Combines Poor cutting with 1 5

I once had the 1.5 sickle sections and I replaced it with the SCH sections and guards and it was a huge improvement, much longer section life and a better cutting job but the only drawback is that the guards have a sharp point on them and they will somtimes spear and old corn stalk from the previous year and you may have to backup to get the corn stalk off the end of the guard.

Check your hold downs and you may have to remove some shims. This happened to me last year and I did go to a 3" cut on a 20' head.

Brandon , when cutting no till beans with 1.5" system you have to keep everything up to snuff as they say. The sections have to be replaced sooner and guards also. Shimming the holddowns are important also. It doesnt make any difference what make it is if the parts are worn out.I have seen lots of fields look as you are describing and it is all makes.The cutting bar is what controls ground speed anymore it seems like. Some beans cut easier than others. Make sure the pitch of the head is set right and the AHHC is working like it should,it could help somewhat. I think the 3" system is the way to go if you have to replace everything anyway. Good luck.

I also have the 1.5 inch knife on my 1020 haeder. I have some observations from owning both 1.5 inch and 3 inch headers. First my dealer told me to forget the 1.5 inch setup for beans that are no-tilled into corn stubble as the corn stubble will plug them up and leave uncut beans. Secondly the 1.5 is no good in grassy fields, eg. infestation of foxtail or quack grass for the same reasons above. Thirdly to make it cut you have to be especially careful of the shimming on the hold down clips. Keep the clearance between the knife and the guards to less than .030 inch preferably .015 and change sections every year to make it cut acceptably. So what are the redeeming features of the 1.5 inch knifeIJ The only one in my view is, for doing gravelly land, they are a 100% improvement over a 3 inch knife. The 1.5 inch knife rides over the rocks instead of having the small ones go between the guards and breaking sections. They are a lot less prone to sucking rocks up on the table also. I have one farm next to an old gravel pit and I have hardly ever broke a section on small rocks (- 2 inches).

Besides adjusting the shims, I also take off all the guards and the hold down clips and use a small endgrinder to put a good cutting edge back on the guards. Rub your finger on the edge of the guard, if it is smooth or rounded then the cutting edge is gone. Then put back together and set the top clearence and the front to back clearence according to the platform book. That extends the life of cutter bar 2X. It takes about 4 hours on 20 ft header. The only purpose of 1.5 sections is to reduce side movement of soybean plant while cutting thus reducing shattering at the cutter bar

WE HAD AN 1.5" AND WENT TO THE 3" SCH HAlF WAY THROUGH THIS SEASON AND SO FAR WE HATE IT!WE BOUGHT THE RECOMENDED DEERE DRIVE PUllEY, AND IT STIll DOESN'T CUT lIKE THE OlD ONE DID WITH WORN GUARDS. I WOUlD RECOMEND GOING THROUGH YOUR CUTTER BAR REAllY WEll AND STAYING WITH IT. THE MAINTENENCE ON THE IH CUTTER BAR IS WORTH IT WE AlWAYS HAD GOOD lUCK WITH OUR 1.5", BUT THE SCH IS SUPPOSED TO BE SO GREAT, AND IT WAS CHEAPER.