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new idea uni system?

S

swindave

Member
any one have, or had or used a new idea uni system?
was it a good thing? i never been around one, but the concept seemed like a good idea,
seemed like for a livestock farmer,it would be nice to go from combine, to chopper , to ear corn harvester

but i know they dont make them any more,
did farming change that much, or was it not practial to change the harvesting unit back from one to another?
thanks for your help!
 
We had a 702 w/ combine, chopper, and huskor in the 80’s. It was a good setup for us in central MN dairy country. Pa did a fair amount of custom work with it. He had dreams of a mounted baler and snowblower, but didn’t get to those before the cows left.
 
There are a few survivors that I know of used by seed companies for cob corn. I believe Nietfeld Seed, Terning Seed, and Dahlman Seed all still use them with Dahlman having a few of them last time I was by.
 
My brother still has several 700 series, and one 800 series with the 5.9 Cummins he still uses. Three row corn choppers mostly, but he does have combines and a four row picker too, and one has a nine foot three auger snow blower on it.
 
Dad had a Minneapolis moline unit, ear corn and soybeans.

They were used for sweet corn into the 90s or maybe 2000s around here in a big way.

They suffered from being a good average machine. Could do 5 things pretty good.... When you combine corn and soybeans only, you don’t want average, you want great at those 2 things... you don’t want average.

Farming got bigger, it became difficult to make them bigger but still work with all the tools. Add in the needed 4wd and stronger framing and they got pretty expensive. And NI just didn’t have the sales and budget to keep up on the finer details as machinery got bigger and more self adjusting, refined headers, etc. they were a good average........

They didn’t handle mud very well, the rear wheels were narrow offset spacing, and the weight wasn’t centered, so they really just plain sucked in a wet year, which is about every fall here. Doesn’t matter how good the machine is, if you can’t get into the field with it.

Now if John Deere would have licensed it from MM then every farm would have a new one today and it would be the greatest thing ever.

Paul
 
I have one i loaned money for a long time friend to buy,, he failed to return a penny of money so i had to repo it,, makes me angry ever time I drive by it and think of it,, it has a turbo'ed Perkins, hydro and RWA supposed to be a fresh ear corn bed on it,,
 
They had a Minneapolis Moline at a show in Lennox South Dakota, it was a working Uni system,they showed how they hooked it up and unhooked from different attachment that part of it was good, for it's day in my opinion! i talked to a gentleman that knew about them,with a sheller attachment on a hill it was overloaded pulling the wagon and all, that little Z engine, in a V configuration,just couldn't hack it. But there was no corn to pick, it was held during wheat harvest, but the thing that did impress me was that Self Propelled Combine with the round grain tank,and that Continetal engine, not sure of the number, but that was as smooth as any combine i ever heard cut wheat,no sickle knock what so ever! That was a very nice show, and a awesome parade, of tractor i never knew MM ever made!
 
There were a few around here, but most only used them for one purpose, and didn’t bother with other attachments. Most popular choice was as a self propelled forage harvester. Most dealerships didn’t offer a self propelled harvester in the 60-70’s , and some larger dairy and cattle feed lots wanted this capacity. Complaints I heard were about lack of traction and a bit under powered . I think the main reason they are not built today is because the farms that could use a machine of this capacity, couldn’t justify the cost of owning the Uni. Large harvesters with over 500hp engines can gobble up fields so fast, it is more economical to hire a custom operator.
 
My dad had a MM mule. Then a 702 with a 2 row chopper and he also had a cage sheller with a auger out the back of the hopper and we pulled gravity wagons and filled them. And also a 12 roll super picker with a 4 row head. Next model I do not remember the model number. I think it had a Ford diesel.
I currently have 2 708 uni's with 354 Perkins. 1 with rear wheel assist.
 
I once had a NI 701 with a 6-292 Chevrolet engine. it sure liked the gas unreal consumption! had a ear corn picker. It lacked traction on my hills, right tire had weights, needed more. When turning pulling a wagon it was hard to turn because it swung a wide radius at the rear. Also had a combine for it also a 717? The whole outfit was a big toy mostly. Kinda like having a mounted picker on a tractor to mount and dismount. although it would make a good hobby project but that where it stopped. Bigger units would be much better I'm sure. I had it 2 years. Compared to traction of a small Ford tractor. Combine unit was slow to get much done also.
 
I worked at a MM dealer from 65to 69. He sold more of them than you would believe. Most were combines, and Corn shelters. Just one hay baler. Last one I was around had a 401 V6 GMC. Gas engine. It would really twist a combine. But combine was off centered. And grain tank to small. But unloading on the go. It would out cut a 403 IHC. Cost about the same as a 4296 MM combine and 4 row corn head. Actually a bad Idea.
 
We still use a 702 power unit with a 2 row header and husking bed. The 401 V6 GM engine has been very reliable but terribly inefficient. We don't use any other attachments with it- it is used solely for picking ear corn. Parts are getting hard to find, and it is complicated to work on (8 gearboxes on a two row head might be a record...). However, I still enjoy picking wet ear corn and feeding it to cattle.

Lon
 
Anyone interested in mine thinking its a 708 its in NE Wyoming,, I know I will never get back what I have in it and may someday make it into a loader for loading round bales if it never sells but would be glad to sell it,
 
Snowblower was factory. Did have a neighbor who set one up on a V6 mule. Blower was a real serious unit, not quite in the SnoGo category but much more than most of the 3pt units out there.

He ran it doing custom work for a couple years, said the right wheel was WAY to light.

To the OP we had a combine on a 707 I think. Combine and cornhead were worn out when we got them so we were reparing on a weekly basis. Did get spoiled with the owners manual though, parts book was included! Made it easy to chase parts as stocking dealers were in 3 different directions and most were 30 miles out. Oh fun days!!

jt
 
We had a 702 with the creamin gimmy in it. 729A sheller 4 row head and 3 row head for chopping corn hay head and a stripper head for ear corn. Then a 708 with the Pukins in it. Still have it and would like to see it go away. Have the 767 chopper 3 row corn head hay pickup and a couple of old shellers. Would like to it all go away. The pwoer unit and chopper are still indie with chopper on unit. can tell more later.
 

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I have an 802 with a 3 row snapperhead and chopper, also a hay head. I sold the combine and grain head that came with it. I have chopped haylage and high moisture corn with it. It is very hard to turn with a full dump wagon behind you, especially on soft ground. If the corn starts shelling after the ear is picked, its like pushing sand to get the ear back to the knives. Very slow. It was an idea, but maybe not the best one.
 
bit more of my thoughts. I think the size of machines and farms is a big part of what killed the idea. Also they were light in some areas. You could make different series mules and attachments work but needed a adapter kit for most mix matching. We had a 707 I think (non turbo perkins) and a combine that we ran a 4 row wide cornhead on. Mule was way overpowered for the combine so you could overload the combine pretty easy. I did like the bin extender when conditions allowed us to pull a wagon.

Neighbor had the full setup for cattle, (Picker, Sheller, chopper and combine) and he liked it. Told of switching from picking corn in the morning to combining beans in the afternoon on a regular basis.

All in all it was a idea that had merit but there were issues with design and dealer network.

jm2cw

jt
 
In my area the Uni was popular with dairy farmers like my dad, as it was handy for several jobs. The MF dealer I worked for sold several, and I helped drive new ones from Coldwater Ohio to Claypool Indiana in the 70s. Boss "said" it helps break them in, but I "think" he didn't feel comfortable hauling them on his trailer. Dad's first was a 701 he used with both a combine and a chopper with both hay and corn heads. It was lost in a barn fire, and replaced with a 702. My MF boss wanted dad to buy a MF 410 combine, dad said no, the Uni was much better for his farm use. Dad's last one was a 708 that my brother still has. Far as switching tools, dad had three boys to help so that didn't take long to remove the chopper and put on the combine or cage sheller. I attended some service schools at Coldwater, the rarest Uni was the Ford Turbo four cylinder if I recall. GM 6-292, V6-401 gas, V6-478 diesel, Perkins AT6-354diesel, AC 3500 426 diesel, Cummins 5.9 turbodiesel were more common. The first New Idea Uni right after the MM line had a flathead Continental F244 six, had one come in to the dealer for service once years ago. There was a toolbar available too, only one I ever saw was a neighbor had an eight row planter setup on his 702. Not sure where my brother found the three auger snow blower, thing is HUGE, at nine foot wide it opens roads fast. Don't think he's had it out last couple of years though.
 
My father in law had several Unis. He worked the devil out of them on close to a thousand acres of his own plus he custom picked seed corn. Seed corn is harvested before anything else so he got an early start on harvest. While he was picking seed corn the boys were chopping corn silage with another UNI. He picked some ear corn for me with a six row head and it really kept me hopping pulling and unloading wagons. The six row head was a Deere that picked a little dirty so the husking bed was overloaded somewhat. They picked and shelled a little corn for me too with the sheller unit. It did an excellent job but it could only handle a three row 30" head so it took awhile to get any amount of acres done. One of their Unis burned up but that was not uncommon. A neighbor had one back in the seventies that had a habit of setting the corn field on fire. It wasn't the machine's fault though, he would forget to release the parking brake and the trash on the brake housing would catch fire and drop into the stalks. The machine itself never caught fire though.
 
Snow blower was a monster in the day, big and tough. But the mule had very little weight on it, and the right side with no engine weight had zero traction.. they had to stack dozens of weights on top and bolt on the wheel on that side to make a real snow machine out of it.

The coop here used to be a NI dealer, and they ran one of those blowers until maybe 10 years ago.

Just the nature of the beast, it was average at everything in order to make it do everything......

Paul
 
We bought a new 702 (401-V-6) with chopper,combine,and picker in 1965 . Had a good machine shed and got used to changing attachments. Took a lot of maintenance and we eventually did only chopping as we got more cows and hired combining. The newer 727 chopper had good capacity with the GMC gas engine and didn't use much more fuel than the later diesels. Later 709 and 801 rear wheel assist power units were ok but the 4 row corn head for the 727 chopper would not feed well in tall corn and no kernel processor was available. There was a 12' flail attachment for the chopper also.
 
My neighbor was a dairy farmer and they chopped corn with it for years but he never put up huge acreage with it, maybe 40 to 50 acres at most. May have been the 702 but not sure. It was an earlier one with the V6 and orange in color. The last few years they just opened up fields with it to make it easier for the combines to get in. They sold it on an auction two years ago for $700. They had just rebuilt the motor on it. I thought it was a good buy for someone but also a very limited market for a machine like that anymore.
 

I had driven a Uni 15 years ago picking seed corn for Kaltenburg seeds. Apparently that was not bad enough to stop me from buying my own this past fall. I bought it to pick 30 percent ear corn to sell to a dairy farmer who milled it and bagged it at his place. The one I bought is a variable speed belt drive 706 with a diesel Perkins. I would definitely get rid of it if I could find a cheap hydro machine. As all have already said, they are not the best for traction when the wagon starts to fill up. I did buy a two wheel side dump cart to try out next year. I am hoping it will keep better weight on the rear and allow for better steering.



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Too big for a small farm. Too small for a big farm. Too expensive. Too gimmicky. Too different, really.

They set out to do lots of things and they never really ended up doing anything well. Except maybe picking ear corn, but then the widespread picking of ear corn went by the wayside.
 
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