Know anything about JD 3300 combines?

VA Rebel · Nov 26, 2007

I'm thinking of buying a John Deere 3300 combine in the spring and was wondering if anybody owns one or has used one. If so, what do you think of it? Is it easy to work on, have you ever trailered it, etc. I will be using it on my hobby farm and to do a couple neighbors fields. I am not looking at getting this to make money, I want to have fun with it so realize it is a toy.
I want to get a 343 3 row head and a 10' grain platform. I hear that it doesn't do well with bigger that 10'. It will also be a diesel. I prefer the reliability of a diesel. Well, anything y'all can tell me would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I grew up with 7700's so I know a little about combines, but that was a while ago.

Farmwithjunk · Nov 26, 2007

3300's were few and far between. They were a bit of a misfit. Uncharacteristic of John Deere combines, parts are all but non-existant. They were sort of popular with POPCORN growers for reasons unknown to me. Most were gas. The diesel engine was the same as was found in 2520 tractors. (219 cu in) I've seen a couple decent ones sell at auction in the last year. One gas, one diesel. Both with 13' grain head and 2-row wide corn heads. Seems to me I recall hearing the Deere "Quik-Tach" heads wouldn't interchange with the 3300. (Old style headers with feederhouse made into the header?) Gas brought $800, diesel brough $950. From what I've been told, they were rough on belts. A good 4400 in same condition would bring considerably more $$$$. (I had a '73 4400 diesel that I wish I'd never sold)

Robert_in_NY · Nov 26, 2007

Bill, there are two variations of the 3300, the early ones had the feeder house built into the head, the later model has the feeder house built into the harvester and it is a quick tach system. You just have two bolts to keep the head from popping off.

Also, parts are readily available for the 3300. I have replaced a lot of parts on mine last summer and I never ran into a part not being available. Parts I bought ranged from the fuel system to the engine to kind of obscure screens for the elevators and auger system to help remove small weed seed and dirt. The parts were all available and delivered to my door the next day except for one that came from Indy instead of Syracuse. Edit-I was wrong, I was told I can not get the cab door glass for my model of 3300 from Deere anymore so there was one item I couldn't get.

VA, the 3300 is a good machine but if you can find a 4400 you will be further ahead. I have a 3300 gas machine with cab and the cab gets hot during the summer here in NY. I imagine it will be worse where you are as it doesn't have AC. I have the 10' grain platform and if you are not careful you can easily overload the feeder house and plug the machine. Then you learn the wonderful job of unplugging it manually (new machines have power reverse on the feeder house to remove a plug). The best way to remove the plug on the 3300 is to shut the machine down, get a long handled hook and use it to pull the material out from the feederhouse. It is not fun but so far it is the best way I have found to remove a plug. I have only owned my 3300 for 2 years but I have learned a lot as you will. Hopefully the diesel you want will have more power then the gas version.

The only real easy way to trailer this machine is on a lowboy. And even then they are terrible to back up so you do not want to load unload very often as I still dislike backing this machine up. It backs up faster then it goes forward and you can not see anything behind you so you will want a helper or two to guide you as you back into tight places. If you want to put this on any trailer other then a lowboy you will most likely need to pull the front tires and block the machine off the deck to reduce the height.

I have a 2 row corn head also but have never used it yet. I hooked it up and was going to harvest a small corn field this year but then I got hurt so I never had a chance to try to harvest corn yet. Now it is parked in the barn for the winter. The guys I bought it from never used the grain head as all they did was harvest corn and ended up buying a 4400 to run a slightly bigger corn head. I wish I could tell you how well the 3300 handled the 2 row.

The 3300 is actually quite easy to work on for the most part. I would love to have a newer machine but that is only for more luxury items. I do like my 3300 and the main two things I would change would be to add a ac unit and a diesel.

VA Rebel · Nov 30, 2007

Thanks for the replies. Do you know what he newest head that will match up is? I heard what you were saying with the 10' table clogging up. I've read that the 13' is even worse and just wasn't designed for todays yields. The one I'm looking at is a 1974 diesel with a/c (you are right Robert, cabs here are a form of torture if the a/c is not working).
As far as trailering goes, my friend has a lowboy that we would use to move it from my place to his (about 25 miles) and for the initial pick up of the machine.

Robert_in_NY · Nov 30, 2007

It isn't the table that plugs up it is the feederhouse itself. The table will keep feeding as long as you are driving but the feederhouse will plug up and when that happens you will know it.

As for what newer heads will work on the 3300, I do not know. If you have the quick tach heads I think it will give you more options but a Deere dealer will be a better one to ask.