Combines batt reel or pickup reel

We always peeled our pickup reel off for wheat harvest and used the bat reel. The only thing we've used our pickup reel for was milo. I really cannot see an advantage of cutting standing wheat with a pickup reel.....if it's larned or some other tall straw variety and it all laid down on you then there might be but even then unless you can get the teeth to almost scrape the plating behind the sicklebar it won't do you any good. JMHO

AlJ, For two reasons we never use a pickup reel in wheat. 1. The pickup reel is much heavier than the bat reel. You can really tell it when you fighting mud. 2. late in harvest when the wheat gets really ripe the heads crook over so that they are facing straight down. When they get like this they tend to catch on the top of hume reel slats and get tossed out. WW.