Versatile self propelled combine 1980s prototype

[dale560]

Never knew that versatile tried a self propelled version of their last combine the trans axial 2000. The self propelled version had a 300 hp 855 Cummins they say and all wheel drive.  If you look closely at the brochure they used a 6.5 ft wide cylinder than two rotors to separate crop. All the talk is JD copied this combine for their CTS models. Thought it was a neat picture of what never came to be. The combine versatile produced before this was the 420 self propelled and pull type version than a 5000 full hydro model. The 2000 pull type was produced in enough numbers you see one every few years.  I added photos of the combines it replaced the early 420s from the mid 60s and the 5000 produced around 1972 or so.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

I’ve never seen any equipment that Versatile made other than the tractors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Steiger implement either. 

[dale560]

Just now, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I’ve never seen any equipment that Versatile made other than the tractors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Steiger implement either. 

Versatile made Grain augers which were really popular around here. Self propelled and pull type swathers and tractor pulled sprayers. Probably more implements also. I know they made a disc, I am thinking they had a box drill for seeding and some type of cultivator.

[acem]

22 minutes ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I’ve never seen any equipment that Versatile made other than the tractors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Steiger implement either. 

Exactly the same here.

I never knew they made anything except tractors until I got on here!

[Chester5732]

31 minutes ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I’ve never seen any equipment that Versatile made other than the tractors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Steiger implement either. 

Same here. 

[SDman]

Around here they sold Versatile-Noble grain drills in the 1980s after they merged with Noble. Versatile also came out with a blade plow that used hydraulics to trip the blades when you hit a rock with a blade. When that first came out in the mid-1980s I thought they would be very popular here. Once guys priced them, they decided to keep welding up their older model trip bottoms instead...the Versatile model was very expensive. 

[SDman]

Here's a sales brochure on the blade plow. The inset shows the blade tripping when it hits an object....somewhat similar to an IH plow with automatic reset bottoms, but done hydraulically.

 

[Big Bud guy]

JD came within a day of buying out Versatile in 1986.  The CTS showed up 6 years later.  I have no doubt during the negotiations there was some tech exchange. 

[Big Bud guy]

2 hours ago, SDman said:

Around here they sold Versatile-Noble grain drills in the 1980s after they merged with Noble. Versatile also came out with a blade plow that used hydraulics to trip the blades when you hit a rock with a blade. When that first came out in the mid-1980s I thought they would be very popular here. Once guys priced them, they decided to keep welding up their older model trip bottoms instead...the Versatile model was very expensive. 

Those late Versatile drills were the only press wheel hoe drills that could handle no-till conditions.   Nothing from JD and IH couldn’t 

[U-C]

4 hours ago, dale560 said:

Versatile made Grain augers which were really popular around here. Self propelled and pull type swathers and tractor pulled sprayers. Probably more implements also. I know they made a disc, I am thinking they had a box drill for seeding and some type of cultivator.

The box drill and a blade cultivator came from Noble manufacturing from Alberta Canada that Versatile bought

[U-C]

3 hours ago, SDman said:

Here's a sales brochure on the blade plow. The inset shows the blade tripping when it hits an object....somewhat similar to an IH plow with automatic reset bottoms, but done hydraulically.

 

It's technically a Noble blade

[SDman]

1 hour ago, Big Bud guy said:

Those late Versatile drills were the only press wheel hoe drills that could handle no-till conditions.   Nothing from JD and IH couldn’t 

The only thing from that time that would compare is a Haybuster 8000 drill. My old boss was a Haybuster dealer, so there were a few of them around here in the 1980s/90s. IIRC, they were built in 8' sections that could be hitched together for wider widths. One of the first guys around here to actually use one in no-till conditions had a 24' model that he pulled with a 310 or 325 Steiger...he said that that was all the Steiger could pull.

[Big Bud guy]

37 minutes ago, SDman said:

The only thing from that time that would compare is a Haybuster 8000 drill. My old boss was a Haybuster dealer, so there were a few of them around here in the 1980s/90s. IIRC, they were built in 8' sections that could be hitched together for wider widths. One of the first guys around here to actually use one in no-till conditions had a 24' model that he pulled with a 310 or 325 Steiger...he said that that was all the Steiger could pull.

 

I forgot about those.  There was none around here but haybuster hay processors were and still are popular.   Those things must pull hard because I had one neighbor pull 28ft of Versatile drills with a JD 7810.  Another retired neighbor pulled 49ft with a Steiger KM280 in no-till.  He finally gave up on them once the parts source dried up so he bough a 40ft JD 9400 set of drills on a transport hitch out of eastern Colorado.  Hooked those behind his Flexi Coil plow and thats what he seeded with the last 10 years he farmed.  Then when he retired, he put the drills in the nearest auction and got over $20,000 for them and they went back to the same area literally only 30 or so miles from where he bough them.  

[dale560]

48 minutes ago, SDman said:

The only thing from that time that would compare is a Haybuster 8000 drill. My old boss was a Haybuster dealer, so there were a few of them around here in the 1980s/90s. IIRC, they were built in 8' sections that could be hitched together for wider widths. One of the first guys around here to actually use one in no-till conditions had a 24' model that he pulled with a 310 or 325 Steiger...he said that that was all the Steiger could pull.

My buddy bought a 24 foot set used in the mid 90s. He pulled them not very well with a 7520 Jd 4wd. The drills were set up to deep band anhydrous ammonia below the seed. He has had about 20 different No till air seeders since then. He farms some very sandy land and actually for canola. He uses a 730 jd air seeders with the shanks stripped off. If you know it’s going to rain after seeding the little discs and depth control raise a perfect crop.

[SDman]

59 minutes ago, U-C said:

It's technically a Noble blade

Lol....that's all I've ever called them my entire life...a Noble blade. Can't remember all the brands that were around here at the time....I remember Flex-King, Richardson, Noble...I'm sure I'm forgetting a name or two, but we called them all "Noble blades". Once the internet became a thing, I've been corrected on other forums for calling them Noble blades; they told me the proper term is "blade plow". Lol...

 

22 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

I forgot about those.  There was none around here but haybuster hay processors were and still are popular.   Those things must pull hard because I had one neighbor pull 28ft of Versatile drills with a JD 7810.  Another retired neighbor pulled 49ft with a Steiger KM280 in no-till.  He finally gave up on them once the parts source dried up so he bough a 40ft JD 9400 set of drills on a transport hitch out of eastern Colorado.  Hooked those behind his Flexi Coil plow and thats what he seeded with the last 10 years he farmed.  Then when he retired, he put the drills in the nearest auction and got over $20,000 for them and they went back to the same area literally only 30 or so miles from where he bough them.  

As far as the Haybuster drills pulling hard, it depended which opener you used as far as HP requirements were concerned. They offered a 4 or 5" wide tip with wings that enabled you to put fertilizer on both sides of the seed....I guess you would call it a first-generation double-shoot setup. Those openers were a HP hog. If you just used a stealth or eagle-beak opener, then they pulled just as easy as any other drill.

When Haybuster came out with the 8000 series in the later 1980s, they really pushed the double-shoot concept, so they were all ordered that way around here. They sure raised a good wheat crop, but they took the HP to do that.

As far as Versatile-Noble tillage equipment, what happened to all of that stuff when Ford bought Versatile in 1986-87? Seemed like after that, most of the Versatile tillage stuff vanished.

[midnightman]

Lots of Versatile equipment in this area over the years. Still a few guys using the Noble no-till drills on a few acres. There was hundreds of the 400 model sp swathers around with some still around for cutting hay. 

One of the most interesting items I have seen is the neighbours diamond harrow that I had to do some welding on. Was probably 60’ wide. Had a transport hitch on the end of it for moving it down the road the narrow direction 

[dale560]

48 minutes ago, midnightman said:

Lots of Versatile equipment in this area over the years. Still a few guys using the Noble no-till drills on a few acres. There was hundreds of the 400 model sp swathers around with some still around for cutting hay. 

One of the most interesting items I have seen is the neighbours diamond harrow that I had to do some welding on. Was probably 60’ wide. Had a transport hitch on the end of it for moving it down the road the narrow direction 

You were right in the companies back yard so to speak. Versatile equipment was really popular south of the border 40 or fifty miles. A lot of grain augers, a lot of no 10 pull type, 103 , 400 , 4400 and a few of the newer 4750 SP swathers. If I had to count at least 20 420 and 42 combines. 2 5000 combines and have seen 5 or so trans axial combines being pulled down the road.  And every type of versatile 4 wd tractor. There were two coops that were big versatiledealers and a local ih dealer here carried versatile. But a lot of new tractors were sold out of a Massey and versatile dealer 30 miles away.

[poor farmer/logger]

I didn’t know about it either till I saw the pics on the versatile group on Facebook the other day. Was neat to look at. There was a pile of versatile equipment around here as well over the years. Mainly tractors and swatters but you’d see the odd sprayer,auger or even pt combine at the auctions. My brother inlaw had one for a number of years. Had a 4840 Massey on it I belive. 

[Kevin in ky]

The newest self propelled combine in the picture reminds me of the white 9700 rotary and early Massey rotary because of the cab

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

What is the purpose of the blade plow? To cut roots while leaving residue on the surface? I’ve never seen anything like that in action. I’ve only ever heard of them on here. 

[Big Bud guy]

24 minutes ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

What is the purpose of the blade plow? To cut roots while leaving residue on the surface? I’ve never seen anything like that in action. I’ve only ever heard of them on here. 

Yes.  It was a by product of the dirty 30s invented by Charles Noble. We had an early straight blade steel wheeled one and later five model Ms that were V blade hooked together 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sherwood_Noble

[Big Bud guy]

18 hours ago, SDman said:

Lol....that's all I've ever called them my entire life...a Noble blade. Can't remember all the brands that were around here at the time....I remember Flex-King, Richardson, Noble...I'm sure I'm forgetting a name or two, but we called them all "Noble blades". Once the internet became a thing, I've been corrected on other forums for calling them Noble blades; they told me the proper term is "blade plow". Lol...

 

JD even offered Noble type blades for awhile 

[acem]

Is that like a rod weeder?

Ive heard of rod weeders but never heard of a Nobel blade.

 

[Big Bud guy]

23 minutes ago, acem said:

Is that like a rod weeder?

Ive heard of rod weeders but never heard of a Nobel blade.

 

Not really. The rod weeder due to the rotation of the rod pulls and leaves weeds on top of the surface to die.  In order for a rod weeder to work the ground has to already have been worked over good or pulled behind a chisel plow or cultivator.  A noble blade really isn’t much different from a chisel plow or cultivator with sweeps.  It’s just that the sweeps are 8ft wide on a noble blade not 9” to 16”

[SDman]

Here's a rod weeder that was just at RPRU a couple weeks ago. If you look at the tires, they are drive tires for the rod weeder. You see a square shaft between the drive wheels....that drives the rod weeder via a chain drive setup that goes down to the rod weeder in the back.