[btren]

Might have a chance to combine tough canola tomorrow. The straw will be tough and the seed is 16-17%. Just wandering if there is anything particular to be aware of with a gleaner in tough conditions. I'm figuring rotor rpm will have to be a bit higher than when dry to get the seed out of the wet straw.I know it will be tough going but am looking forward to comparing it to our tr98s when the going gets tough.

 

[northfarmer]

Have fun with it, I am running an R60 in heavy wet swath and I am ready to give up. My Claas is doing 3x what the Gleaner can do. Dry conditions are a must for my machine, and the problem is I never get them. Time to trade if I can see a window up here where I will actually have a chance to get this crop off. My machine sounded like it was going to break in half today. This is not a machine you want in tough canola.

 

[nddan]

Let's be fair to the poor old Gleaner Northfarmer. As you described a couple monthes ago you have a new enough R60 to have P3 system. Trouble is someone had installed old P1 helical bars and has old P1 style Sunnybrook enclosed rotor. You were going to leave as is for this fall. I'm surprised it works at all in very tough conditions. Likely why you are dissatisfied. If I hadn't sent you pictures of proper hot rod helical kit for that R60 get me your email. Also see if you can find something other than a P1 style rotor for your often times tough conditions.

 

[northfarmer]

There is no doubt that my machine needs to be set up diffrent for the conditions I am in, and the weather we are having is beyond unbelievable. I am so far behind that I am seriously looking at a C62 as they work so well in my area. I am not slagging the

 

[northfarmer]

gleaner, just adding what I went through today. I did not mean to come off as rude, but this weather is eating on me. I really enjoy my R in better conditions, but this year is ridiculous.

 

[btren]

Northfarmer I hear you. I can't even enjoy the rain even when all my crop is off and my ground is dry there are just to many farmers hurting with this weather.

 

[pj]

I feel your fustration. Where is your problem in the feed or the rotor. If it is the feed you need to put a new belt on the rear fee and possibly shorten your rear feed chain by a half link. If it is the cylinder I can only suggest that you could possibly be driving to slow to allow a constant even feed from the header into the cylinder, try pushing the machine faster and never slow down much unless the low rpm warning goes off. Can't help much more unless you are commited to install ndan's floor kit.

 

[luuk]

I must agree with northfarmer that Gleaners are not made to handle tough straw. I have onwned a R 72 for 5 years now and it has awesome capacity in dry stuff, but as soon as you put tough straw through it you might as well quit and wait for a better day. I had the original rotor in it for the first 4 years and installed a generation 2 sunnybrook this year, but it has not made much difference in capacity and ability to handle tough straw. This is one of the reasons why I am thinking of trading it in as we don't seem to get very many days when the straw is dry around here any more.

 

[richard]

luuk, we are looking for a low houred 72. If you do consider trading I believe I may well be interested in your machine.

 

[btren]

Well I did get my chance to try it out. I started at 11:30 in the morning and it was wet. The guy I was combining for came with me in the cab and told me that we pobably wouldn't get much over 1-2 mph. When we started combining my passenger said wow this thing is smooth. He had never really heard of a gleaner (seriously). He is fairly new to farming but has run 2388's and tx 68's for other farmers. Anyway I must say thankyou to mike at pfp and dan hurtt because everything(negative) I have heard about these combines seems to not be to valid if the combine is set up correct. I will just say that I rarely went under 4mph in 30 ft swaths. The canola was poor yeilding but it was a good test since there was a lot of straw most places. There was some nice canola around a farmsite that was summerfallow the year before. In this 'nice' canola (40-60 bu/ac) I was able to travel between 4.5-5mph on a 30ft swath of tough straw canola. The seed was testing 18. I must say I am more than pleased with the results of the mods we have done and this is truely one hungry combine. I now know that Dann and others are not simply trying to make money off us with alot of hype and little results.Trust them you won't be dissapointed.
Mods done to my combine:
1 Dann's lowwerred floor per latest instructions
2 pfp rotor
3 steep pitch helicals on thresher side
4 sped up table auger (went from 19 tooth to 28 tooth drive sprocket)
5 feederchain high speed kit
6 rodono chopper (just installed before combining this wet stuff) run at normal speed because the high speed pulley was late in coming.
7 Eliminated rear feeder chain slip clutch
I think that about covers it.
The best to all of you who are still harvesting.

 

[northfarmer]

Now that is the performance I am looking for. I had tough conditions in 2007 and got by with the 60 fine, but I am at a standstill this year. Will be doing all these mods you are talking about unless I go back to a conventional. That would be a shame though because the R is my preferance, and the grain quality is so good. That kind of travel speed in 30 foot canola that is wet is more than impressive. Glad to hear it worked out for you.

 

[brad62]

Northfarmer. I was combining wet oats last night. Not sure what it tested but it stood up pretty tall in the truck. The straw was wringing wet and green still in the swath, 25 feet. I had virutually no trouble other than a rock opening the rock door. 3 years ago I wouldn't even atempt it, but it put it through very smoothly and it a little slower than dry, about 4 mph. I have a R62 with all the above mod's and it works very well. I know this dosn't help much this year but maybe next year will be better. We are in central alberta, (next year country) and dealing with the last of the crop in this crappy weather.

 

[nddan]

Thanks back to you btren. Thanks for acting on suggestions and having trust. I prefer side by side comparisons in the toughest of conditions for hot and dry is a walk in the park. I don't mind a handy cap of HP and fuel capacity for it is often not needed. You have a very good hot rodding traveling private Gleaner guy up there that will fill in the gaps between dealers. He is on top of the latest preformance updating.

 

[btren]

yes I forgot to mention the him. Blain talked so highly about Gleaner I had to try one. He was always a good source of info when I needed it to. And yes side by side comparisons are the only valid test. It was higher capacity than the trs by a bit. If the trs were down to 2 mph I could go 3 or a bit more . The only places we were that slow though was in weedy patches. A clean crop and a well laid swath are very important for combine performance.

 

[jackaroo]

hey guys....was wondering who this guru is that nddan is referring to as I could sure use some tips and advice in running our old N"s in this Alberta weather and crop conditions. always looking for better performance out of these things but i'm out of ideas.

 

[btren]

His name is blain and his phone # is 1 780 842 0227