Combines Razer Update

I thought this principle was tried and abandoned in the late 70's when White introduced the KWICK CUT SYSTEM with it's 1 1_2" knife system. Driving at speeds in excess of eight miles an hour isn't a practice that every one is capable of undertaking. Rocks, and other obstructions are too hard to see at 5 mph let alone 8 mph especially in extremelely dusty conditions at night. Can you imagine hitting a flat ditch going across your field at 8mph with 350 plus bushels in the bin, or being in a grain buggy trying to follow a combine. Todays North American built combines aren't designed with that kind of integritty in them. As far as the speed, been there, done that! I have been running the 1 1_2" knife system since 1977 on my last 7 machines and I personnaly have cut soybeans at 8.2 mph with a 30ft header in 50 bushel beans no problem. losses at the header were almost neglible as well as out the back of the machine. I harvested this one field for a neighbour because he wanted to see what my latest combine would do, the info view monitor said 29.58 acres per hour. Another point along with the fact that North American combines don't have the design and structural integrity to handle 350 bu. going across a surface drainage ditch at 8mph, a farmer having a custom operator working for him isn't going to condone these actions. Believe me, harvesting at these speeds is nothing new to me, I have been doing it for awhile, only in fields that are my own, and I know don't have any rocks and obstructions in them. Believe me it takes a good well seasoned operator just about every thing he can do to steer the machine down the field let alone keep on top of the reel height and for and aft positioning of the reel. Not to mention taking his eyes off the driving to momentarily monitor the combine gauges, loss monitors, and yield monitor. Another point worth reckoning with, is most North American combine hydraulic systems don't have the capabilities to actually lift and lower a header in the automatic position if the machine was going this fast. This is only my opinion on high speed combining, I hope I haven't offended anyone.

Check my reply on the Case IH directory on this topic

I had a quick cut system at one time also. I know from experience that anything over 5-6 mph. leaves a less than desirable cut. I cut at speeds in excess of 10 mph. at times last fall with the Razer, and I got used to it very quickly. I think that most farmers know where the rough spots are in their fields, and would slow down in these areas. One of the advantages is that with increased forward speed capabilities, the combine can be kept full with a smaller header width, simplifying transport.

Check my reply on the Case IH directory on this topic

The "KWIK CUT" system I agree when it was first introduced got a bad wrap from some that reported poor cutting jobs. This was primarily due to incorrect shimming between the knife and the hold downs. At first White didn't emphasize the importance of this shimming. Removing and putting shims underneigh these hold downs was very time consumming and frustrating. As a result alot of operators didn't take the time to do the job right. As a result people got away from this system. At first shimming tolerances were supposed to be 35 to 45 thousands of an inch. It was almost impossible to get and keep this knife to this speck. Once you got a little wear on the cast iron hold downs and the shims were all taken out you had to buy another expensive hold down and start all over with these shims. Todays kwik cut knife on my present header has a double knife drive and "non hardened steel stamped out" hold downs with an adjuster plate that I designed that bolts right over the factory hold down enabling me to adjust the tolerance within a thousands of an inch in seconds. I can shim a 30 ft head with 55 hold downs in 20 to 25 minutes to 13 thousands with a wrench and feeler gauge, instead of taking 8 to 10 hours removing and replacing shims on this size of a header. The factory speck on my header today with the double knife drive is 5 to 20 thousands of an inch. By keeping the tolerance tighter the knife cuts better in all kinds of conditions and lasts a lot longer. I have close to 4500 acres on this knife with the original hold downs and guards. Usually the only time I change a knife section is when it gets broken by a stone. I will say by having a double knife drive and 2 fifteen foot knives on this 30 ft head it eliminates alot of knife problems also

We don't run red but our harvesting speeds in Australia generally range from 5 to 8 mph up to 10 to 11 in some crops.Then again that could be why we aussies find the weak spots quickly in machinary. john

John, Could you provide me with your e-mail addressIJ I think that talking with you about the farming practices in Australia would be very interesting. I realize that central Illinois is a small particle on the earth as far as farming prctices are concerned. I would be interested in types of crops grown, soils, brands of machinery, and general harvesting proceedures. Best Regards, Tom loftus