Combines AWS AIRREEl

[oldstruck]

May I askIJ What size is your headerIJ What series is itIJ In the ball park what did you pay for thisIJ I am going nuts with header loss on my 816 flex with a new SCH with the rollers. I am losing about 1 1_2 to 2 bushels an acre. Plus it is not feeding smoothly so I get some loss out the rear of our R42 due to uneven feeding. I tried the hose thing on the cutter bar for a day and a half on short and tall beans. What I can figure, the tines need to be all there to work correctly. (the previous owner of the head did not had the stops set correctly, they are all clipped off.) I can tell this head was assembled by someone who assumed everything just bolts together, after we have gotten into the nuts and bolts of it ourselves. Becareful of buying something from a dealer that has not seen the equipment they are selling themselves, in person!! There is a story here. Anyway I am interested in an air reel for our machine. Plus an enclosed rotor to try! I better go spread some beans! Thanks!

 

[IowaDan]

Where are you locatedIJ I would sure like to see one of these work in person. I've been toying with the idea of getting an AWS for several years but I just can't seem to make up my mind. I know it would sure be nice to have a good even feed all the time instead of part of the time. I do run the hose mod but I have to keep my reel low and as close to auger as possible and that really causes shatter.

 

[rforro]

We are north of Detroit. I myself wanted one for at least 5 yrs. just had a hard time justify the $7000.00 cost. Now I see they will pay for them self, even feeding, no plugging, no beans rolling off the front of header, and I am sure less fuel. I have mine on a 20 foot 500 header, with a hypered 1996 r52.

 

[oldstruck]

$7000IJ lets see, If we are loosing 2 bushels an acre off the head, and just for ease, include what I loose out the rear of the machine due to uneven feeding. 2 bushels X lets say $8.00 for a bushel of beans. that is $16 per acre. So to pay for itself in 1 year you would only need to cover 435 acres of beans. It would take 3 years for it to pay for us, but if I would include wheat and milo then it would take less that two years to pay for it. For us that might be a better investment, than an aftermarket rotor. I am going to start looking for next year! Thanks for the information!!!

 

[IowaDan]

Was it very hard to install and does it cause dustier conditions around the headerIJ

 

[rforro]

If you hyper your cage and rotor like in the hyper mods, I can not see why you would want to change to a different rotor. With the hyper mods and AWS reel you will think you have a completly different machine. Randy

 

[oldstruck]

Morning rforro, Well my only thought was it would be nice to have an enclosed rotor. Our problem is we do a lot of small plots, most are 50 to 100 ft long x 6 rows. What I am finding is debris will build up in the oem rotor, when I shut the thresher down and go to the weigh cart. I was thinking this as a side benifit with a aftermarket rotor, to keep the rotor from getting out of balance with debris. After thinking about this yesterday, clipping beans. I do think an air reel would be a wise investment. Now my confidence in hyperizing our machine, is questionable. I would hate to make those changes and then something let go and tear the insides up in the machine. Yesterday I was cutting in 60 bushel beans moving about 3.0 to 3.2 mph, rotor speed about 550. I got on the sidehill and the beans went down to about 40 and I had to get up to 3.6 to keep the rotor full or slow the rotor down to thresh properly. In doing so with our no-till I noticed our SCH was just keeping up when I got to that point. (these were beans in no-till corn stubble) Realize, I get off my machine about every third round and check my losses. For us every bit helps! So I think for sure an air reel is going to be on my to do list. As far as hyperizingIJ I really need to see one in person so I can get an idea if it is something that is in my abilities to do so. I was surprised to find chrome bars and helicles in our machine though, The first owner must have replaced the black at some point and time. So I will address the rotor change question more when we get to a point of replacing our bars in the future. Thanks!

 

[IowaDan]

I just thought I would mention that my 1993 machine came with chrome bars but black helicals. I put new chrome helicals in 3 years ago. Every year I think I'll have to replace the bars but those things just don't seem to wear out. So if you're waiting for the bars to wear out before you work on the rotor, it might be awhile..........Dan

 

[oldstruck]

Well if that is the case, that money will just stay in our pocket! Well until the next great thing comes along! I was checking on our machine, in the paper work, and there were chrome bars installed 4 years ago and helicals. At 420 hours.