Versatile self propelled combine 1980s prototype

[dale560]

5 hours ago, Kevin in ky said:

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

The cab and a lot of the drive parts were made out of the new designation 6 tractors versatile came out with in the mid 80s. If you look at the 2 self propelled combines they either made 2 slightly different ones or rebuilt I later into the other. Different color cab tops and back wheels plus other little things not the same between the two. 
The versatile combine used a cylinder for main threshing and 2 rotors for seperation like the jd CTS or the claas or caterpillar combines used the same but modified setup.

The white used a big single rotor that Massey eventually acquired I think. I don’t know what Massey had before that for a rotary.

[dieselman]

we used rod weeders lots here in the prairies, invented in a little town 30 miles east of me, they were available up to 60 ft wide. most were equipped with multi plex attachment that consisted of a row of shanks and small shovels ahead of the rod to loosen the soil and 3 bar mounted tine harrows on the back, worked well for summerfallow usage, leaving a nice smooth finish with the trash on top, really worked good to control thistle as it pulled the roots out. did not like stoney land or fast tillage speed, about 4 mph max.

[Illini986]

On 7/12/2026 at 2:36 PM, 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...

I've always called those implements "plains plows". I think it was Kent before they got bought out by Great Plains that marketed their version as a plains plow. I've pulled an old Krause plains plow too, it's been so long I can't remember if it was a 6x5s or 5x5s but it was all a 895 Versatile wanted. 

[acem]

Thanks for the education.

Ive seen pictures of rod weeders but nobody ever explained how they worked. The chain system isn't very noticeable until you look closely.

[SDman]

In regards to Noble blades, there were two distinct features of a stubble field that had been worked with one. #1 feature was that if you drove by the field, you had to look VERY hard to see if there had been any mechanical tillage done to that field after wheat harvest....it looked just like a beautiful stubble field that didn't have any weeds in it, because the Noble blade killed them all. About the only evidence you could see that the field had been disturbed was another set of tire tracks indicating which way it had been tilled. #2 feature was that if you walked into the field, you better have something more than tennis shoes on....you would sink up to your ankles in that loose/mellow soil. You also needed a 4wd pickup to drive across the field as a 2wd would eventually sink in enough to lose traction.

Now, the fact that it was tough to see where you had been meant that you would get a lot of overlap and or/skips in the field as there were certain times of the day in certain parts of a field it was nearly impossible to see that last path across the field when you were coming back the other way. I would have given my left kahuna to have today's Autosteer technology or even a lightbar from the late 1990s would have made life so much easier 40 years ago. I probably spent more hours in my neighbor's 3588 2+2 pulling a Noble blade than operating anything else, other than maybe cultivating with it. We pulled five 5 1/2' blades with that 2+2....IIRC, we considered it 24' wide as the blades overlapped each other in the back a little.

If you look at most Noble blades, they have some provision for carrying weights of some kind.....cast iron, concrete, big rocks, anything that was heavy. You needed that weight as the ground could be hard as a rock in July, making it difficult to penetrate with a Noble blade. We did have one year it wouldn't work....the blades would just slide on top of the group. That was the year our neighbor got out his one-ways to work stubble.

My neighbor was a big believer in the Noble blade....he used it on his wheat stubble that he planned on planting to corn the next year. It would work the soil minimally while killing weeds while leaving tall stubble for catching snow the next winter. He always raised some of the best corn in the neighborhood, so there was some merit to it.

Biggest problem with Noble blades in our area was rocks...a Noble blade found every one of them. Most Noble blades in our area got to visit the blacksmith rather commonly...they took a beating.

Hope you guys don't mind me dragging Haybuster into this conversation again, but in the late 1980s they offered what everyone around here called an undercutter....it had 30" or 36" sweeps in a 2-rank configuration somewhat like a chisel plow. Rocks could flow through them somewhat better than a regular Noble blade. My old boss sold some of those undercutters around here.

[SDman]

Here's a couple pictures....one of a Noble blade with the outer wings folded up so you can see how big the blades were. The other picture shows a Haybuster undercutter with wider sweeps than a regular chisel plow.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

Other than the grinders, I have only seen Haybuster drills. They were/are considered “off brand” in this area and are rare. The only ones you see around here anymore are the very small 10’ no till drills for food plots and small jobs. 

[SDman]

3 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

 Haybuster drills. They were/are considered “off brand” in this area and are rare. 

I could sure believe that...Haybuster is headquartered out of Jamestown, ND. They were what I would call a "regional brand" that operated primarily in the upper Midwest states. I suppose my old boss started handling Haybuster in the 1970s-80s since this was primarily cattle country....hay grinders were becoming commonplace about then. 

I've often wondered why or how Haybuster got into other products like drills since they were generally thought of as an equipment manufacturer for cattle equipment. Evidently, someone there thought they could make $$$ in other markets. 

 

[midnightman]

There were quite a few Haybuster tub grinders that made their way north of the border in this area. The odd time you will see another Haybuster built piece of equipment here, but I don’t think that they had many dealers in the area.

[dale560]

Being we are on the haybuster stuff now. Their founder and owner was found murdered in the trunk of his car 35 years ago. Case was never solved. He was wrapped in a sheet in his underwear in a motel parking lot.

[Big Bud guy]

11 hours ago, SDman said:

In regards to Noble blades, there were two distinct features of a stubble field that had been worked with one. #1 feature was that if you drove by the field, you had to look VERY hard to see if there had been any mechanical tillage done to that field after wheat harvest....it looked just like a beautiful stubble field that didn't have any weeds in it, because the Noble blade killed them all. About the only evidence you could see that the field had been disturbed was another set of tire tracks indicating which way it had been tilled. #2 feature was that if you walked into the field, you better have something more than tennis shoes on....you would sink up to your ankles in that loose/mellow soil. You also needed a 4wd pickup to drive across the field as a 2wd would eventually sink in enough to lose traction.

Now, the fact that it was tough to see where you had been meant that you would get a lot of overlap and or/skips in the field as there were certain times of the day in certain parts of a field it was nearly impossible to see that last path across the field when you were coming back the other way. I would have given my left kahuna to have today's Autosteer technology or even a lightbar from the late 1990s would have made life so much easier 40 years ago. I probably spent more hours in my neighbor's 3588 2+2 pulling a Noble blade than operating anything else, other than maybe cultivating with it. We pulled five 5 1/2' blades with that 2+2....IIRC, we considered it 24' wide as the blades overlapped each other in the back a little.

If you look at most Noble blades, they have some provision for carrying weights of some kind.....cast iron, concrete, big rocks, anything that was heavy. You needed that weight as the ground could be hard as a rock in July, making it difficult to penetrate with a Noble blade. We did have one year it wouldn't work....the blades would just slide on top of the group. That was the year our neighbor got out his one-ways to work stubble.

My neighbor was a big believer in the Noble blade....he used it on his wheat stubble that he planned on planting to corn the next year. It would work the soil minimally while killing weeds while leaving tall stubble for catching snow the next winter. He always raised some of the best corn in the neighborhood, so there was some merit to it.

Biggest problem with Noble blades in our area was rocks...a Noble blade found every one of them. Most Noble blades in our area got to visit the blacksmith rather commonly...they took a beating.

Hope you guys don't mind me dragging Haybuster into this conversation again, but in the late 1980s they offered what everyone around here called an undercutter....it had 30" or 36" sweeps in a 2-rank configuration somewhat like a chisel plow. Rocks could flow through them somewhat better than a regular Noble blade. My old boss sold some of those undercutters around here.

Sounds like NBs worked a little bit better there then here.  The peak of their popularity around here was the 50s. They were a good thing to have when your alternative was the one way plows which caused the dust bowl. But they had their drawbacks.  For us you had a 2 day window to use them.  Too wet and they didn’t kill all the weeds.  Too dry which is common and they had problems penetrating hard ground.  All our NBs had weight pans and we put concrete blocks in them and that wasn’t enough sometimes.  Chisel plows with sweeps like the Graham Hoemes, Jeffory, Gysler kill the NB off around here.  But if I had to go back to conventional till I’d probably look for an under cutter like your picture 

 

 

[Big Bud guy]

On 7/13/2026 at 12:00 PM, dieselman said:

we used rod weeders lots here in the prairies, invented in a little town 30 miles east of me, they were available up to 60 ft wide. most were equipped with multi plex attachment that consisted of a row of shanks and small shovels ahead of the rod to loosen the soil and 3 bar mounted tine harrows on the back, worked well for summerfallow usage, leaving a nice smooth finish with the trash on top, really worked good to control thistle as it pulled the roots out. did not like stoney land or fast tillage speed, about 4 mph max.

We have a 62ft Luv or Love rod weeder like you described.  Built out of JD shanks and components.  Bought it a year before we went no-till.  It is heads and shoulders above the Morris version we used to have.  Longest we went between breakdowns on that thing was 18 hrs.

[acem]

13 hours ago, SDman said:

Here's a couple pictures....one of a Noble blade with the outer wings folded up so you can see how big the blades were. The other picture shows a Haybuster undercutter with wider sweeps than a regular chisel plow.

Thanks for the pics. It makes sense now.

[midnightman]

This one just came up for sale 

[Illini986]

Knew about some of the other equipment they made; swathers, augers, tillage tools. But never knew Versatile made a self propelled combine until this post. Anybody know what engine was used?

[Big Bud guy]

43 minutes ago, Illini986 said:

Knew about some of the other equipment they made; swathers, augers, tillage tools. But never knew Versatile made a self propelled combine until this post. Anybody know what engine was used?

I know the 5000 used the Ford 360.  That was the last SP combine they offered.  It had a double set of walkers.  What befuddled me is as popular as their tractors and other equipment was, I only saw one Versatile combine my entire life.  Even up in Canada I never saw any. 

[dale560]

5 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

I know the 5000 used the Ford 360.  That was the last SP combine they offered.  It had a double set of walkers.  What befuddled me is as popular as their tractors and other equipment was, I only saw one Versatile combine my entire life.  Even up in Canada I never saw any. 

We are about 200 miles south east of Winnipeg and there was a fair amount of versatile combines around the older 420 and 42 pulltypes. Dad had a 5000 versatile for about 5 years and a F gleaner. They were about the same capacity. The F got traded for a 815 and the 5000 got traded for a 1460.

[5088]

On 7/14/2026 at 9:24 AM, SDman said:

Here's a couple pictures....one of a Noble blade with the outer wings folded up so you can see how big the blades were. The other picture shows a Haybuster undercutter with wider sweeps than a regular chisel plow.

How deep would the sweeps on that Noble be run?  What kind of power needed to pull it?  Never seen anything like that around here.

[Big Bud guy]

13 minutes ago, 5088 said:

How deep would the sweeps on that Noble be run?  What kind of power needed to pull it?  Never seen anything like that around here.

We pulled three 8ft Ms on a multi hitch with a TD-14A and later on a JD 5010 and 20.  Later we bought two more 8 footers and bigger hitch to make 40ft.  Pulled that with a 950 Versatile which it did easily 

[Big Bud guy]

1 hour ago, dale560 said:

We are about 200 miles south east of Winnipeg and there was a fair amount of versatile combines around the older 420 and 42 pulltypes. Dad had a 5000 versatile for about 5 years and a F gleaner. They were about the same capacity. The F got traded for a 815 and the 5000 got traded for a 1460.

So what was wrong with Versatile combines?   They kinda petered out.  I think the reason you dont see any Versatile combines around here is because the dealers that sold Versatile also sold other brands of combines that were probably superior to a Versy.

[766 Man]

15 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

So what was wrong with Versatile combines?   They kinda petered out.  I think the reason you dont see any Versatile combines around here is because the dealers that sold Versatile also sold other brands of combines that were probably superior to a Versy.

  Where I am is a bit far east for Versatile to have an advantage in terms of freight and don't recall the area dealer here selling a Versatile combine.  That dealer also sold IH but by the time they took on Versatile the 1980 Grain Embargo had happened.  That dealer was a casualty of the Case IH merger but kept Versatile and took on Ford New Holland and sold NH combines.  Still no Versatile combines after that.  

[Sask466]

If anyone is interested.  There was an organization up here called PAMI that tested equipment back in the day.  The 2000 pull type still had some worts when they tested it:

https://pami.ca/app/uploads/2026/05/532.PDF

[Big Bud guy]

7 minutes ago, Sask466 said:

If anyone is interested.  There was an organization up here called PAMI that tested equipment back in the day.  The 2000 pull type still had some worts when they tested it:

https://pami.ca/app/uploads/2026/05/532.PDF

That is a neat website I’m always reading.  It’s my go to source whenever gleaner fanatics down play the N series sinking Gleaner.  The test results here show it

[midnightman]

Neighbors had a couple 42 pull types. One of them became a parts machine just to keep the other one operating. I only ever remember one of the sp machines around the area. Not sure if it was a 420 or a 5000.  There was a few of the 2000 pull types around.

The problem with Versatile equipment in general was that it was built very light for long term reliability. From what I understand, The 2000 pull types were an animal for the time with ample hp in front of them. Guys just spent as much time fixing them as running them. Have heard stories about guys tearing them apart in the off season and replacing components 50% stronger and having much better results with them.

The tractors are the exception, as I don’t know if you could find many others that are as reliable over the number of hours that have been put on them. Still see them every few miles working here in the fieldwork season doing some sort of task.

[Big Bud guy]

2 minutes ago, midnightman said:

 

The tractors are the exception, as I don’t know if you could find many others that are as reliable over the number of hours that have been put on them. Still see them every few miles working here in the fieldwork season doing some sort of task.

I agree.  Versatile showed everybody how to build a 4 wheel drive tractor by making them light and affordable as opposed to Wagner, JD, Steiger.  And that design philosophy worked great for a long time but my opinion only once they got up to 350 hp needed to be heavier .