John Deere 55 EB Combine Harvesting Soybeans

No computers here , just grease n drive ! Had one ,awesome combine for its time ! Thanks for sharing,very much enjoyed watching!

It’s a beautiful combine it’s awesome to see someone that still takes care of it still use it

Love seeing older equipment out in the field.

My dad bought a JD 45 in 1963 to farm a 1000 acre farm he had rented. I was 6 at the time. At that time, he was the only farmer in our area of East Central IL to own a self propelled combine. Everyone else was still pulling a combine and an ear corn picker. His next purchase was a JD 95 EB and finally by 1970, he had purchased a JD 105. That was really something at the time! I think that one had a 6 row corn head on it. Great memories!!

My grandfather had 2 of these when I was little, used one with a grain head for beans and wheat, and another with a 3 row corn head. He had 2 of them so he didn't have to change the heads (was not a quick attach feederhouse). Later he upgraded to a 4420, which he used until he retired 5 years ago

It's great to see the 55 in action, and the Farmall M in the background too. We had two 55's on our farm in the Sacramento Valley in California in the 1950's and early 60's. They were a decade at least older than this one, and of course didn't have cabs. They had the rounded rear ends as mentioned in the video. Ours were initially used to harvest barley, but when the two-row Orland header was developed in Orland, California, we started raising corn and harvested it with the 55's too. It was a simple sickle-bar header with some additions to help the cut stalks feed into the combine. So most of the stalk went into the combine and had to be separated from the grain. When John Deere introduced their corn header, which snapped the ears off the stalks and left most of the stalks on the ground, we switched to them. We also raised dry beans (Sutter Pinks) but the 55 wasn't so good as thrashing them. So my dad bought an old JD 36 pull type harvester and had it modified to add a second cylinder to better thrash the beans. We used that until he and a partner bought a locally made bean harvester that was considerably bigger. It was still a pull type, but powered by a Ford V-8 truck engine, and was equipped with 120-volt electric lights to better see at night since harvesting ran well into the dark hours. Us kids didn't get to spend much time on the harvester because we needed be in bed early in order to get up at 2:00 or 3:00 am to cut and rake the beans when the dew was on so they wouldn't shell out. They were cut off their roots so they could dry enough to thrash in a few days.

Almost forgot how fast those ol things could go 😂.

We got a 45 when I was 5 years old 53 years ago. So I used one growing up. You had a rod to pull out the lower the screen down. If you remembered. LOL thanks for sharing

The 55 combine was the first combine I remember my grandpa using when I was a little girl. I remember riding with him for years during harvest.

Pretty cool, I like learning about first generation stuff. Considering how much combining is the same, it's amazing how much combines have changed.

Our first combine was a JD 45 back in the early 1970's. She was gas powered and every rut or rock your tire hit you were sure you were going over. Ran a lot of corn through her here in Northeast Ohio.

It's cool to see the classic machines in the field👍😁 the good old iron gets the job done too😉👍

Thanks for sharing the classics, thoroughly enjoying them.

Great awesome video Jason , we had John Deere 55 open station combine , we only used it cause we had 30 acres of winter wheat or oats or barley when we seeded down on the farm ,

Brings back memories of the Gleaner C. Great to see old iron at work. BTW, Great interview with Welker's at Farm Progress. Great title, WIKI Jason!

The first combine I ever operated was a 55 B gas John Deere, I think it was about a 1957 model. I think it had a 9' header. I also ran a 95 B. The 55 had a 2 row corn head, the 95 had a four row and I think a 13' header. That was back when good wheat might make 45 or 50 bushels per acre and corn might hit just over 100 bushels. The same farm now will hit 90 bushel wheat and 250 bushel corn all the time. I can't remember now exactly what early beans and late beans would yeild but it was nothing like now. Both those combines were open stations, late beans and corn was just awful.

There were several 55 series combines in our farming area mid-60s well into the 70s. My earliest 55 memory was a guy who had an EB just like this that did custom work. Dad had a regular job and hired out the custom guy for harvesting soybeans. I remember him going significantly faster than this one, but as was pointed out, yields are higher. We used to average 40 BPA soybeans, but offsetting this it must be remembered they weren’t perfectly weed free like today. Between herbicides and cultivation, we still had foxtail and some assorted broad leaves the combine had to eat as well.

Great video BTP. I dont think many of today's machines will be running in there 50s. Allways good to see the classics.

Thank you, Jason, for another great video. I would love to see more videos on antique harvesters, including pull-type grain harvesters and fully mounted corn harvesters. Plus a video on the harvesting method of stored ear corn.

Fascinating video as always BTP Much respect from the UK.