Combines Amen again

We have been running Gleaners and Deeres since the G's I will say one thing, the 800's tall flighting is the best things since chicken soup. Its a great head in most conditions and feeds excellent with the exception of difficult harvesting conditions. We all know that you cant stop because the situation isnt ideal and thats why we opted for the air reel to help in the not so ideal harvesting conditions. I think the full finger is a good idea, but the air reel wins hands down, not even a question about it. Its very simple and you save way more beans than the full finger will ever think of. Anyone I know that has an air reel would never sell it unless they trade heads and if they do they order a new air reel also.

Talked to a very large farmer that runs new john deere equipment and he said that after one year with his crary air reel he wished that he had purchased to of them. He purchased a new 930F and thought that it would not require an air reel like the 930 that he was running on his other machine. he told me that the 930 with the air reel outperformed the 930F hands down.

Thanks for everything you and Hyper II have done to bring these machines to life. Have you tried or are you talking about the 800 headIJ We order all 800 heads less reel and then couple them up with a Crary air reel. I've yet to find a condition they don't shine in. Some will just leave the air option unhooked when not needed which reduces the dust levels. Crary reels have improved lots as the years have went by. Anyway I feed your pain on getting large companys attention. We have along with other dealers been informing Gleaner on what they can do to further improve machines. If you have fairly currant production header or combine that feeder is plugging to easy please let me, your dealer, or company know. We have giving company plenty of info on proven ways to improve feeder capacity without any major redesigning but they need to know if there is a problem out hear. Gleaner is testing all sorts of proto type things all the time and the harder you push your dealer to push Gleaner for what you want the quicker you and or your fellow harvesters will get what they need. Thanks again Hyper and ya all

Thy sure work in this area and noise is not noticeable in the cab. Yes, it does increase the dust levels. Your comments on up the list indicates you haven't seen the newer air reels as the pipes are inside the reel and not out in front. Doesn't matter if they are tall 70 bushel beans or 5 bushel droughted out beans, they still save bushels. I didn't like the additional wear items on the air reels either but they haven't been a problem. I don't know what you mean by a "30 foot chain".

There is almost no time you need to run the reel down that far as the air blows the beans under the auger. The air alows you to always carry the reel higher than without it. If the beans are down they won't touch the tubes either. The electric tilt for the air tubes on the new ones lets you find the sweet spot easily. When you hit that every thing works with less air volumn. At no time will you ever see beans rolling off the cutter bar again. Ditto what Dan said. Order a new head without a reel, cost is closer to 2500$ then.

If they will cut low enough to get the beans, My money would go into the 3 section flexing MacDon draper. If any of you have experience about those drapers in soybeans, would appreciate your thoughts. Also, I don't think adding more dust flying around in an already dusty job is something I would want to do adding the air reels, especially operating in night time.

I fought against air reels on my previous combines for all the obvious reasons (dust, restricted view etc.). When I switched to Gleaner (8000 head) I bought an AWS air reel with electric air control and electric tilt (a must) and I never enjoyed combining grain or soybeans so much. With the in cab controls you can achieve the exact air flow and pitch very quickly which will control flow and dust. If in stony conditions the air will keep the crop moving but the stones will sit on the cutterbar back. A well adjusted air reel is the answer to any tough feeding problems we had. Dave

It is hard to argue against experience. From the posts here about the air reels, I think we should be leap frogging the full length finger concept and should be lobbying Gleaner to get an alliance with Crary to have the air reel in the order book. Would the raised feather sheets be a help along with the air reel or wasted costIJ I did think you guys and your air reels were just alot of wind, but I think you have found the fix to feeding beans.

Doug, We've had Crary air reels since '89. In fact still have that one. It is still a belt drive vs. gearbox. I do not agree that they are high maintance...this baby has run lots and lots of hours!!! Our newer one has been great too. Absolutly, a must in short beans-knee high and less. Still a huge help when taller. I think I'd give up air conditioning before these they are that good. That said, I do agree that fingers could be a help when in really tall beans-specifically on the 500 series. At times with our 530 when pushing hard the area between the auger and sickle would be just plain full, thus we'd have to run reel lower than otherwise would expect with air reel. I can't say it ever was a problem from a feeding even standpoint just that it appeared auger wasn't keeping up and if you didn't keep reel low they might fall back out. It would have been nice to see them go under auger. Since getting an 830 the above problem has been less so. It definantly appears to handle volume better. I have several green friends who have both fingers and Crary Air Reels. They will all say if they could only hve one they'd take the air over fingers. However, much like you I assume, the group 1.5-2.2 soybeans we raise volume is much less of an issue than it is for those like Hyper raising late 2's and 3's. Maybe they need the fingers to deal with the volumeIJ Our dealer rarely sells a head without a Crary and sells lots to the other colors as well.

Brian, I have set up a few Gleaner bean heads, and suggest on the 530 to be sure to remove the channel iron below the cross auger so material can get back under the auger adding capacity of cross auger. Also faster sprocket on the cross auger to speed it up if needed. I set up to have about 5_8 inch clearance under the cross auger. This setup has worked well and use Johnson rock guard strip. Back cutoff strip has to be very close to auger flighting - even touches some when head is lifted up.