Combines Problems cutting and feeding beans

Tilted outIJ - explain. Down you mean downIJ Deere builds a good head. I would not trade our 800 for one though. I am looking out the window at a field cut by a 920 Deere head - they are not magic and they don't all cut like a razor, the proof is in the uncut raggged stubble stalks standing. Anyway, the SCH is about the best there is in all conditions. To cut clean the cutterbar must attack the soybean stems at a positive angle - the tip of the gaurd lower than the back. The sickle speed must be correct, the reel providing rearward lifting action and the header not pushing up dirt, debris, that leans the stubble before it is cut. Finally the only reason a stubble would not lean in the direction of cut after the header passed over it is if the head was not contacting the ground. Close scrutiny of your adjustments can result in a close clean razor shave with your setup.

Yes when i say tilted out i mean down so the knife is tilted lower. I agree the Deere head isn't perfect but it still does a better job than our 800. We like the SCH knife system and i agree it is one of the best in all conditions and very little maintaince. We have changed the pulley on the head to speed the cutterbar up faster. I still say in our conditions (a lot of very light sand) that the Deere head does a better job and our dealer has been out and he is the best there is and we have also had a fellow out from the factory and they both agree after trying everything possibel that we could all think of that it still isn't doing a satisfactory job. I love the combine, there is none better for quality of grain sample and the easiest combine out there to service and i also think the Hugger corn head is the best too but the 500 and 800 heads do not do a satisfactory job and the Deere head does. We used to run l2's and l3's and the 318 did a better job of cutting than either the 500 or 800. In our opinion if we didn't have an air reel i would not want to do beans at all but with the Deere head we ran without an air reel it fed better without any hump kit or air reel. I wish Gleaner would redesign their 800 series heads and almost duplicate the Deere flex head minus a few good points that Gleaner heads do have such as the auger, the toughest fingers that i have never broken and the simple hookup and electrical and hydraulics are great but after that it needs to be redesigned.

I have the same problem on 8oo 20' head . The only thing that works good for me is I combine at night while everybdy is sleeping and I make dam sure I have the field worked up before sunrise.

Do you have the poly skidsIJ Did you lighten up ground pressure until you went to far then backtrackIJ Poly skids will help prevent moving sandy soil until crop is cut. Did you adjust tilt all the wayIJ I had 800 with questionable cut in condition it was in so I just adjusted tilt all the way and it was then shaved perfectly. Be carefull for rocks if tilting down. Did the Deere have the HCC level two reelIJ How fast were you cutting with the Deere in the same fieldIJ I can't come up with any reason that you can't cut as well as the 300 or any other head unless you are maybe driving faster than you used to.

Hibred, You mentioned that one of the things that you tried to help your situation was speeding the sickle drive up.I have many of the SCH cutting systems out running and I have always had to slow the wobble box drive down instead of speed it up.The reason for this is that SCH wants no more than 600 strokes per minute.Actually they prefer 500-550spm.Can't remember the size of the pulley,but with a little digging I am sure I can come up with it.The explanation that SCH gave me when I was fighting the same problems as you are was that when the sickle speed was too fast,the 3" section turned into a solid piece of steel,not letting the stalk come in for cutting.As soon as speed was slowed down,ground speed was sped up. Hope this helps, Hyper Harvest II

Thanks for all the replies and yes we do have poly skid shoes on, they are worn out after about 1500 acres of beans. We had the knife tilted down a fair bit to get the short beans and the front of the plastic skid shoes are full of holes, yes it did cut somewhat shorter but wore out the plastic just behind the knife. What i would like to see or think needs changing is to have the skid plates running flatter instead of tilted down, this way you would be using the whole skid shoe instead of just the front. As far as the Deere we were running in the same field together at about the same speed and the Deere did a far better job, our nearly new 800 head cut poorer than a well used Deere head that we had rented. I really think Gleaner needs to change the front of their head from the cutter bar on down to the skid shoes, i don't know how but i really would like to see Gleaner get a new Deere head and take it apart and see how it workd in comparison to their own and make some changes. As far as the reel on the Deere it was an older head and was quite beat up but cut well, fed well and didn't need an air reel, with our 800 if we didn't have an air reel it just wouldn't feed properly at all. Thanks again everyone in helping here but i really think Gleaner needs to make some changes and soon.

It sounds like your skid plates need adjustment. Mine run flat. Tom in MN

I used to run a 318 with SCH sickle and guards. Adapted a CIH 20' model 1020. What an improvement! Cut enough extra beans to cover the cost of a new header. Cutter bar is more flexible. Regular 3" knife cut just as well as the SCH and probably a bit more durable if it hits a rock. Could run 5 mph but the Gleaner was limited to 4. PS It's for sale.

ragged uncut 920IJ you sure you dont mean a 930 in frone of a 9750 and a hyperized 9610 running about 6 mph. in no way am i a deere man but after running a 9750 about 7 mph in beans after dark i can see why the beans are uncut. the only gleaners i've been around done good if the could run 4 mph and that was on a good day

On a factory set up how fast the sickle run. I have a 320 head with a SCH system on it and this fall I sped up the sickle and turned the guards over, thus lowering the knife about an 1" and half. This cut beans better. The pulley I used was about 7.25"