Combines St John s Rotor

I have run one for two years and like it. The only problem I have ever had is if a stone gets past the rock protection their is not much room to let it continue through the processer. It is alot better than a standard setup and an improvment over running with some bars removed and a bar on the sep. grate. tim

Did you get the wide spaced cylinder bars and do you run any reverse bars with the St. JohnsIJ Did they install any sweeps or do you just run all forward barsIJ Any comments are appreciated.

I've had a St. Johns rotor and rebuilt cylinder bars (all forward) for two wheat and one fall harvests now, with mixed results. In wheat, its performance is exceptional; in last years heavy, 50+ bu. wheat and in this years 30 bu. light wheat, rotor loss is next to zero, the lowest I've ever had with a Gleaner. It's easy to set and delivers a good sample. It also worked very well in soybeans, I thought it was better than a standard or hyperized rotor at working in green stemmed beans and pods. In corn however, results were less impressive. Our corn last year was drought stressed and light. The main issue was rotor loss. One factor that didn't help was a six row header won't fill a 62 up at a reasonable ground speed in 80 bu. corn. The cobs were soft and spongy at the beginning, things improved a little as harvest went along. Better corn tended to have a little less loss. Also, St. Johns' rebuilt bars are rough along the edges which causes cobs and shanks to stick in them. Every couple of mornings I would take a screwdriver and pop them out but it didn't seem to change rotor loss much either way. As the bars got more acres on them, they got smoother and that was less of an issue. Terry suggested I shorten the last helical that extends into the discharge back to standard length (de-hyperizeIJ),which I did, with no positive results. I thought I ground up the cobs more and didn't improve things at all, I wouldn't do that again. I wouldn't say losses were extremely excessive, all colors of machines had green growing behind them after it rained in mid-September last fall and a lot of corn had been picked. I've just had the machine do better, but rotor loss is one of the reasons I tried the St. Johns, I've struggled with it ever since I've had this machine (a 1997 with high wire grates). I tried different combinations of rotor speeds and convave settings, slow and tight worked the best, as was Terry's recommendation. Rotor loss was also the main complaint in milo. It was good yielding, heavy milo, cutting with a 25' head and taking in some green leaves. I only had 50 acres of the itchy stuff so I didn't spend a lot of time fighting it, with more time and more acres I maybe could have improve things. I wouldn't call my experience a failure by any means, I would say the jury is still out, in my case. My concave was getting worn, I've corrected that now and hopefully that will help. Keeping a light crop in the machine is always a challenge, I'm running 8 rows this fall in better corn, in a couple of weeks maybe I'll know more. I'd like to see what a CDF or Bison would do in comparison, but their aren't any other 62's in this area so I really can't compare results with anyone. I realize this probably won't help much in your decision making but it's one more experience to ponder. I'm running the only St. Johns rotor my dealer has out (I think),so I'm kind of a test pilot for them too. I realize this is getting kind of long, I'll answer any questions you might have. Good luck.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I like the idea and cost of the St. Johns rotor but am starting to think that maybe I should just go with the CDF. For one thing, St. John is about 400 miles away and it takes at least 10 days to make one of theirs and there are CDF's sitting waiting about 65 miles away. Second,it's hard to find many complaints about the CDF. Our dealer was just amazed at the difference in green stemmed beans and especially at the whole cobs in corn that came out the rotor instead of tons of little broken pieces over the shoe. I guess if I didn't like the CDF it would be easy to sell because it is a factory part. Seems like aftermarket parts are hard to move second hand. Not saying there is anything wrong with them but people are more likely to buy the name brand part. I know I have to change from the factory setup though. last year was a disaster in the green stem beans. lots of lost power and extra grinding in the cylinder. In corn it has always seemed cobs get ground up more than they should. We have used a lot of different cylinder speeds and concave clearances but never really been satisfied with the 8 bar open rotor. It is definitely time for a change. Have a safe harvest.

I have all wide spaced bars no reveerse bars and it does have sweeps Tim

I found with mine closing the clearence a small amount on the seperater grate makes a huge difference on rotor loss. Tim

I played with that a little, couldn't find a spot that made a noticable difference. Do you remember where it was set on the indicatorIJ Also,do you have the helicals extended into the discharge as per Hyper modsIJ Thanks.

Yes I have the helicals extended. I cant remember for sure what the clearence was set at Tim