Thanks Jason for the info. Draww8 what modifications did you do to make it cut canola good and have you hit any lodged or real heavy canola crops that the D450 did not work good in? Is there any suspension for the cab other than the air seat?
We have cut lots of heavy canola with our D450's with 35ft heads. There is no cab suspension. Some conditions and directions can make steering column shake a bit. We have the 650 tire option as we'll.
Only changes we made, were to take out the inside and outside tin extensions. Then push the canvases as wide as possible. Which is another 6 inches wider than the combine setting on each canvas.
Another mod we have done, is add the outside finger option on the reels. (Bought from Case dealer). They use Hart Carter as well on some swathers. We do not have the flip over kit for the reels. Don't feel we need it. Have only wrapped material on the reel a hand full of times in 3 years. And we like the reel teeth down when going around tree edges.
We also have the cross augers on our headers. Mostly used when straight cutting canola with these headers. But they do help once in a while when swathing canola.
We do not have Roto shears. Don't have divider issues.
We are extremely fussy, and if they didn't cut good canola swaths, they would be down the road. Does never plugging a rotor or feed accelerator give any clues to swath quality? ( Feeder house reverser used less than 10 times/year)
We choose these machines for a few reasons. I believe they are the only machines with Auto Height.(which is different than "return to cut") It works awesome down the field and thru ditches. All we do, to "tweek" height, up and down the field, is to use the tilt a bit, while it remains in auto height mode.
Main Features
Auto -Height
Auto -Reel speed
Auto -Belt speed
Memory of tilt position
Memory of reel position( up/down and fore/aft )
200hp
22 mph roading forward
Button "3" on hydro handle used for short or lodged crop:
-lower height(auto)
-more tilt
-reel goes forward and down
Button "2" on hydro handle used for normal cutting:
-normal height(auto)
-normal tilt
-normal reel height
-normal fore/aft
Button "1" on hydro handle used at end of row:
-lifts head to max height
-tilts head back to help clear outside round swaths
-lowers reel down to sweep material off knife
Any of the settings saved within these 3 memory positions can be changed and then memorized by holding the button down for at least 2 seconds.
I wish the gauge ("auto height") wheels would lift up to clear swaths better when header is all the way up.
I have heard of some poor demos out there, caused by:
-not having the header calibrated
-not having the float pins removed
-not having inside & outside tins removed
-not having canvases pushed out to max width
-not using all the memory functions
-not using or aware of all the "auto" functions
Long winded reply, I am aware the Macdon is a good machine as we'll. We have owned them also. They just don't have quite as many of the auto functions, built into them that we now appreciate on all those long, never ending nights.
Reliability has been second to none, on our Deeres the last few years as we'll.
