Combines Suggestions on harvesting blown down barleyIJIJ

We always tend to run into some down oats each summer. They are not fun to cut at all. Most of the time, it is just patches of them so we've never tried the flex. But the advice I can give you is run your reel forward and low. Actually, we've found that our 800 head will pick up downed crop better than our old 300 series direct cut. When you get into standing crop, just raise your reel up. Also, get out there early - the weeds will come fast where the crop is flat and compound your problems. Might want to rid yourself of those reverse bars too. Take them out and leave the spot blank with no bar. Click on the Hyper Mods button on the left for the complete Hyper program... Good luck with your R52- Tom langan

Tom,so you're saying that there is no problem trying it with the two bars outIJ Will that be better for uneven feeding cropIJ Ground speed for me is going to be limited due to the hilly and uneven ground. With the reverse bars out, will the rotor stay full enough to prevent lossIJ I know I won't be able to get all the hyper mods done while trying to save our hay crop. Grain quality and loss are our first priority. All of our grain is saved for certified seed. Thanks again in advance.

No problems running with the reverse bars out. In my opinion, and most of the people who have removed them, reverse bars are power robbing pigs that should all be welded together for boat anchors. We have found that the only difference we see when cutting the down grain patches where ground speed is reduced is the straw gets chewed up more. Seems like to get long straw, you need to keep the rotor full to keep crop pushing through. If we can keep our rotor fed, we get straw that is the same as from a conventional. Don't notice any increase in grain loss though... The idea of Hyperizing a Gleaner rotor is to get a "hi-lo" bar setup where every other bar is lower in height than standard. This, in combination with an F2 rasp bar bolted into the cage belly (pictured on Hyper Mod page),allows the straw to be tripped up and flipped over to release trapped grain. Even if you don't get the F2 bar in the cage, the blank spot where the reverse bars were will encourage the crop to expand and maybe tumble a bit to release grain. Below is a link to a picture of our current R52 rotor after we Hyperized it. We are quite pleased with the performance and reduced grain loss of this setup. Much smoother crop flow through the rotor also with Hyper mods to the cage. Hopefully the link will work... Tom langan

Tom, Do the 65 series Gleaner's have the same reverse bars in themIJ And where do you buy the disrupters or are you building them yourselfIJ Kip

I don't know for sure, but I think the Series 5's still have reverse bars. Maybe someone else who knows for sure can confirm_deny this. Seems like AGCO engineers are hung up on them for whatever reason. I still think they ordered up about a million of them years ago and stick a few in each new combine trying to get rid of them! As for the "disrupters" - those are tbran's babies. They are made by using the discharge paddle back-up lugs (can't remember the exact name for them) that are removed when you extend rasp bars into the discharge area. You grind them down 1_4 inch or so to prevent them from hitting helical bars and_or concave bars. We also slightly sharpen the leading edges to cut through and wads and_or roped crop material. Then bolt them to the blank spots where you have removed bars - use hard bolts and tighten the crap out of them so they don't come loose - you certainly don't want any Deere STS explosive rotor action going on! I can testify to the FACT that these things are great - we cut some tough, green-stem soybeans last fall in a drizzle - the beans themselves were dry but you could nearly wring water out of the stems. They went through our Hypered 52 like nothing - literally could net tell the difference between cutting in those conditions and cutting in dry conditions. Even had a couple of neighbors comment on how we cut those beans in such crappy conditions. Tom langan

Thanks Tom for the photo link and the suggestions. I'm going to start hypering in steps. Don't have time to pull out the rotor and do major changes until after we get through our barley and wheat. Will probably start out by removing the reverse bars and getting the shock kits installed. Will send posts as we get into harvest.

Tom, I'm gonna try this same set-up in an R-50. Jost curious as to which way you set the "disrupters" on the back-up bar, flat side forward or sloped side forward. Normally only have a little wheat, but this year everyone has wheat and looks to be a heavy crop. Not much else planted yet. Rob southern Ontario.

Flat side forward as if it was still supporting discharge paddle. I think when you can get in trouble is when you have put on the other way or it has spun around the other way. For if it was over concave and clearance was set close it could catch. When I put some of these on I sharpened the leeding edge and welded on a piece of iron to hang over backup bar to be darn sure nothing would spin gusset around. I also slid gusset the direction it would be getting pushed before I tightened the grade 8 capscrew and special washer up to specs. I also believe on the R50 that you can fasten gussets where the hardware will go threw the spider or star or head as well as the backup bar. Beings your working with R50 be sure you have the new gussets. The new ones look the same as old but the old were cast material and could break. Any gussets replaced in the '90's should be the better gusset. Can't be to careful or cautious when fastening up things to cylinder. We're in same boat as you in our immediate area as far as seeding. Were usually finished up well before surrounding areas with our soil but this year we are wet wet. Good luck.