 series or to credit the Dynaflex. We went from plugging the feederhouse 3/year in the R75 to 3 times/day in the S77 now to never. These results are especially pleasing since we have the ridge-till off set kit installed on the Dynaflex which closes off about 5” of opening on feederhouse...I was very nervous about this.
As for corn. Have 8 row hugger so not much of a challenge. We demo’d a 12 row Fantini chopping head. We have no experience with chopping heads so can’t make any sort of comparisons. Can say engine load indicator ran about 70% most of the time at 4.5 mph. Maybe the Fantini is a low horsepower requiring head? I have no idea but certainly it never taxed the engine. Variable speed pulley was warm but never too hot to keep your hand on it.
Fuel and DEF. We did not verify any fuel or DEF usage with a metered pump (of course even this method is not perfect since one only gets an average and operator efficiencies can make a big difference). Going by the monitors in the combine, when in soybeans, it seems most often I would be harvesting at a rate of 22.5 acres/hour with a flowmeter reading of 16ish gph. Again these seemed to be the most common readings I saw and I suspect even if the flow meter is off by 10% as some people say they can be and factor some in case I’m stretching it I believe I would still be under 1 gpa in soybeans. As for corn, monitor would say 16 acres/hour and flowmeter 13ish when using fantini head. That seems really low compared to what I hear? To reiterate, I’m not saying this is what we used for fuel I’m saying this is what the monitor said. As for DEF, again not metered. Typically we would go 30+ hours in soybeans before refilling and over 50 hours while in corn. I believe tank is 24 gallons?
As for mechanical problems. The rod on spring tensioner for chopper belt broke (could see flaw in the steel at a bend), two hydraulic solenoid valves loosened thus wrecked o-rings and leaked a little oil, and had to replace the two bolts in bin unload auger stub shaft (not sure if they sheared or were not installed properly). Total downtime was less than 3 hours and that includes the time it took for dealer to bring out grain vac to get corn out of hopper to install bolts into unload auger.
2 speed hydro. Nice! Once I got used to it being there I used it all the time.
In summary, great combine awesome engine.
