Combines Amen again

So you bought the 8000 with a Hart Cartier level two or a U2 and then added the AWS system. Did you compare with the CWS that Crary hasIJ I would like to try CWS with the HCC level two sometime. Hard to try something different when the Crary reel and air combo works so well. I would prefer Crary because I'm sure some of the parts are similiar to what we have on all the Crary combo systems and I would prefer HCC level two for I know they are quite and reliable. For that matter I think they are all reliable if you keep them out of the dirt. The main replacement parts on any of these have been from digging in the dirt and the Crarys around hear are the ones that get sent into down dirty and worst fields or parts of the fields. Thanks for any info you can add.

Ditto to Brians comments and I would say raised sheets are not needed with air systems. Stones will sometimes sit just behind cutter bars when raised feather sheets are not installed so I like that. In the next breath the stones may not of made it beyond the raised part of the raised sheets (similiar to Johnson attachment or hose trick). Could we say the head could double as a rock picker collector if there is an area for them to rest! I don't remember where Gleaner fastened that channel under auger on the 500s but we installed them in the furthest back row of rivets on the 300, 400, and I believe some 500s that didn't have factory installed. Channel under auger helped greatly in wheat to prevent straw from coming up around the back and may not be needed in soybeans. The 700 and 800 have shown no problem at all holding material from going around the back and Gleaner did not have the channel iron under them. I believe the pitch of flighting also decreased from 30" to 27" on the 700 and 800 which surely helped prevent straw coming around the back. They didn't even put the rear adjustable strips on them newer heads and I havn't found we need them YET!! Take care

He must be talking about common drive shaft all the way across reel. We had some trouble with them when they had single bolt holding gears to shaft and that was the guys that liked digging dirt. For at least a couple years that shaft has been hex thus no problem. Other problem with common drive was wraping of vines where bolt threads were exposed. That would bother only when other machines without air had long since went home and could be cured by grinding off excess thread. Round finger tubes instead of the welded together teardrop style no doubt made them more durable for the dirty work and restricked air less as they went by nozzles. My question to you Kelly is do you add the outboard fingers to the 30 footersIJ There is quite a gap out there and when you realy need the fingers to aid the air when it is drizzling you know. I think they should be standard with the Crary Gleaner package on at least every other bat. Don't know if other makes of 30 foot heads are narrower but someones must be or their dividers bring material further in. Thanks

You're good! Yes I had trouble with bolts breaking, bearings going out on those little idlers, and tubes plugging up with soybean fuz and breaking off. Also had trouble with rotary screen on air pump plug up with fuz and leaves resticting air flow. My air reel is probably ten years old. After the head was wore out we never installed it again thinking the bigger flighting headers would solve the feeding problems. Also got a wider head. last year in drought beans we put on a cws air reel that sits out in front of the reel and it worked great when the pump screen was not plugged with leaves. It also made a lot of dust and blew so many leaves up on the steps that we could hardly open the door so this year in good beans we took it off. I am wondering if anyone has ever took off the back sheet off the header and put on a perforated screen to let the air out. It would have to be pretty thick material to keep the head stiffened correctly as they had trouble when they had the thinner sheets on the back with them bowing. P.S. One thing about the cws I liked better was that it blew the beans back better then I remember the crary doing. With the tubes out front it blows straight back rather than down at the floor so much.

FYI. I said it was a cws. It was a AWS. It was not from Crary. I did not know they had something similar at the same time. I also used my old crary pump on it. By the way my pump has the extended scrren on it to help with plugging but does not fix the problem.

Someday I will take some pictures of our 8030 with its Crary air reel with HEADlIGHTS and a ROCK GUARD THAT lETS AIR PASS OVER AND UNDER. Ours gives every bean a chance to get in from the cutter bar. I saw a used 830 with the feather sheets on a dealers lot that was not cleaned up yet. All of the dust and crud lay under them wet from rain. Ick.

Doug I just came back from the farm show in Owatonna. Talked to the MacDon rep. He said the price went up 10% last week and MacDon is totally sold out of drapper heads for the coming year. By the way the reason we never got to see a demo last fall was that they couldn't make their unit fit on a lateral tilt feeder house. He said they found out later that they could have taken the lateral tilt off in about two hours and made it work. Said he was really dissapointed that he was unable to sell any in Minnesota, while they had really cought on in other states. Ron

The ones I have been around are just the 25's. We aimed the extra air tube over to catch the gap on the end of the header. I haven't heard of a request to put in the row of fingers. Rain in harvest hasn't been much of a problem the last couple of years. John Deere's 30' is quite a bit shorter than a Gleaner but I haven't put a tape on it to measure it down to the inch. All I know is 30' JD head gets by with less milo guards than a 30' Gleaner.

Ron, I talked to the rep at MacDon also. I wonder if new lateral tilt would have same problem of fittingIJ If you knew you were to use the MacDon, it would make sense to not get the lat. tilt. Might want it for wider corn heads though. They need to engineer to fit the lat. tilt. later, Doug

Dan, I bought the 8000 head with the reels HCC level 2 from Gleaner from the factory. I am sure I have that right as it is the one with the staggered plastic tines.I chose the AWS out in front system as that was what was suggested to me by my neighbour that had both systems. He felt he could get better angle of the air and of his two systems the AWS was less maintainance. I have no idea which was best but after watching both operate I can see pros and cons to each. With the staggered tines you have to be fairly precise when mounting the air tubes. The tubes are staggered lengths and they work well to keep right behind the cutterbar clean. With this system you can use the air reels without the HCC reels touching the crop in many cases and still get a good angle. Thank You Dave