Combines What to Expect of my new STS

hi Palouse custom cutter, I work for a farmer by colfax, wa. we have had a hillside 9750sts for 2 yrs now. we love it. we feel it is 20-25% more than our 9632 was. It does the best job when you just keeps the header full, in hard to thrash wheat, housepower is your limiting factor when climbing hills. I set it like the book, set the fan 50-100 rpms more. we have the racho 32% leveler on ours and cut hills where a 1470 leans over. we have 500 hrs on it and no problems yet.

Why would you use two different headersIJ

Hank: Thanx for the response. i also have the 32% Rahco. No four wheel drive though. I know that will be a problem on some of my hills too. Maybe I'll trade for a four wheel drive machine after this year. I still have my 6622 for the nasty stuff. I thought the 9750 was somewhere between 20-30% more than my 9632. In our area I have heard we can average 11,000 bu per day throughout harvest( no grain cart). Is that a realistic average, or can you do betterIJ

I run the draper on about 3,000 acres of 25-40 bu wheat on flat ground. I use the 30 ft auger for the irrigated and on my steeper ground. The draper more than pays for itself in the lower yielding crops. Notr to mention saving the wear and tear on my auger header.

How well does the draper header work on steep groundIJ Suspect that they don't drag the grain uphill very well.

Wouldn't just one header be cheaper to operateIJ I know from experience that the draper does a better job anywhere, anytime. It enhances the capacity of the combine even in high yielding crop. You will always cut the same speed with the draper as you will with the auger plus the additional 6 feet.

I think you'll get 11,000 bu. a day. Of course it all depends on how much loading on the go you do and how many hours you cut in a day. I know in over 100 bu wheat I can fill the 250 bu tank in less than 10 minutes. If a guy could load on the go all the time, you could get 1,500 bu an hour in that kind of wheat. you will miss not having 4-wheel drive. That was one thing about the other John deere hillside combines- you didn't need 4-wheel drive in them. If I had to guess what we average, I'd say 11,000 is a good guess.

Yes John is absolutely right. I have hills out here to cut that more than max out the leveling on a 45% hillside combine. The lower draper can't pull 100 bushel wheat uphill, especially on the steep stuff. I bought the Mac Don draper for $8,000 and ran it on my level land 9610 for the last two years. I am selling the machine and thought the draper was worth keeping around for the lighter crops to help keep the STS full and make better time.

Wow, that is steep. Is there no errosionIJ

Yes, erosion is a major problem in the Palouse. Especially when a moldboard plow is still used far too often. The saving grace is that most of our precip comes during the winter and rains are usually not very intense. Here are some pictures on the Hillco leveler site. They have levelers for all colors now, even for lexions, so check out the rest of the site pictures.