Russians Coming With New Self-Propelled Combine

Russians Coming with New Self-Propelled Combine COMBINES Maintenance 12-4-5 You'll be seeing Russia's "newest, biggest and most sophisticated" self-propelled combine a tup coming farm shows this summer and fall. Called the Don 1500 (because it's built in the Russian city of Rustov located on the Don river), it was unveiled last month at the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina. The new combine, already on the market in Canada where Belarus has been marketing self propelled combines for 12 years, is slated for sale in the U.S. early next year. "First, we want to make sure we have a full parts supply, and a dealer network, plus a full staff trained in service and maintenance," says Elvis "Smokey" Harrison, national sales manager for Belarus Machinery, Milwaukee, Wis. "Meanwhile, interested U.S. farmers can buy the combine by contacting our Canadian headquarters in Toronto, or our regional branch office in Regina." The Don 1500 is being offered with a 13 ft., 6 in. wide pickup header, or straight cut headers up to 28 ft. wide. An 8-row corn head will be available in Canada and the U.S. next year, according to Belarus officials. Price tag on the new Don 1500 is right at $108,000 (Canadian), including windrow pickup and straw chopper. Key design features include a 58.5 by 31.5 in. cylinder with 10 rasp bars and a large concave with a full 130? wrap, said to be the largest on the market. Concave area is 2,160 sq. in. There are five straw walkers, 9,596 sq. in. of separating area and 5,911 sq. in. of cleaning area. In government tests conducted last fall by the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) at Humboldt, Sask., the Don 1500 made an impressive showing. At 3% grain loss in wheat and barely, it had 15 to 35% greater capacity than the reference combine, a Deere 7720. PAMI test operators were particularly impressed by the new Russian combine's ability to handle large wads of straw without plugging. If a large wad of material is coming in and you think it might plug the cylinder, you simply push down on a foot pedal to drop the concave to the lower limit of its adjustment range, allowing the wad to pass through. Pulling a lever brings the concave back to its original setting. Another unique feature is a feeder reverser which you can operate from inside or outside the cab. The new combine is equipped with power steering, hydraulic wheel brakes and a hydrostatic transmission with three speed ranges. In the air conditioned cab, there's an 18 function monitor system, plus a stereo cassette deck with AM/FM radio and a deluxe, fully-adjustable Captain's seat.

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