[schuy54]

Just bought a new 9870 and was wondering if the Powercast Tailboard is worth the extra $5000?? We do a no-till operation but have had no problems in the past with the straw and residue in wheat and durum!! Also heard some ppl say those extra 2 motors can draw some hp in tough conditions? Any thoughts

 

[deereman]

We put them on our 9670 and love them. I think that they way less Hp becaus you never have to run the chopper on the high side and can just control the spread width from the cab, and when we decied to trade we're just going to order one with out them and swap them out since nobody else runs them.

 

[schuy54]

i guess i just like the thought of being able to adjust the width from the cab!! conditions change throughout the day and we usually go late into the night and the straw gets tough n it would be nice to be able to spread it the full 36 ft.

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

They are worth every penny IMO, we have them on 4 combines with 40ft headers and they work great. They will spread 50ft on a windless day, the 70 series regular tailboard is wider than the 60 series and is capable of spreading 35ft. At night when your throwing the straw into the standing crop you can just turn it down so you don't have header trouble on the next pass. I would actually like to see some facts on how much HP they take. You only have to pay that 5gs once, cause if you trade it off the next combine will be ordered with it.

 

[jdstsman]

We have a 9750STS with a 36 foot Macdon 974. We have the regular tailboard and it will spread 36 feet. As long as it is adjusted to the proper height. We have ours adjusted as high as it will go.

 

[jdmidwest]

I had the tailboard on our first 9870 and hated it wouldn't own one again. In 70 bu. soybeans with a 35ft. platform to run it slow enough not to throw chaff in the standing crop then the spinners would plug especially at night when things got tough. As far as swapping them from combine to combine deereman guys that have run them for a few years are finding out that they wear out and it gets costly.

 

[canuckdeere]

We have mixed reviews, the only good point is adjustability from the cab, we have had issues with it plugging on tough canola and soybean straw, we are no-tillers and find the power board tends to want to windrow several strips, tried several diffrent setups with no success, have a friend in the area with one on a 9660 having same problems, we are deciding to go back to the widespread tailboard next year, needless to say we are disappointed.

 

[ststech]

on that note, they have made some improvements to the powercast on the 70 series

 

[canuckdeere]

That is right their was improvements!! My experience and comments are based on our 9870, our friend with the 9660 had his upgraded to 70 specs and still unsatisfied, both of us tried different combinations to get proper spread pattern and no plugging and were unsuccessful both combines are going back to tail boards, I think the powerboard is fine for dry light material but when it came to heavy soy, canola and damp wheat crop it was a disappointment and waste of money!!!

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

Wind usually dies down at night so and with the tougher straw it tends to throw a little farther. So we just turn them down about 40rpm and they no problem. The pattern doesn't really change, if you have relatively dry straw you can crank them up and spread into the standing crop and the new choppers cut fine enough that it will drop to the ground and not hand on the crop. Therefore you would get a perfect spread with no bare strips. We are seeding the first year after having the power tailboards we couldn't be happier. We would usually have to harrow most of our cereal stubble, last fall we left some fields and it worked great this spring. We couldn't be happier with them, the only thing that would be neat is if you could control each side individually so that you could compensate for the wind. I'm not sure where all the problems that the others mentioned are coming from, I was chopping up some grass green weeds at the end of the season and powercast even spread that, never plugged them.

 

[Hans Schwarz]

@jdmanitoba:What are your experiences when it gets tough during the night,and the spread pattern?

 

[Hans Schwarz]

Thanks for the info,we will add this option to our new to us(one year old) 9870,and it will be interesting to see how it compares to our 8010s.

 

[jdgreen]

I have new 9770 ordered without the powercast. Had it on a 9660, and was a complete waste of money. It reminded me of the old days when i ran a 2388 with an Agtech spreader. "Ribbon spreading" is all you get at any RPM and ribbon spreading is a complete waste of money and effort. It easily spreads 36 ft without the powercast and is much more even spread. Any type of tough durum or pea straw and all it does is throw ribbons which are a PITA come seeding ... just my 2 cents

 

[ninety420]

Re: Power cast Tail board on 9870

Uh oh! I sense that theres a slight changing of the guard. interesting what the final analysis will be. I bet both the axial flow and the bullet will harvest comparably. There hows that for fence sitting.

 

[kris]

Why cant deere just put an adjustable tailboard on that can be adjusted from the cab like new holland that way at night or in a crosswind you can turn it left or right.

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

Heres a few from the farm show, it was in the upper position in is alot flatter while in chopping position. Heres few action shots from our farm as well, we had very tough straw in these pictures, it had almost a green tinge to it.

 

[littlejohn]

Something you might try that I have found to greatly improve both the chopper and PCT performance is to install a what i belive deere calls a control bar in the chopper. It is just a 3/4 inch angle iron strip that bolts in the bottom of the copper behind the staionary knives. In our conditions in wheat it allows us to get a finer chop with the knives half way in than we did with them all the way in. It takes a lot less hp and still chops well. All of our redkop choppers we had on our TR 99's had them in. You will need to remove it for corn is the only draw back I have seen.

 

[olblue]

Nice pics jdmanitoba. I hope it works for us. We will be using one this year and we intend to put 60' durum swaths into it.

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

Yes we heard about those after we got our combines and the dealer threw them in for us, but one could easily build them in about ten min.

 

[schmidfarms]

Could you post some Pics? We added the PCT this year and that sounds like a good deal.