Went out to help some guys finish up some very tough soybeans a few years ago. Gleaner l2's, Massey 860, Deere 9600, could not run without plugging walkers or beaters ect. CIH 1680 also tried to run but shut it down, maybe some parts were worn enough so it couldn't run in these conditions and the same goes for the conventionals. I say this to give an idea how tough it was and being a severe winter storm was predicted in a couple days the guy wanted the crop off. We had a good setup for these conditions for we were equiped with a 25' 800 Gleaner head with Crary air reel being pushed with R62 that was of course hyperized. We had some trouble maintaining 3.5 MPH in these conditions so we pulled the two remaining reverse cylinder bars and jumped right up to 5.5 MPH. This is just one instance of what just two reverse bars spinning in one location can do not to mention what four reverse bars can do. That is why if there is a problem with crop loss with all forward bars I would find another way to control losses. No more than one reverse bar spinning in one location may be the answer, stationary rasp bar fastened to seperator side of cage, peg devise like old P1s had as an option may be the trick, Hi-wide wire thresher concave, Hi-wide wire seperator grate or upgraded per Hyper. I have not been around Millet but I bet the green straw is being rolled at either the low wire thresher concave and or the low wire seperator grate. A bunch of reverse bars may help grind up the rolled straw that has traped seeds but will take a bunch of power and overload the shoe. I have seen the various concaves for other rotarys to switch between crops but I think you can do it all with the hi-wide wire. Sorry this got so long but I see high potential for improving your '97 machine without spending a bunch of money. Any questions just ask.
