The guys that around here that combined the grass seeds always said that JD combines were the worst for doing that. If I remember correctly, it had something to do with the way the threshing mechanisms were designed. Massey and Gleaners were okay.
As far as a dependable machine, those JD 4400's were among the best.
A lot of them did not like the rotary throat design. For fescue seed purpose. But I think there was more to it than that how the rotary throat was designed and other stuff that I really don't know. The old gleaners is all I ever used for fescue. Most complaints were with the early John Deere rotary throats. I have neighbors that use newer big deers and don't complain about it and new gleaners. The generation of like the 4400s to like the 4420s is what I hear the most complaints about
