gman, i actually just sent you an email trying to figure out if you were from york or not and if I would have read this post I would have known. anyway, I rode in the 9860 on monday morning just 1 mile east of town, nice machine. tough to tell any difference between it and a 9750 in that high of moisture corn, 25 - 26%. But the owner thinks it will do much better in the lower moisture corn, 20%. as for the 2188 and the 2388 you speak of, i asked them why the small heads about a month ago, they figure the speed makes up for the width... i guess I don't particularly agree with that, but whatever, i am not paying for any of it so I kept that opinion to myself. They are very good operators of their case machines and a 20 ft flex fits perfect down 8 - 30" rows, not sure how a 25" would fit down 30" rows and a 30' head would be a bit to big for some of their fields with the creeks and washouts. I think they usually run about 5 mph. Plus, they have all Pioneer beans, and from my experience this fall driving my landlords 9500, they are a tougher cutting bean than others. Conditions have been awfully dewey here in the mornings and you could sure hear the rotors growling away at about 10 in the morning. Yes, I do believe that combine capacity, especially here in irrigated corn country where most has to be dried down, has reached it's upper limit without some major remodeling done on the farm. The farmers with the 9860 put in a brand new continuous flow drier last year and it seems to keep up pretty well for the most part, but i think they have to slow down when they move to other bin sites. I have asked farmers why they have a 12 row planter and an 8 row head on the combine and they just say they can't dry and haul it away any faster so why go bigger. I have seen lots of combines sitting in the field waiting for trucks or just shut off completely for the day at 5 o'clock cause the drier and holding bins are full for the day. It sucks, but if they wait for 15% moisture corn that can be stored, they will be harvesting at christmas!
