1973 Gleaner M- Good or Bad?

72 -73 L/M drove the headers via chain. They were prone to pull the post off the heads in grass. Some were changed to a 1 3 /8  21 spline coupler like the later models.  M's had 350 Gm gas or 2900 diesels.  Yes they had Simms pumps and some had Roosa change out with aneroids - not a successful venture. The feeder beaters were light - most got changed out to 5/8 fingers with steel guides. The throat pivots were a high wear item. The back doors were bad to bend the flange where the bolts were. Raddle floors wore out due to light slats that were later replaced with Zbar raddles. Splitters were installed w/o precision locations and bad air patters resulted - again later kits were provided to relocate the splitters.  The main issue was the wiring - the harness went thru the grain bin inside a mouse motel that was a hollow tube.  The bin loading augers wore out keeping the gain from being pushed inside he bin but rather up the elevator then down the other side locking up the clean grain auger. All the early units had the single wire brush holders that certainly have been changed out to the warner 2 wire units. All the clutch armatures and magnets were too small and can be upgraded. The auto header height control was something no one ever figured out and the diodes were constantly failing.   "Other than that Mrs Lincoln - how did you like the play?"  Capacity ? the L2/3 will be 50% greater than the origional M/s.  1973 was the first year for the M's.

In 1972/73, the feeder beaters were 1/2" fingers with PLASTIC guides. There was nothing else and they were terrible in corn as they self-destructed pretty quickly. Chances are very good that a combine that old (by now) has been updated to the forged steel guides with 5/8" fingers and the drum was thicker as well. I believe Tbran was referring to the rock door and concave area, that got beefed up in later years to last longer and stay straight, not get bent.  Like the first N-series, there were lots of things that needed to be improved and the only real way to find out is put them in the hands of those who use them (a lot).

5/8" with forged steel guides since 1978 or 79.

Been around a 75 MH, a pair of 78, 79 , 80, 82, and a 83 MH2's. Helped wrench on all of them. Every year there are improvements. The most obviases is the changing of the drives, less chains more belts. But nothing really dramatic about more capacity in the bunch. Most where D2900 powered, but 2 D3500 in the mix there again not that much different in how much crop could be stuffed through the machines.

Thanks for sharing your insight. I figured there would be a noticeable decrease in capacity with the M. I know it seems odd to be considering going backwards in capacity, but since since farming is just a side hobby and I don’t depend solely on it for income, this is my reasoning: the equipment I have is mostly early ‘70s, and it’s the focus of my “collection” I guess you could say. I like that time frame because it was the end of the hundred series/start of the 7000 series, and I think it was just an interesting time when farm equipment manufacturers were entering a new frontier in the race for big, modern equipment and getting brave with big ideas and going all out on new products. Allis was taking the cotton industry by storm with their new 860 cotton stripper in 1973, a new series of Gleaners equipped with pushbutton controls unveiled in ‘72, 7000 series had 20 speed transmissions with the quietest cabs in the industry also in ‘73, just to name a few.

So that’s the reason I’m considering the M. I’d really like an L, but I doubt many exist in such Cherry condition as this M.

Edited by CrestonM - 25 Jul 2022 at 9:20am

I’m going to try to get away in August and at least go look at it. Will be the first running early model L/M I’ve ever seen.

One of the Deere problems was the flat radiator screen and a fan that pushed air instead of pulled. The idea, according to a 1969 brochure, was pull heat away from the operator (because a cab was only standard on the 7700 in the beginning) But what happened was they pulled in dirty air around the engine, chaff got hot, and most of them burned up. Especially gas models, from what I’ve heard.

Was it true they also borrowed some patents/parts from JI Case? I heard once that the earliest models had eagles cast in the final drives. But I've never seen one to verify.