[kansascutter]

Has anyone been using a drago head for corn on case combines? The 2208 and 2408 seem to shell a lot of corn when the moisture gets below 15% moisture. The drago seems to be built very well and seems to have a lot of innovative ideas such as longer stalk rolls, less head angle and self adjusting deck plates. just checking to see if anyone is using one. Thanks

 

[vvv]

We used a Drago corn head for two years on a 2388 and one year on an 8010. Worked great on the CaseIH combines with no problems. Very well built head and did seem to have less header loss.

We switched to a Gerringhoff this past year mainly because we could not get the Drago to chop the newer varieties of corn well enough (stalks to tough), and due to the rotary screen plugging issues from the Drago head.

 

[kansascutter]

Thanks for the info. What was the chopping of the stalks on the drago head compared to a 2208 case head? Did your drago head have the chopping knife units on them? What was plugging the screen?

 

[mx270a]

Quote:What was plugging the screen?

My understanding of this is that chopping green stalks produces a mist of whatever liquid is in the stalks. It is somewhat sticky, and gets sucked up into the air screen. On the new air screens with the really tiny hole, this sap will plug the holes. The solutions are basically to get a different style of chopper, or get an air screen with larger holes.

I am pretty sure that it is the lawn mower style chopping systems that make this sap fly into the air. The Gheringhoff rota-disc system doesn't create the air movement, so the sap doesn't fly around.

-Lance

 

[midwest]

I think they are offering mud flaps on the chopping heads to try to stop the flying sap.

 

[vvv]

Yes, our Drago did have the chopping attachements. I have not been around a 2208 corn head at all so I can't compare the difference in chopping quality between the two.

Lance is pretty much describing what the problem is. The green stalks will form a mist of "sap" from the stalks which will cause the air screen to plug and will cause the engine to overheat. Only solution to remove the sap is to wash it with water and a broom. The weather would have a great influence on the problem as well. If it was cool, cloudy, high humidity, and low winds it was almost sure to be a problem that day. A sunny, warm, breezy day and you may not have to clean the screen all day. It seems that the cool damp days are more common for us here in West Central MN. I also think thay may be why this does not seem to be as much as a problem in the "I" states. There corn plants are usually more mature than up here and they have warmer weather during harvest.

We had several CaseIH engineers come out to try and deal with it without much success. One year they had us try a vaccum deal which was supposed to pull the sap off of the fan screen. Didn't really seem to make much difference. I have been told that the vaccum thing is now an option on the 2588's. Our head did have the rubber belting all the way around it which almost touched the ground so did not seem to help either.