Gleaner L4 Video

Really neat to actually see one in action. Wonder where it's at? 

Edited by CrestonM - 07 Aug 2020 at 9:54am

Any guess as to the width of the header on the machine in the video? Seemed kind of narrow for an "L" machine  . Looks might be deceiving though  . Great photography/video work, and an awesome looking harvest set up in the field  !! Thanks for the link !!

Edited by FREEDGUY - 07 Aug 2020 at 7:12pm

That part of Ont is really good farm country as you can see. Expensive land and high yields.

My opinion of what the "L-4" actually is, is nothing more than an L-3 with a small block Cummins engine in it. No changes to the machine worth mentioning. Same old model. Same capacity.

The L4's that were produced triggered an infringement of product patents .  Parts were being shipped with no knowledge of the development of the L4.  Gleaners were being test run with different engines as there was a movement of the plant going independent of AC ….  The curved front glass was the trigger as the cab came from the Independence plant.  The "Taco L's " had straight glass, square fuel tanks and ALUMINUM RIVETS. Most components came from the Gleaner US plant, the sheet metal and cabs were built at the SA plant. At the end of the plant run a bunch of Taco L 's were rail shipped to the US.  Dealers ordered the hydro units readily only to find standard drive machines  on the rail cars. The units ran fine but when choppers were added the sheet metal fell off due to aluminum rivets. the SA plant did not have power riveters so the steel rivets were too hard to install. The glass in the front was flat with a 30 degree joint  where the curve in the us glass was.  They could not cast a curved glass.   Swenson gambled (he had a history of gambles) that Deutz Allis would mutiny or that the company was so weak and disenfranchised they would not fight his new endeavor.  He was wrong.

All the L4’s had the curved glass, infact the later ones even had the light grey interior like the 90-91 Independence built machines.
The two piece glass units were on L2’s that gleaner had built there when they could not keep up production in Independence, that was the rumour I heard.
Personally seen two L4’s, at the Minot and WCFPS shows back in the day.

My sales brochure shows curved glass and grey interior. I thought I read they had heavier sheet metal and main shaft and that they were only available as wheat machines. Let me go take a look.....................

I have seen the L4 in the video in person about ten years ago when it was for sale by a farmer very close to Shantz Equipment. It originally came from Saskatchewan. The owner is driving. A former A-C dealer now Agco and strong with Gleaner 

Edited by Calvin Schmidt - 10 Aug 2020 at 7:17am

Calvin Schmidt wrote: I have seen the L4 in the video in person about ten years ago when it was for sale by a farmer very close to Shantz Equipment. It originally came from Saskatchewan. The owner is driving. A former A-C dealer now Agco and strong with Gleaner  I'm about 20 minutes south of the dealership.

I've never had the opportunity to run wheat, does it take a lot of power to run wheat being clipped 4-5 inches down from the heads ? We run a 15' header on an F2 in 60 bushel beans, but perhaps this is not a fair comparison  . Thanks again for all of your replies !!

FREEDGUY wrote: I've never had the opportunity to run wheat, does it take a lot of power to run wheat being clipped 4-5 inches down from the heads ? We run a 15' header on an F2 in 60 bushel beans, but perhaps this is not a fair comparison  . Thanks again for all of your replies !!

Calvin, or  others, seems like Gleaner put out a C 62 ?? Was this primarily for wheat growers or did "row croppers" utilize them ?

From what I remember on Gleaner forum,the C62 is a Walker machine with a rubber belt under Walkers instead of shaker pan like M-L. Was not a Gleaner design. Massy?

Gleaner design that utilized many R-62 parts as well.