New drilling rig. We start 2mro

[tanman_2006]

The 9420 JD had electrical issues so we leased a 9330 last season (bar bones model) and still ran our 42ft JD notill air drill. Well it had 25K acres on it by the end of the season (it was 2.5yrs old).

The new beast, we are going RED!



400hp Versatile NICE interior w/ a subwoofer and XM. The new Trimble monitor has a split screen function, one shows the drill/tractor functions and the other can show the drill camera or play movies. There is also a built in wifi hotspot. Cummins engine and 16 speed CAT tranny from a large mining dump truck. The drill is a 40ft Case No Till so far it has worked good while we planted ~500 acres of late season cover crops. Shooting for 10K acres but 6500 will clear all payments and operating costs.

Price shopping showed this to be the most cost effective w/ the best available service. JD has dropped the ball in our area even though there are more JD dealers than AGCO or CNH/IH. We turn over ~1mill in equip every 2yrs and thought we should have some pull but appearantly we dont. After the 9420 episode (they left us with out a tractor for 3 weeks of drilling season) and the new 4940's hydrostat going out at 10hr and 150hrs and being in the shop 5 weeks to 3months each time (3mo was at 10hrs) we are jumping ship back to the Red Side.

 

[SnowDrift]

sorry to hear of your bad experience with the Deere dealerships in your area. We have three that are close to us, so the competition keeps them on the up and up, I think. One is a "mega-dealership" of sorts with several stores. The others are "smaller" but really work hard to keep the business. I didn't know Versatile was still in business after the thing between them and Ford. Are they on their own again?

 

[tanman_2006]

sorry to hear of your bad experience with the Deere dealerships in your area. We have three that are close to us, so the competition keeps them on the up and up, I think. One is a "mega-dealership" of sorts with several stores. The others are "smaller" but really work hard to keep the business. I didn't know Versatile was still in business after the thing between them and Ford. Are they on their own again?

They are built by Cat Challenger, they stick the traditional cummins in a big Cat and call it a Versatile (short version of it)

There are 4 JD stores near by. 3 are owned by one "mega-dealer" and the other is owned by another "mega-dealer" but kinda on the edge of its coverage. There is an agco and case dealer in the town we kinda center around and they had been pulling for our business for awhile, even sent their own service guys to try and fix the 9420.

 

[GM Guy]

here is how I have it:

versatile was bought out by Ford/ New holland. the versatile was their big 4wd for a while. case IH and New holland went together to form CNH global in 1999 IIRC. with this, to prevent a monopoly, they were required to downsize the line. they sold Versatile 4wd tractors and Genesis MFD tractors off to buhler industries in canada.

the new Buhler Versatile sold repainted Genesis's with cummins' and Versatiles for a few years, and began designing a new series. new series lauched, doing good. Rostelmash Unlimited ( or is it limited. IDK) out of Russia buys up 85 percent of buhler versatile. makes a smart move and takes most of buhler out of it, relauching as just "Versatile" they have bought up Ezee-on to get their tillage line, and IDK who they bought to get the air seeder line. maybe Ezee On had an air seeder line? IDK.

anyhow, they are making great strides, and in the past year or so launched the newest series of big 4wds, and then this spring launched the new MFDs. I talked to the Versatile reps at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA this spring (turns out Tulare was the second public appearance ever for the new MFD) and the company guys were very happy under Rostelmash ownership, says its way better than buhler ever was, alot more $ in R&D, tooling, etc. felt these were the best tractors in years.

I got to check out the 4wds, and they look like the real deal. But then again has versatile ever built a bad one? IMO they are all excellent tractors. They are currently the last big 4wd on the N.A. market with a Cummins (CIH and NH going to Iveco, a sister company of the parent company, Fiat) and IIRC Cummins had some off road carbon credits to use up, so certain new versatiles are a series or two behind in emissions, which can make it simpler and cheaper to maintain and operate. they all use cat powershifts standard, and the small frame units can be back optioned to a manual transmission designed and built by versatile, I imagine similar to the ones offered for years, good, tough, and reliable.

they, however, are not a Challenger MT900 series. the MT 900 series Challenger is built in jackson MN by agco, using a Caterpillar engine and transmission, and foreign built, but tough, big inboard planetary axles. The Versatile is built in canada by versatile, in the same factory versatile;s have been built in for decades, using a cummins engine, cat or versatile trans, and versatile outboard planetary axles. they are not the same tractor, nor share any parts, or company ties whatsoever. the only thing they share is they both use cat powershifts. I think a salesman is misinformed, or yanking your chain.

btw, excellent buy, and I am glad to see you guys are concerned about the bottom line, and not the color content of the shed! I am sure the Versatile will serve dependably and efficiently, and after sitting in a new one this spring, quite comfortably. I couldnt beleive how big that cab was. you could rebuild an NV4500 in there while the GPS drove. I think Deere's attitude as of late, catering to the big time operators in both machine design and quality of service, and putting lower $ customers second in line is making alot of people wake up and realize there is better equipment out there, with similar if not better service. Combine that with Versatiles push to gain back market share, I think Deere needs to be worried.

keep us posted, it looks like a beast!

 

[JiFaire]

Nice rig, Tanner! I've always liked Versatiles.

Lots of the guys in my area have gone this way - for the same reasons.

JD seems to be thinking that farmers will buy green because ... uh ... well, just because. Then they thought the farmers would be sorry and would come back to JD with their hats in their hands. Neither seems to be happening.

Corporate arrogance has its penalties.

 

[tanman_2006]

So far the tractor is a beast! With rpms set at 1800RPM (max torque is 1700-1850) and TRYING to let out of the clutch gently in 6th gear (it goes to 6th from park) it will chirp the tires on pavement or dig some ruts in soft ground. Talking to the dealer about tuning options if we decide to keep it and want to MAXIMIZE the efficiency and broaden the torque curve.

It does have regen but no DEF. 400 is the biggest HP small frame, IIRC there were 4 on the lot. 350 quadrange, 350 powershift, 400 powershift (ours), and a 450 MONSTER (guy paid cash last week for it). The quad is running a grain cart, 350ps is still on lot, 400 is drilling wheat and running our drag scrapper in the winter, and the 450 was bought by a guy a town over that owns alot of land and just inherited 5K more from his dad who was chairman of the bank (hes roughing it lol)

The dealer didnt say anything about it being a CAT but they are a AGCO/Massey/CAT dealer. Surprised they werent made to downsize the agco line, Versatile and CAT under one roof could be dangerous.

I reread my post of the cart capacity, Deere is 300BU and the Case IH equivelant is slightly bigger with 1 182bu tank and one 146bu tank. We filled the 146 yesterday and started an 80, took my cousin and I some tinkering time as the drill has an electrical short somewhere that requires alot of reset work and drains the batteries.

I'll try and take a pic of the inside of the cab but for refernce, when we were working on the GPS and drill setting we had 5 guys in the cab becuase it was raining outside. Now we have a yetti cooler that holds a 30 pack and 6 gatorades with enough room for a 5 gal bucket of ice.

 

[tanman_2006]

Nice rig, Tanner! I've always liked Versatiles.

Lots of the guys in my area have gone this way - for the same reasons.

JD seems to be thinking that farmers will buy green because ... uh ... well, just because. Then they thought the farmers would be sorry and would come back to JD with their hats in their hands. Neither seems to be happening.

Corporate arrogance has its penalties.

Thanks!

That is the exact attitude of the local JD dealers. I talked to them about balers and the responces I got from asking honest questions was just plain ignorant. I got my baler on a shady/cocky deal the dealer made with a customer. The dealer had a guy that had aways ran good clean JD equip and Massey/Hesston Hay Equip. The dealer finally talked him into trying a JD baler and trading a Red Baler in, well I knew nothing of this deal prior to the sale and had 2500 bales on it by the time I found out. I thought it was odd the the OWNER just had the AGCO dealer come fully service the baler prior to a trade in but I figured if it was for sale then I'm not arguing, I ended up picking it up from the owners house under his lean too. Well alittle over a week later I heard the guy gave the JD baler a try and took it back before he finished the first field and asked for HIS baler back, it got sold from under him. That baler is currently sitting in the shed at the agco dealer and he ordered 2 new balers and is trading his JD's in for case and fendt tractors. The JD dealer doesnt care I'm sure but I can understand the guys frustration.

The JD dealer was going to come bale with me and show me that a JD baler can out bale in AGCO but decided he better not after this episode. Sitting in his office prior to the buying my baler he said there has never been anybody that went from red to green and want their AGCO back.

 

[GM Guy]

IDK why agco allows it as much as they do, but it seems quite a few agco dealers have a Versatile contract. the dealer to the NW about 45 miles is no less than a new holland, Gleaner, and Versatile dealer, plus a few short lines such as great plains and crustbuster/speed king. needless to say the corporate reps dont jerk him around, he can spend his money iwth the other company.

totally seperate, un-related companies, but each companies area reps seem to let it happen. I think the reasoning is alot of agco dealers around here want to sell their customers a good 4wd, so rather than sell their own (the challenger) by paying a good chunk of money to get a whole extra dealer contract to take on the challenger line, they just take on an independent Versatile contract. This also fits in well with many Gleaner dealers, as they ususally will get a Cummins contract as well, and can have all the tools and parts to work on the new Versy/s and the older Gleaner models.

do you guys deal with Livingston?

 

[GM Guy]

Nice rig, Tanner! I've always liked Versatiles.

Lots of the guys in my area have gone this way - for the same reasons.

JD seems to be thinking that farmers will buy green because ... uh ... well, just because. Then they thought the farmers would be sorry and would come back to JD with their hats in their hands. Neither seems to be happening.


Corporate arrogance has its penalties.

you summed it up very well. got a friend that gives me shit about the Gleaners all the time, and they run Deere and crow about how good it is. I ask, show my WHY it is BETTER and the discussion gets quiet and the subject gets changed. I rib them right back, show them the lack of loss on the ground, and how clean it is in the bin, and how much less fuel we use, and the subject gets changed to "at least JD cares enough to paint their combines. I and give up the arguement.

 

[tanman_2006]

Yeah, our farm is 20 miles from fairview, ok and there is a Livingston dealer there. Helps that they bought my gpas gleaner, crust buster, and landoll dealer 25yrs ago and kept all of his employees.

All of my Massey Ferguson equipment says cat challenger on their owner manuals. They are the same.

Source Unknown

 

[GM Guy]

yep, the challenger and massey haying equipment is all re-painted Hesston. IMO the Hesston paint looked the best of all, but oh well, the other two still got got stuff underneath.

I hear alot of guys like Livingston, they seem to be straight shooters. Keep us posted on the fuel consumption, I bet the big girl will do better than the deere!

 

[tanman_2006]

yep, the challenger and massey haying equipment is all re-painted Hesston. IMO the Hesston paint looked the best of all, but oh well, the other two still got got stuff underneath.

I hear alot of guys like Livingston, they seem to be straight shooters. Keep us posted on the fuel consumption, I bet the big girl will do better than the deere!

Not hard to beat 0.9-1.3gpa of the 9420. The 9330 did 0.5-0.7 which is respectable.

Source Unknown

 

[NVW]

Before CIH got Versatile they had the Stieger line of 4wd's.

Eeze-on had an air seeder line.

here is how I have it:

versatile was bought out by Ford/ New holland. the versatile was their big 4wd for a while. case IH and New holland went together to form CNH global in 1999 IIRC. with this, to prevent a monopoly, they were required to downsize the line. they sold Versatile 4wd tractors and Genesis MFD tractors off to buhler industries in canada.

the new Buhler Versatile sold repainted Genesis's with cummins' and Versatiles for a few years, and began designing a new series. new series lauched, doing good. Rostelmash Unlimited ( or is it limited. IDK) out of Russia buys up 85 percent of buhler versatile. makes a smart move and takes most of buhler out of it, relauching as just "Versatile" they have bought up Ezee-on to get their tillage line, and IDK who they bought to get the air seeder line. maybe Ezee On had an air seeder line? IDK.

anyhow, they are making great strides, and in the past year or so launched the newest series of big 4wds, and then this spring launched the new MFDs. I talked to the Versatile reps at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA this spring (turns out Tulare was the second public appearance ever for the new MFD) and the company guys were very happy under Rostelmash ownership, says its way better than buhler ever was, alot more $ in R&D, tooling, etc. felt these were the best tractors in years.

I got to check out the 4wds, and they look like the real deal. But then again has versatile ever built a bad one? IMO they are all excellent tractors. They are currently the last big 4wd on the N.A. market with a Cummins (CIH and NH going to Iveco, a sister company of the parent company, Fiat) and IIRC Cummins had some off road carbon credits to use up, so certain new versatiles are a series or two behind in emissions, which can make it simpler and cheaper to maintain and operate. they all use cat powershifts standard, and the small frame units can be back optioned to a manual transmission designed and built by versatile, I imagine similar to the ones offered for years, good, tough, and reliable.

they, however, are not a Challenger MT900 series. the MT 900 series Challenger is built in jackson MN by agco, using a Caterpillar engine and transmission, and foreign built, but tough, big inboard planetary axles. The Versatile is built in canada by versatile, in the same factory versatile;s have been built in for decades, using a cummins engine, cat or versatile trans, and versatile outboard planetary axles. they are not the same tractor, nor share any parts, or company ties whatsoever. the only thing they share is they both use cat powershifts. I think a salesman is misinformed, or yanking your chain.

btw, excellent buy, and I am glad to see you guys are concerned about the bottom line, and not the color content of the shed! I am sure the Versatile will serve dependably and efficiently, and after sitting in a new one this spring, quite comfortably. I couldnt beleive how big that cab was. you could rebuild an NV4500 in there while the GPS drove. I think Deere's attitude as of late, catering to the big time operators in both machine design and quality of service, and putting lower $ customers second in line is making alot of people wake up and realize there is better equipment out there, with similar if not better service. Combine that with Versatiles push to gain back market share, I think Deere needs to be worried.

keep us posted, it looks like a beast!

 

[tanman_2006]

Before CIH got Versatile they had the Stieger line of 4wd's.

Eeze-on had an air seeder line.

They still have steigers. At one point we had 2 steiger panthers and 2 versitiles (red and yellow). I was young and dont remember the models. We traded for a 7140, 8920 (the one i bought), and a 9170 STEIGER. The steiger was traded for the 9420

 

[GM Guy]

Before CIH got Versatile they had the Stieger line of 4wd's.

Eeze-on had an air seeder line.

CIH has had steiger since the 80s, and has never changed. NH had versy since the 80s, and when they merged with CIH to form CNH, they sold versy to buhler and started painting Steigers Blue, and have stuck to that plan ever since.

thanks for the info on Ezee-On, didnt know they were getting that diverse of product line.

 

[NVW]

I forget half of what has changed, my town no longer has machinery dealers. when I was a kid we had JD, Case, Minniapolis Moline, MF, and Cockshutt.

 

[GM Guy]

It is extremely hard for a guy to keep up these days, everyone is buying or partnering with another company, certain lines within a company are being sold off, patents are being bought up,etc. it is a confusing mess at times. plus, they all see fit to change the numbering every few years which really bugs me.