Combines rotor knives

You don't say what combine you have. But if we are taiking about an 8570 or 8780 than one set of knives should do. I can't remeber how many knives are in a set. That is how I run my 8780 in irrigated wheat. I will have to look at the book for more info.

onion farmer,

I am sure you will have to put the wires back for wheat. If you wanted to try it with out the knives it would not hurt. Other than slide the chopper back or take the belt off the spreader their is nothing more to do. No rotary combine leaves straw like conv. If you are not using an airfoil chaffer in wheat I would get one. I have run my 8780 with both , the airfoil was much better. I think it controls the air beter. It eliminates grain over the shoe, cleaner in the tank.

I have a corn_soybean concave in my 8570. When we go to wheat, we just add one to three cover plates at the front of the concave. This does an excellent job, and only takes five minutes to do.

sorehands,

Alan: Since I am in the midwest, we may not be comparing apples to apples, but I usually run 3.5 mph (5.8 kph)in 65 bushel winter wheat with a 25 ft. header. Faster than that, or with higher yields, I start getting shoe loss. A 90 bushel crop was slooow - maybe 2 mph to prevent shoe loss. Never tried an airflow chaffer, but think this would give me another mile per hour of speed. As for the cover plates, it really depends on the wheat (variety, ripeness, moisture, etc.). I can usually do a very good job with just one plate, but sometimes have to add if the wheat is particularly hard threshing. Sorry, zero experience in barley or oats. The 8570 will run circles around the 860.

Onion farmer how well does the air foil work in corn. What type are you using.

Well that I can't answer, we don't grow any corn in my area. Fifty miles to the northwest they have irrigated corn. I always wanted to try corn it looked interesting.

sorehands I run narrow concaves, two blanks in the front. The rotor speed is about 860, wind is about 760 with airfiol. In 90 bu. wheat I fill about every 12 min. I farm in southeast Washington and grow soft white and dark northern spring wheat. I have an 8780 that I have put 500 hours on.

I have run my 8570 for two years now and your questions are hard to answer. My machine has the air-foil chaffer and I would not be without it. Hired help proof for setting, run wind at about 780 for wheat and soybeans. As far as the number of knives on the rotor, I can't say as I have not changed mine and chop the straw. I do know that St. John's Welding in Kansas makes a rotor conversion that they claim leaves very good straw and increases the capacity of the combine. We harvest 25' windrowed wheat and run around 3 MPH in 60 bu yield. The airfoil chaffer does an excellent job on wheat, soybeans, and corn if you harvest all it just requires more airflow than an adjustable chaffer. My concave is the narrow wire version with everyother wire removed. I have not had a problem with the wider spacing. I do use three filler plates under the first three concaves when in small grains. Have not done any barley so can't comment there. The door you refer to on the rear is to deflect the straw comming off the rotor to the center of the discharge area. I need it to keep the discharge centered on the chopper for an even spread. My only problem is obtaining a wide enough spread from the chopper. With 25' it will not quite spread across the entire width of cut.. Hope this helps.. E-mail me if I you have any more questions. e-mail address above is wrong. Use jmcs@qwest.net