Who would buy a brand new small combine?

That's a great post John.

Take a look at China. With billions of people and an ongoing transformation to an industrial society, they will experience the "agricultural revolution" as the USA did in the "golden age" from 1890 to 1960. As the peasants leave the land in droves, to go to the cities, the need for mechanized ag will continue to increase.

Still, there is a labor surplus there, so the cost/benefit to utilizing giant machines may still be a ways off.

I bet if the All Crop 60 series were introduced to China, it would take hold and be viable. Especially if it were built with local labor and materials..... Team it up with a chinese copy of the WD, and watch out world!

I'm surprised some financial genius MBA at AGCO hasn't run the numbers and realized what an opportunity exists!

.....Oh, wait.... They don't know stink about ag, just numbers... That'll never work. Besides, they are too busy trying to save their way to prosperity here in North America by destroying their customer base.

Oh well, Tom, secure a license deal and learn Chinese. Go East young man, and make your fortune!

Good point. So, when the dollar falls lower against the euro, we can export them.

Now, how close to a Gleaner can you legally design it, without infringing upon some sort of patent rights? I'd think the Patents or design copyrights would be run out on a 30 year old combine by now. So, instead of a Gleaner, can we call it a Grim Reaper, or "Greaper" for short? How would that look on the side of the machine? "Greaper K3" and our logo will be a triangular shaped "G" like this:

It's not quite copyright infringement...

but anyhow...

People will come in droves and buy many. Then, you can start producing the "ALICE-CHAMBERS" 199XT. It will be just like a 190XT, except without all that expensive Research and Development!

Companies do it all the time, just not with farm machinery, and usually, it's foreign knock-off companies that reproduce US products. We'll just be reproducing US products in the US. We can ship minor widgets to Germany for assembly, so that we can officially put "Made in Germany" on the decals, and then, German markets will buy them, and then, we'll have some stickers made up, and we'll ge those stickers made in China, so that we can put "Made in China" on the sticker (because the sticker would be made in China) and then, people in the US will buy it!

Maybe we can offer to sell the whole line to Agco, so they can put MF decals all over them. Some people will think it stands for Massey Ferguson, but we'll know the real truth of who those Germans are MF'ing.

:-)

(someone please stop me. I sniffed too much paint)

John-

"If I can't fix it, I'll fix it so no one can."

Tom, I'd be the first in line to buy an IMPROVED 35 picker. Forget the husking bed, make it a simple snapper.

Has anyone given a thought to what they'd be willing to pay for a new implement like this? I can't find a price on that Claas 30 combine. The Kincaid combine's price scares me to death.

There isn't much a WC can't do.

WD's just do it better.

Here you go!! LOL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxec1fr7czc&feature=related

Are we talking something like this?

It probably could use some work, maybe "Yaz-AllCrop" around the top and "Mercer" at teh bottom. Errr... I mean, not that we would want to immitate "Allis Chalmers" and "Milwaukee"

Maybe "All-is-Calmer" at the top, and "Milkwalkee" at the bottom?

There was a company that made reproduction parts for Ford muscle cars that had a brilliant idea. On original ford parts, there used to be a ford oval with "FoMoCo" in script inside the oval. A reproduction parts company started producing parts with "MoFoCo" in script inside an oval! It didn't last long, but I'm sure you could find an occasional part with the stamping driving around somewhere.

John-

"If I can't fix it, I'll fix it so no one can."

Close....Got to be all orange background. That too clse to the AC logo. Cant have the

the lawyers after us....Maybe put wording "AllCrop Implement Company, Camp Hill, PA."

Thanks for humoring me... we can dream right?

Dreaming is fine by me.

One thing, though...

While we are dreaming...

If you built a 72 pull type size machine from scratch, could you put the %^#& header on the RIGHT side? No offense to designers, I am sure there was a reason. But my console controls are on the right side, including the PD, and the header is on the left, so I have to reach down to teh right and back, while craning my head around to the left.

Swivel tongue is an option. It would put the header in line with the hitch for transport.

Here's a thought...

build a straight through separator with no right angle bend, put the grain tank on top, and make the tongue mount above the feeder house or drapers and have the ability to swing left or right, like a haybine. You could probably keep the whole unit under 108" and have it road legal for transport.

John-

"If I can't fix it, I'll fix it so no one can."

This is getting very interesting!! The swivel hitch would be the most important upgrade I think!!!

With the header up the hitch will swivel. But I like the idea of a center mount hitch like

on a mo-co. This machine is still too wide but at least the wheels appear centered.

On the mo-co with center-top hitch, I wonder how the pto gearing looks like? It would be interesting for sure

Edited by TomYaz - 19 Nov 2009 at 8:10pm

Got bored one time and did this with paint program.    I would buy that.   I would definitely buy that prototype machine.

I like the idea of a self propelled combine, I like running them and I like looking down front to see the header.      I don't like having to take it down the road at 8 mph to get to fields. I don't like worrying about coming around every bend. and I sure don't like sitting on top of all that noise. You can't hear yourself argue with yourself, let alone think.

I think JD and versatile made huge pull type combines in the 1990's.   I don't think they sold very well.   Maybe we'll get an Indian or Chinese company to dig up one of these prootypes adn go to town.   I'm pretty sure that the most common size of tractor in India and China is around 40-50 hp.   ...and I'm pretty sure I saw pictures of someone pulling an all-crop 90 with a CA.

So, is it just a waiting game?   Or should I put on some coffee, and order some metal for prototype building?

How about building a chassis that you could carry older SP combines on?   like, look at that prototype you posted. Can you see the Gleaner C or A separator unit? What if we just started patterning an older reliable SP combine, and build it new, with improvements?   That would take a chunk of the work out of the equation.

John-

"If I can't fix it, I'll fix it so no one can."

Face it guys, who today can justify buying a New small machine like a combine today. There's not enough in the regular grain market to make this pay off. Only in specialty markets. Farming today is big business and as I have learned the hard way, big business gobbles up the small business. Or else I would be farming my small farm myself! Oh if you have a specialty business or deep pockets, you could do this. I'd love a brand new WD! Heck, I can't even find one around this area lately in "my" price. Only something catastrophic could cause the market to come back again. Then something that big would probably destroy we small guys so we wouldn't be in a position to buy anything anyway. I highly suspect you can buy things like the old Maytag wringer washers and such in foriegn countries at afordable prices today. But that wouldn't be available to someone in the USA! I'd love to see a three bottom plow take over today. I truely think we need to return to these simple times. Often wish I was 30 years older!

Later,
JR...

I agree for the most part. I think a small SP market is more risky than a pull-type because of the price one would have to pay. The one thing your forgetting is the specialized markets that dont do thousands of acres but whose product has a higher value than ordinary corn and soybeans. Think organic edible beans for example. Or that fellow I sold parts to who uses one to grow his own grass seed for his turf farm. These oddball crops work very well with the all-crop design. It would be a nich for sure, just like the plot combines are a niche.

Actaully I think there would be a better market for a corn picker. Not for someone who's not taking corn to market but for those who feed it out. A corn crib and mother nature drying the corn is a lot cheaper than a grain bin, dryers and energy.

EDIT: I see you did say the specialized markets....so you didnt forget! My Bad. But yep,

a new allcrop with its unique way of thrashing would be good for the specialized market.

Edited by TomYaz - 20 Nov 2009 at 7:04am

All the major manufacturers still make a small self propelled combine. They just aren't sold here. They sell them in Latin America, India, etc. There are some smaller european combines too but they have so many features that I can't see them selling cheaply. An example of this would be the John Deere 4435 that was sold in the US and Canada in the 90s.

I believe there would be emisions requirements on engines as well.

I thought that I had seen some smaller units that were used to harvest test plots. Is that possible?

Andy Central IA

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