Combines IJ for farmer at heart

There are a number of way's to do it depending on what you select to.The first year we only had 9 in starting just behind the concave we took out 12 so that only 9 remained in a spiral pattern to keep material flowing.Since then we left all 21 in and still baled the straw but it was chewed up bad and had trouble shaking out the wheat from the chaf.This winter went to a combine meeting and talked with a Dave from AGCO he lives and breathes the rotory combines and he say's to take out the 4row's behind the concave to only leave 6 knives in.He was talking 8780's and up If I remember right I also think those machines had to have the fluted straight bar's in the back on the drum instead of the flat ones.Plan on only running 9 knives in our's this year again hope info help's and happy harvesting.

Whoop's don't take out first 4row's of knives meant to say take out 4row's alternating to only leave 6 whatever you decide keep rotor balanced.Someone even said once on a 8780xp they took out all the knives but I would never suggest that in wheat 9 seam's to be fine but make darn sure they get back up to 21 for soybeans if you harvest those or you can tear things up plugging in green stem's.

How could I get in touch with this Dave from AgcoIJ Is he saying to not run knives in the concave area, only in the seperation areaIJIJ If that is the case, whyIJIJIJ

Not sure what to tell you.Ask your agco dealer if he know's how to get ahold of this Dave fellow the only times i've seen him I never get to talk to him much as he get's around alot.I've never seen knives in the concave area alway's been behind it.Ithink it is because of the momentum the accelerator beater and intake area get it moving so quickly also if the concave is set as close in wheat as it should be material flows better.The material is only to go around the rotor 2-1'2 times before it exit's the rear.Now how one can tell that at the speed the rotor travels is beyond me.

There are a number of ideas about which knives to take out. I usually leave the first one in, then remove the next two, leave the 4th one, take the next two and leave the 7th one. This leaves 9 knives in the machine, and does a very good job producing straw for baling. The new ATR rotor behaves differently, and that is probably what dave was refering to when he said to remove all the knives in the threshing area, and run 6 in the separating area. The reason for this is that the rasp bars on the ATR rotor are much more aggressive, so fewer knives are needed. Also, with the new rotor, consider removing the reverse bars to get better quality straw.