Nice old combine moving along at a good clip and getting the job done. Smaller farms and more people farming to me was better for agriculture. Bigger farms, machines that drive themselves...get a sad feeling thinking what the future holds for small farms.
Another very enjoyable video of an older piece of equipment rolling across the field. As always, good information on the equipment featured too. Looks like this famer really takes good care of his equipment too. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.
NIce video BTP!! I actually enjoy videos of older machines a little more than the newer ones. The 4420 is moving along at a pretty good clip in the wheat. Any idea of how much the wheat is yielding? As I watch the farmer unloading the wheat I noticed the very nice clean grain sample. There are very few hulls. He has the combine adjusted quite well. Thanks BTP!!
Fun to see the older equipment. Would be nice to see the equipment makers make smaller combines like this one for the smaller farms. Keep up the great work!!
Looks like a toy compared to current models!! I remember swinging out the auger when we got to the field. I never drove it but I rode many rounds in corn!! That is a clean L8000!! They are all rusted out here in Iowa!!
Yep we would all be better off if all farmers still had a 4420 or a 1420 combine farming about 300 to 400 acres nobody needs to farm 7 or 8 Thousand areas
Had a friend that upgraded from a 4400 in the early 80s. I went from a 6600 to a 6620 about the same time. The 4420 wasn’t much different from the 4400 however the 6620 was a completely different machine from the 6600. He’s got this machine set right and it’s a nice one!
7720 is probably my favorite combine. That’s another great machine. My friend his family was still using the 7720 until a couple of years ago. Now they have an old school Gleaner not sure of it’s size or year.
We looked at buying a 4420 when it became time to replace the old 4400. One came up for sale at a retirement auction and after looking it over we decided to bump up to 6620 instead. Can’t tell ya how many times we pulled he feederhouse and cylinder on that 4400 and dad wasn’t going to buy and overglorified 4400. The 6620 has a feederhouse reverser, I’m always been able to walk the crop back out with that. Beats the hell out of a wrench a a spud bar trying to crank that old girl backwards.
This brings back many memories. My dad farmed 80 acres in Ohio. My first memories were of his JD 30 pull type combine with a 7' head. When I was in the Army in the mid 70s he bought a used JD 4400 combine with 15' header and 4 row corn head. Another memory was seeing the farmers sign on the truck door. I was in the Army at Ft. Campbell, Ky just south of Hopkinsville.
That's one sharp-looking, and smooth running machine. it's been very well taken care of and I'm sure has paid for itself many times over because of that. I would take that little machine 10 to 1 over a new one that has an equally monstrous payment book and will sink to the axles after the first rain storm because of its weight. Then, you have to hire a bulldozer or trackhoe to pull it out its so heavy! Just the ruts and mess those big machines making the field today it's very very sad in bad for the land.
Love your videos of the mega farms and new machinery, but this video an "ordinary" farm is one of my favorites. Brings back lots of memories. Back in the 80's we had a John Deere combine on our farm just like this one (maybe one model larger) for combining corn, wheat, and soybeans. Plus a similar size International truck.
I didn’t realize the 4420 has the unload auger coming from the bottom of the grain tank instead of having a vertical auger and then a horizontal auger like the 7720 & 8820.
I remember being about 4-5 and my dad had a F2 Gleaner. It caught fire two times and the third dad let it burn. Then a few days later we had a brand new 4400. I thought we were big time farming after that.
The 4420 must have been the next generation after the 4400. My Dad had a 4400 Diesel which he used to harvest 1000 acres of corn and soybeans. Good machines. It's a shame that none of the companies make a small affordable combine for the small farmer today. They forgot their raisin', as the old country song says.
The 4420 was the replacement to the 4400. The rest of the 20 series’s were new Titan models with a Soundgard cab. Almost every new combine on the market can handle a 12 row head. Case IH is the only brand still making a class 5 combine which 30’years ago would have been the biggest combine on the market. Even the class 5 is $400,000.
@@bigtractorpower -- Well, it's just very sad that a small farmer cannot buy an affordable new combine today like they could back in the old days. The manufacturers have turned their backs on the small farmers. Sure, a farmer can buy a 20-30+ year old small combine today, and for a reasonable price, but they better be mechanically inclined if they do, and also parts will eventually be unavailable, if they aren't already. But it's the way of the world today, eg: most are greedy and out to get as much as they can and take you for all they can, and then forget about you after they have gotten it. Jesus prophesied it would be like this in the end times, and we are there.
Wow! Cool old school combine still getting it done! And that L8000 truck looked mint!! That farmer clearly takes care of his equipment and doesn’t need all the modern gadgets to make profit. Probably one of my top 10 videos of yours. Nice job!
They used to have those 2x 3prong spinny things before the choppers. Someone needs to find a video of a combine with those =p I remember playing around with those as as a kid.
I still working on my small farm (40 ha), with such a classical machinery: 3140 John Deere tractor and 1085 4 speed, 6 straw shakers combine. The tractor is from '85's and the combine '86 or '87, I don't know exactly. I love them, they are working well. Nice video as always! 👏
Wow. This is what I started harvesting in. When i was 12 or 13. Then i went to a diesel tech school and cut my teeth on rebuilding an engine out of one of these. Grant it i had done many others prior to going to school but this engine was my 1st official engine rebuild as a a Student. Love seeing this old iron. Miss the simplicity of it.
Thanks for the great video BTP. The 4420 in your video reminds myself of a 975 john deere combine harvester we used to have back in the day for rice harvesting here in Australia.👍
sure is nice to see these machines still going. It is funny to see the front tire size on these machines is now roughly the size of the rear tires on the new ones.
Live the old girl but I am wondering how many acres the man is farmjng.he must be a small farmer.glad to see a man running that small a farm going today
Nothing like seeing that classic John Deere running in the field just like it was when it was new and I really enjoyed the fascinating drone shots as well ! ! ! 👍
Operating new machinery is no work at all, the dudes be sitting in the combine and the combine does everything...and then they probably say they are tired lol
That is a good question. I will have a chopper video showing the field being opened. As far as opening it’s based on the entry point. Open you drive way and pull trucks in. Then cut section by section.
Great video. I appreciate this machine because I have a John Deere 4400 which I use for corn and oats. In fact, I harvested oats yesterday with it. Wonderful old machine, just right for a small farmer like myself. Thanks for all your videos.
Good video. I spent the summer of 1973 with guy that ran 3 7700's. We were gone from late may till the middle of Sept. That was my second of 4 harvest trips. While I was baically a truck driver that summer I did get some time in these machines. They were good machines with a 22 ft header. I did enjoy running one of them when I got the chance. That is the only experience I had with John Deer combines.
Great Video!! That is the way my Dad would have done it. But he had me driving the truck to the grain elevator while he worked on filling up gravity wagons. No GPS - no grain carts - no A/C!! I bet that farmer has it paid for also...
We ran a 8820 Titan 2, the only bad thing i can say about it was the straw chopper was a pain in the arse to remove when dropping straw, that 4420 has a chopper that could spread for a 30ft header, lol.
The best shot is when the hopper is empty and you pull back in the grain and the clean grain is running a full auger out the end into the hopper. That's my favorite
@@bigtractorpower My first experience as a little kid in the 80's with Dad was a 45 Square back and of all things a Ford combine. We had a 510 mf,715IH,6600,6620,7720,9500 growing up. I love'em
That’s the way it was done even when they were new. Back then trucks parked on the road side and combine emptied every few passes. The augers were pivot so they did not stick out very. Prior 1978 most were manual so you folded it and kept it until you were done.
@@bigtractorpower ahh, so this one has hydraulic cylinders on it, which was optional, so with this one it could be operated like a modern combine, but it's just not really worth it to do that due to the low capacity of the grain tank.
Wow, that combine is really impressive compared to the Claas Mercury I used for nearly 20 years. We went through three of them. The good one, the parts one, then the new good one cause the old good one was completely worn out. The first one had a cab with a blower, no AC and not pressurised. It was quite possible that some dust made it in, I used to ride around in the cab with my Dad though. I only got to operate the open station version. It was loud, dusty and awful but got the job done. It taught me that a bargain combine harvester might not be the best thing, it might be a better idea to save for something else or to get someone else to bring the crop in. You really have to weigh up buying or fixing a machine or hiring someone else to do it a lot with farming. The time, effort and health risk associated with old combines just isn't worth it. Get someone else in or figure out if you can become the neighbour with the combine. "Sunken cost fallacy" can happen a lot with farm machinery, know when to cut your losses and keep you, your family and workers safe!
I just the other day watched your "Racing The Rain" video where the dude had five JD S790 combines with 45-foot headers working in the same field. This is litteraly the opposite end of the spectrum. Thank you for showing us how the "other half" lives!
Great video! Appreciate a video I can relate to in this day and age. It appears that this farmer has maintained his equipment quite well over the years. Thanks for publishing this type of video!
Oh sure there are nice while they work, untill you need to do work under the seat to replace the belts or the hydraulic pump! I"ll take the gleaner F or the international 1420 any day over the 4420. Nice video by the way.
Was the straw copper standard on the 4420. I don’t think we had straw choppers on that age of combines in the UK . Thanks for sharing this classic John Deere .
The 4420 is still in great shape and works well,my only issue is the feeder house not being reverseable,it can cause you to have a very bad day if something goes wrong B.T.P..
That is really sweet!! Great find!! My dads buddy has a 3300 I think. Just sitting. He used to have teo ford combines. But he sold them for scrap one day
I remember when one of these was delivered new to my Uncles Michigan farm in 1981...two semis one for combine and one for corn and grain headers and tires... I was there working for the summer. Now his sons run three 9870sts... times sure do change
