Combines Macdon draper header

PJR, I ran a 30' MacDon in 1997 on a 2188 in 65 bushel wheat. I ran it for one week and couldn't wait to get rid of it. Here is what I didn't like about it: Heavier than my stock 1010 30' header. The hyd. box leaked from the start. In the book it said that the bearings on the rollers for the belt would need changed approx. 300 - 500 hours and it is a job. To make the reel work with out wrapping with wheat required an adjustment that resulted in putting the reel severly out of balance. Many many grease zerks infact two of them required you to lift the header up and crawl under it. In my country (Eastern Washington) we use deep furrow drills which is very rough and the gauge wheels would never last. And finally the was a huge I mean HUGE amout of grain loss from the header. There were a few good points. The concept is the largest one. It fed great and if they would just work on these few problems it has potential of being a great header. The one I ran was a '97 model. These problems may have been solved I do not know. I hope this helps.

Once you have run a draper header for long in rolling ground, you will not want to go back to a rigid header. There is no stress involved in driving as the header can move, so it does not dig in. At the end of the day you feel much more relaxed, your body is not stiff from being tensed up all day like a rigid header. A 36 foot draper will normally cut at the same speed as a 30 rigid in small grains because of the nicer heads first feeding. Having said all that, the draper does have more daily greasing involved, and may have more long term maintence costs as the drapers wear out. A bent auger is also a big cost on a rigid header. The draper can be slower in very tall bushy crops, as the crop can get stopped on the table and not be heavy enough to fall onto the draper that pulls it into the feederhouse. I am told there is a kit that adds a small auger at the back of the draper to help with this, but I have not seen it work. Six foot tall Canola that had lodged to within 6 inches of the ground is the only crop I have had trouble getting to feed in properly. Most of the rocks that get picked up with a draper header end up falling onto a spot just before the center canvas starts, and do not enter the combine. A small bonus!

We have a 36' Macdon and a 24' flex, I use the flex on lentils mainly, but I think the Macdon could do every bit as good of a job as the flex. I've never ran such a relaxing header as the draper in wheat. It simply never bunches, and always feeds like you were picking up a swath. We had a 30' rigid before the Macdon and you had to watch that you didn't dig the ends in the dirt, with the Macdon you never have to worry about that. The only nicer thing about a flex in short crops, like lentils, is the Dial-a-matic, With the Macdon you have to keep on the hydrualics.

Does a finger reel on a MacDon header work wellIJ How about getting a Crary Finger Air Reel for it (if it made)IJ The concept looks good.

Sorry about not getting back to you sooner, been kind of busy in the field!!! I think that the factory pick-up reel works great. I haven't been around the air reel at all, but I would really like to see them work. I also have found out that this particular header is a prototype, and they have not even started mass-producing them yet, but from what I can tell, this header solves the problem of switching headers, and taking up more barn space in the off-season. Glad to hear from you!!!

I was on a harvest crew where we ran 4 36ft mac dons on R-72s every one of ours had the small auger in it and we never had problems feeding. One night in Canada we cut till 2 am in conola, the auger header we were testing had to stop around mid-night because of the moisture in the stocks, the mac dons just kept rolling. We cut everything from wheat to sunflowers including soybeans never had problems with the headers.

We are currently running two 1042 Case_Macdon headers on 2388's. We have found that with the 36'

I'm in Sth Australia. Seems all drapers are at risk from the bearings in the belt rollers. I know of a good few that have started that way. Both Honeybees and Macdons. I havent had a fire with my Deere yet, but i have everything crossed.... I cant see why they wouldnt be as much at risk.

Victorian [Aust] Weekly times paper had a photo on front page of a Case IH [they said ] going up in flames. On the front was what looked like a Macdon draper!!!