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Geringhoff corn heads

5K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  BMC 
#1 ·
Looking at a Geringhoff Rota-Disc corn head on auction. I'm not very familiar with then but we have a few of them running around us. I've heard they're good heads but have been told they're very expensive to go through when the time comes to start replacing things. Had a salesman tell me about $3,000/row to completely go through one. Wondering if that's true or not...? Anyone have any other experience with them, good or bad?
 
#3 ·
Well I ended up buying one. I'm wondering if they're including the gearbox in the price of rebuilding a row? Knock on wood, we've only had one gearbox go bad out of all the corn heads we've run in the last 30 years and that was because the guy running the combine ran the head into the ground.

I've noticed they do seem to run at a bit of an angle. This one comes with an AGCO wedge/tilt kit. But I think I'm going to put a bigger wedge in to try and flatten it out a little bit more. AGCO'S is a 2.5" wedge and we had a 4" made for our draper and I think I'm going to have the shop make another for this head.

But it comes with a full corn reel, the spiral cones on the fenders, and headsight. It hasn't had a ton of acres run through it so I'm hoping we can get another season or two out of it before having to go through some things. All in all I'm happy for $35k...
 
#4 ·
Most modern heads are designed to run at a certain deck plate angle. GH in particular wants you to keep the roll/knife assm at their recommended angle so the rolls chop the stalks "correctly". Put the head on and lower it down to working position. Then use your smartphone app to find the deck plate angle (set the phone edge on the DP's). This will help give you info on if you need more or less wedge...and if you do decide to run at a steeper or shallower angle, you are "informed".....
 
#5 ·
Does this apply to their non-chopping heads? I just bought one and im reading that they arent great in down corn, and I have years where I have a ton of it flattened. Id like to do anything to help improve that aspect.

Coming from a JD 893 with kelderman reel. Wasnt thrilled with its performance in down corn. Just hope its not too much worse than that.
 
#7 · (Edited)
OK--- there are several things that need to be balanced here.
1) Snoots set too steep: you bend them under easily
2) Snoots set too flat: Height control won't work right and you can easily drive the head into the ground. Tips ride up over stalks easier (tipped up at tip), which means the head rides up out of the crop. Pick up way more rocks.
3) setting the head angle flatter or steeper will not necessarily make corn feed easier. Lots of variables--including ground speed. A flatter head may allow broken off stalks to feed up and in easier, but may also break stalks off more--which creates the dreaded stalk pile on the snoots!

Here is what Headsight recommends as a starting point. Obviously some special conditions may require modifying these settings.
1) Set your head to manufacturer recommended deck plate angle.
2) Set the snoot angle so you have at LEAST 3", preferably 4-6" under the skids at the gather chains when the tips touch the ground. More than 6" is not needed.

Going shallower on the DP angle may help in some down corn conditions. Reducing the 4-6" skid clearance should ONLY be done if the ears on STANDING plants are too low to enter the head. Usually setting the snoots flatter/skids lower will not help much in down corn. Reason--the slightly steeper angle actually lifts the stalks and raises the ears higher to get them in the head. Very occasionally with totally broken off plants running the head totally on the ground may be necessary. Note that AHHC will not work at that point, as there is no sensor travel left to send a raise signal to the combine, and you will likely drive the head into the ground (and bend snoots!) Our "Foresight" software code helps with this problem, but even it needs some movement to measure.

We've ridden with lots of head in lots of conditions, and know that you do what you have to get the crop. However, the above settings usually seem to perform best over the widest range of conditions.

One final note: The # 1 thing you can do to improve performance in down corn is NOT what you might expect! Its Row Guidance! Keeping the Deck plates/rolls centered on the base of the plants simply allows even severely down corn to flow properly into the head. We've had many-many customers tell us that after installing a Truesight system they were able to remove the down corn reel! I've ridden in corn nearly flat on the ground, where as long as the head stays right on the row, the plants just lift up and feed right in. Just a few inches off the row, and suddenly the plants start breaking off and piling up and.....
 
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