A neighbor had a smaller version, never knew much about it but it wasn't taken very good care of. No dealer backing so they never caught on here. A friend in central IL had one and he liked them. Had 2 of them, one for parts, as even there no dealer support. I got the diesel motor from the parts machine, Ford industrial diesel. The other combine was sold on his retirement sale and may well still be working. I always liked the big cab on them.
I love those 642s. They work cheap. They were the most advanced in their era of 1974-1980 . They had automatic steering at a time when no other manufacturer knew what that was. John Deere was still bumbling with that silly chain coupling for the header drive, 9 years after Ford had a sliding jaw coupling that you operated with one hand. If it took you more than a minute to attach a header, you must have a broken leg or something. M and F Gleaners really make me laugh. You can have all the nose points and gearbox covers off a Ford 6RN in a couple minutes by pulling a few hair pins. On a Gleaners it's an all day job if the carriage bolts strip out their square holes. I think parts availability is better today than it was from the Ford dealer 30+ years ago. The lower transmission belt was $389 back in '82. Today I order one , it's drop shipped to my house in 2 days for $178. I love those 642s.
TrueBlue Farmer , When Ford acquired New Holland , Claas was out the door. They transferred my account to a local Claas dealer, in my case Reberland Equipment in Apple Creek Ohio. YOU HAVE TO HAVE PART NUMBERS, you can't call and say I need this or that for a 642 because they have no way to cross over. Supposedly, it is the equivalent to a Dominator 80, but was never quite sure, because I have two of them and the little yellow decal to the left of the ladder ( tire pressures for various heads ) says Dominator 80 on the earlier one and TYP 86 on the other. Bear in mind , it IS approaching 40 years old , some stuff is going to be discontinued, prices sometimes staggering. Bottom line is, you need a good parts book. By the way, if you have a Ford parts book, all the combine numbers are Claas numbers, which means the Claas parts guy will know what you're trying to order. Whatever Claas installed on the motor will also be Claas numbers ( fuel pump, filters, exhaust pipe, etc. ) . Ford engine parts you get from a Ford industrial engine dealer.
TrueBlue Farmer , Then all that is left to do is Google Reberland and get whatever you want. You wouldn't, by chance , have a couple pages in your parts book regarding the automatic steering system, would you, to purchase photo copies from? Been trying to find them for years. When you call Reberland, parts guy is Scott. He'll be like, " Oh no! not another Ford guy!" ( 2-3 of us in this area) First couple years they didn't know my name. " Is this the guy with the Ford combine?"
They were built by Claas, largest manufacturer of combines in the world at the time. after Ford stopped selling them they were rebranded as Caterpillers.
There was a point in time after the Ford badged machines that Class sold them under their own name, but in a blue and white paint scheme. They were marketed as Class, available exclusively at Ford dealers, or something similar to that. This would have been in the early 80's before the New Holland merger. Kind of a neat paint job.
nice to see old rare equipment still working
That's actually a Claas combine made for Ford .
Correct, Dominator 80
The comment I was looking for!
A neighbor had a smaller version, never knew much about it but it wasn't taken very good care of. No dealer backing so they never caught on here. A friend in central IL had one and he liked them. Had 2 of them, one for parts, as even there no dealer support. I got the diesel motor from the parts machine, Ford industrial diesel. The other combine was sold on his retirement sale and may well still be working. I always liked the big cab on them.
they were good machines
Good video I love it
This is quite rare to see a Ford Combine
Nice
moderne machine
How fast does the combine harvest the corn?
that is just a claas dominator
I love those 642s. They work cheap. They were the most advanced in their era of 1974-1980 . They had automatic steering at a time when no other manufacturer knew what that was. John Deere was still bumbling with that silly chain coupling for the header drive, 9 years after Ford had a sliding jaw coupling that you operated with one hand. If it took you more than a minute to attach a header, you must have a broken leg or something. M and F Gleaners really make me laugh. You can have all the nose points and gearbox covers off a Ford 6RN in a couple minutes by pulling a few hair pins. On a Gleaners it's an all day job if the carriage bolts strip out their square holes. I think parts availability is better today than it was from the Ford dealer 30+ years ago. The lower transmission belt was $389 back in '82. Today I order one , it's drop shipped to my house in 2 days for $178. I love those 642s.
ASPCOT this one has it all. We don’t have auto steer on the head. But you are wright, very advanced for the time and a penny pincher on fuel.
ASPCOT where do you order parts from?
TrueBlue Farmer , When Ford acquired New Holland , Claas was out the door. They transferred my account to a local Claas dealer, in my case Reberland Equipment in Apple Creek Ohio. YOU HAVE TO HAVE PART NUMBERS, you can't call and say I need this or that for a 642 because they have no way to cross over. Supposedly, it is the equivalent to a Dominator 80, but was never quite sure, because I have two of them and the little yellow decal to the left of the ladder ( tire pressures for various heads ) says Dominator 80 on the earlier one and TYP 86 on the other. Bear in mind , it IS approaching 40 years old , some stuff is going to be discontinued, prices sometimes staggering. Bottom line is, you need a good parts book. By the way, if you have a Ford parts book, all the combine numbers are Claas numbers, which means the Claas parts guy will know what you're trying to order. Whatever Claas installed on the motor will also be Claas numbers ( fuel pump, filters, exhaust pipe, etc. ) . Ford engine parts you get from a Ford industrial engine dealer.
ASPCOT we have the parts book.
TrueBlue Farmer , Then all that is left to do is Google Reberland and get whatever you want. You wouldn't, by chance , have a couple pages in your parts book regarding the automatic steering system, would you, to purchase photo copies from? Been trying to find them for years. When you call Reberland, parts guy is Scott. He'll be like, " Oh no! not another Ford guy!" ( 2-3 of us in this area) First couple years they didn't know my name. " Is this the guy with the Ford combine?"
I did not know that ford made combine
They were built by Claas, largest manufacturer of combines in the world at the time. after Ford stopped selling them they were rebranded as Caterpillers.
There was a point in time after the Ford badged machines that Class sold them under their own name, but in a blue and white paint scheme. They were marketed as Class, available exclusively at Ford dealers, or something similar to that. This would have been in the early 80's before the New Holland merger. Kind of a neat paint job.
2.5 mph