Combines AFX Standard rotor

Terry, I actually prefer to use the Specialty bars at the very front of the rotor, then transition into the Gorden bars at the 2nd or 3rd concave. I think the smaller bars at the very front helps handle the clumps coming in and cuts down on the growling when the straw is tough. We are running 12 Gorden bars in the middle of the rotor and have 4 Separator bars on the back. Rotor loss is acceptable, but never as low as with your Rasp Bar rotor. I always wonder if I should run 8 Separator barsIJ

Mike: You're probably more correct in your bar placement in tough going for the reason you stated. In normal loading conditions, (if that can actually be defined) I think that 4 Gorden bars on the front would prevent some whitecapping by starting material toward the rear a little more quickly. Separator bars -- I assume that you have 2 in the forward position and 2 in the rear position. If you're seeing rotor loss, it might be beneficial to install 2 more in the rear position in order to sweep grain to the separator grates. Adding to the front position can sometimes give more rotor loss because the trash isn't agitated enough at that point and paddles will feed clumps to the transition vanes.

Yes, we have two separator bars in the front position and two in the rear. Do you think we could lower our loss by just moving the two front bars to the rear position and running 4 at the backIJ

The front sweeper bars are mainly installed in order to carry smaller components to the transit vanes. Using the Gorden bars, trash components should be larger than with OEM (unless concaves are set very tightly for thresh, causing some overthresh),and the rotor bar mounts should carry the trash OK. Separation should improve, but the rearmost couple of vanes may need to be retarded a little more.

So what would your ideal setup be for the midwest, for the best $invested. Meaning, corn, wheat, soybeans (sometimes green and tough and other times dead)

For dollars invested vs. machine efficiency I'd suggest our rotor modification using impellers, since auger flites are a major expense which don't appear to contribute much with our rasp bar setup. A cost comparison would be about the same cost as rebuilding a specialty rotor and adding auger flites and much less than purchase of a new AFX rotor. Historically, since 1997, we see cleaner samples, less grain damage and less rotor loss. This is in all crops. Also, fuel usage is becoming a very major issue. With our rotors, engine RPM drop under load is much less than with other rotors, no matter how they're set up, and engine efficiency is maintained in addition to peripheral components -- cleaning shoe, fan, etc. Fuel requirement has in some cases dropped by 50%. Addition of auger flites to our rotors doesn't seem to noticeably affect this, either.