John Deere 2056 HillMaster Combine

1995 model

Now having completed 2 seasons with us, this particular combine has clocked around 1100 hours, yet still looks as good as the day it was made.  The user experience of the John Deere 2000 and laterally 2200 series combines seems to vary greatly from some saying they wouldn't go near them to others not looking past them.  We are fairly neutral and open minded about these opinions as our experience has generally been rather good.  Some points worth taking from this are perhaps that there were a lot of initial teething problems with the range and some of the reasons for the bad reports are given below:

• 2054 and 2064 models were relatively low on power when introduced.
• Reliability appeared to be sketchy in early models.
• A significant number of modifications were carried out before 1995.
• The original concave was weak.
• The original shaker shoe was a weak point.

Despite this range of initial rather fundamental problems, it is widely regarded that by 1995 all the major problems had been addressed: this certainly appears to be the case with our machine, however the 2054 is reported to remain underpowered on anything other than flat ground.

Bought second-hand, the combine arrived with a generous selection of options, including the full Hillmaster slope leveling system (deemed to be essential for our sloping land), integrated straw chopper, chaff spreader and optional wide rubber at 30.5 inches over the standard 24 inch tyres.  It should be noted that in retrospect, it would be difficult for the combine to perform as it does (particularly on slopes) without the wider tyres as it climbs remarkably well, particularly it comes off the scales at around 14t with an empty grain tank.

Output is generally very good with consistent performance even in very damp or even downright wet crops (30%mc!)