Cornbinders JD vs McCormick

[Plowboy]

We use both a John Deere and a McCormick cornbinder for our silo fill each year. The McCormick is in mint condition and works well it is gear driven and usually pulled by 3 Haflingers. I have been using the John Deere with a team of big horses and they seemed to wear down quickly. This year we put 3 on it and they still had to really work at it. The JD is a chain driven arrangement and is more worn than the McCormick. Possibly the wear is causing it to work some harder but I imagine it probably worked harder when it was new. We had some setbacks with the JD this year and parts are like “hens teeth” as there are far less of them around at least in Central N.Y. As one of my mentors used to say, “Somebody used it too much when it was new and now it’s old and worn out”. We just found another McCormick that needs new wood but hasn’t been used much and was kept inside until the roof went bad . It should be an easy restoration on this one. I was just curious if anyone else had any opinions on preferences of JD or McCormick as far as Cornbinders go? The local Amish can get parts for the McCormick but the JD is more of a challenge. Is this just regional or is McCormick just more prominent?

[Horsepower]

I use a McCormick corn binder(long vertical) with two Suffolk horses. They pull it along very well. Don’t usually cut for long hours at a time. The binder is in pretty fair condition but could use some of the wood replaced. That is on the list of winter projects, and has been for several years. I have a bundle carrier that attaches on the back end to bunch up the bundles and then dump them, but have not hooked that up yet. Do you have a bundle carrier on either of yours? Most of the time I cut when the corn is matured and dry then build large shocks out of the bundles. During the winter I roll the shocks onto a sled and move them to the corrals or feedyard and pull the ears for the pigs and feed the stalks to the horses. Some loss of the ears to wild critters but isn’t usually too bad.

[Plowboy]

We do have bundle carriers but haven’t yet used them to any extent. We have a large gathering of 12-20 teams and put up around 12-15 acres in a silo in a September weekend. The McCormick will get restored this winter and I think the John Deere will serve as a spare as it takes noticeably more power to operate. We have plenty of horses but the more work we can get done without wearing the horses down the better. When you have that much help coming you have to have everything click in order to be productive and that means cutting alot of corn on Friday to stay ahead of the wagon teams picking up on Saturday and Sunday. I would like to keep the John Deere up and get it back to like new condition but it will be a slow process with parts availability as it is. I think McCormick manufactured alot more of these machines during that era than John Deere. I dare say McCormick engineering was superior on many machines mowers, hayloaders, reaper binders and corn binders are all preferred over John Deere by the practical user.

[Plowboy]

Started tearing down the McCormick binder today after chores and driving horses. That old equipment is amazing the way it comes apart with a little PB Blaster sprayed on the threads the bolts just unscrew. We tore down one side completely in just two hours and that was the difficult side. The gathering chains and drive chains need to be soaked in oil for a few days before reassembly. The new wood kit was available from our local amish repair shop so all I had to do with the new boards was paint them.

[Horsepower]

Plowboy-Tell me more about the wood kit you got for rebuilding your MCD cornbinder. What pieces of wood were included? What type of wood? Cost? Who did you obtain the kit from? I would be interested in contacting them. Getting a wood kit would greatly aid the process of rebuilding mine. Hard to come by good hardwood around here. Sounds like you are getting right after your rebuild. Good luck on the process.

[Plowboy]

Horsepower
All the boards are available individually. They are made with yellow pine which is original equipment with white oak wear pieces. We bought the entire kit for $218 from Rudy’s Repair shop in Fort Plain, N.Y. He outsources them from an Amish shop in New Holland P.A.

[Plowboy]

Surprisingly enough even some of the tin work is also available and we’re gonna need some too. Have another trip to Rudy’s planned before reassembly. I’ve learned alot about it by tearing it all apart. The wood was all dry rotted and some of the parts were set up from sitting in an old dirt floor barn for 30 years. It isn’t worn much and is one of the later one’s with grease fittings. I need to learn more about them because our binder technicians are all 85 and older. I use the John Deere mostly so last year when the other McCormick had been put away after running out of string it took a while to thread it. The usual operator was in the hospital getting a pacemaker and we almost had to go sign him out to thread his binder! I got it figured out eventually and made it tie a couple knots by hand before I sent them out to cut and it never missed a beat.

[Horsepower]

Sounds like you had better document that binder threading procedure with some good notes, photos, or a video. The old boy with the pacemaker may not be around to show your kids.
If you go to Rudys for more binder parts can you get me a phone number, fax number, or address of the Amish supplier he uses to get the wood parts for MCD corn binders. I’m not having much success tracking anything down.
Thanks.

[Plowboy]

Our Amish here say the same but we don’t have the hedgerow models around here to borrow parts from. If we do we haven’t located them yet. Our cutter bar assembly is worn bad and I think we get some side wobble that contributes to the problem. It ties good and everything but takes alot of power to run it. We’ll have to dig up some parts before September.

[Plowboy]

Horsepower, We had an important parts list for the binder when we went to Rudy’s And had to do some scrounging in the parts room to get everything in one trip. Our rebuild is coming along good. Most of the new wood is on and all the mechanical parts are loosened up. I tried the knotter tonight but I think surface rust is giving us a problem with the knot. A little more work and we will have a good serviceable unit. I forgot to ask about his source for wood parts until I was almost home, sorry. We will go back again soon but since I was on B.W. Macknair’s website and he does rebuilds so may be able to help you. He does alot of shipping so might be a good source. Give him a call he’s a good knowledgeable guy. If not let me know and I’ll get info from Rudy the next trip.

[Horsepower]

Plowboy-
I contacted Macknair about the wood parts for the cornbinders a few weeks ago. He indicated that he had not gotten any informaation from his Amish suppliers with regards to prices this year. I would still be interested on any contacts for these parts you can get from Rudys. Let me know what you find out on your next trip there.
Thanks

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