Combines Down Corn Reel

I have no idea about them but, the last 25 acres or so I took off the corn was getting pretty low, its just been terrible out trying to get work done in this junk weather. The way I see it is that it would seem a good idea, but who knows if you'll need it this year, and how many times will you need it again, thats what I thought about them, I dont think I can justify the cost if for the next 4-5 years it just lays in the shed. Wish i was more help to you.

Yeah, they seem pretty pricy for what they are. That was one reason I was thinking about building as much of it as I can out of an old grain header I have and maybe only buying the rod and fingers. I am like you, if they work it would be a great investment if the corn goes down. But if the corn stays like it is we will probably be all right and we may never use it again. Catch 22.... Thanks for the thoughts

I had to have one about 4 years ago when we had strong winds at harvest and all the corn went down. It was the only way to get the corn into the head. Worked well. Haven't needed it since but it paid for itself in one year and now is insurance in the machine shed. Heard of a guy that sold his for a couple hundred dollars and then had to buy a new one for that harvest. Good luck Steve

One of our neighbor's has a home built reel on his 6 row Massey combine but I've never looked at it up close. I don't see why you couldn't modify the reel off a platform to do the same thing. I've been told that lengths of flexible plastic water pipe work better than the metal fingers because they won't break or bend.

Are you talking about the black water pipe you get in a rollIJIJ How would you ever get that pipe streight enough to put on the reelIJIJ I would think PVC would shatter if it gets very cold and you were harvesting. That does make sence though, to use some kind of poly pipe instead of steel. Any idea what pipe they are useingIJIJIJ

You would'nt want to sell yours cheap then HUHIJIJIJ I figured anyone that has them would probably keep them just in case they ever needed them. I have a bad feeling we are going to need one this year, stuff is already going down and we had over an inch of rain the past two days. Some of the corn is in standing water and it may have to freeze before we can get to it. Hope it doesnt snow early.

we had 9 acres that blew down duiring hurricane Ivan back in late september, i tried to pick it and it wouldnt do anything but push it like a bulldozer. we went on and picked our soybeans and finished last week, i put the cornhead back on and picked all 9 acres with very little trouble. it was almost unbielevable how good it picked after 5 weeks, try picking it after several cool dry days the stalks are dry enough they want just lay on the header. good luck!

No it stays in the shed and hopefully I will never have to use it. Hope the weather turns more favorable for you. Good luck Steve

I'm pretty sure it is the pipe that comes on a roll but I'm not for sure. I don't know if a person could heat it a little bit to get it straight or if it has a little bend in it it might even work better. They might have also only been using plastic for the last foot or so of the fingers because I don't think it would be strong enough to go all the way from the center of the reel.

Yeah that is what I am planning. I have the main fingers using 3_4 black gas pipe and then using inch gray sch 80 water pipe on a roll for the last 18 inches or so. least that is the plan for now. Still raining here so I have a few evenings to get this built before we are back in the field. Got the grain header torn down this evening and have the motor and arms all figured out and am working on the mounts for the reel. Also took the hydraulic cylinders off the grain header and am working on trying to figure out how to make them lift the reel from behind the header. I think I can reverse the hydraulics and make them pull the back of the reel down and lift the front. This should be a fun project, thanks for the help so far...