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West Central, IL | Ok, last year was my first year farming. I have a 7700, and I got a 220 for it. I don't know what it was, but I could never get that thing to fed right. It would cut beans, they would fall on the stainless, but they would never want to move back to the auger. Once they got to the auger, it would take them in really nice. I could only run 2 mph or it would clump really bad and I would end up plugging the combine. Well I used it on 65 acres, and with 3 acres of beans to go a pile of beans formed in between the sickle and the stainless pan. The reel came down on it and broke 2 whole pices of pipe and fingers off and I got the machine shut down just as they hit the cylinder.
What I'm getting at here is, the head needs allot of work. I would have to put a pipe reel kit from shoup on there, because it would be to expensive to get the 2 pieces of pipe and stuff from Deere. It needs new skid plates on the bottom, and it needs a new sickle kit. I figure from shoup I would be around 3k for all that. It just does not make sense to me to put that much in a old head, that was giving me trouble feeding. The only thing it has going for it, is that it has a good auger and good crop dividers.
I guess here are my options
1. Fix the head $3,000 +/-
2. Find a nice 220 or 920 $3-5,000
3. Get a 653a, but probably keep the 220 and just get it going to do one farm where the 653a would not work $????
I'm leaning to get a different one in good enough shape for fall.
What are your thoughts?
Thanks!
Edit
There has been a lot of great help on here already. I am thinking that it just needed some adjustment. I am going to find a manual for it asap. I would also ad that. I tried running the reel all the way down and up and everywhere in between. I also messed with reel speed. I ran the reel all the way down for most of harvest and that is what worked the best. I might also add that there were some small beans but I averaged 55bu/a so there were good sized plants.
Thanks guys!
Edited by farmerpete2400 6/27/2011 14:02
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NW VA | I don't have any experience with these, but maybe these would help your feeding issues.
http://www.shoupparts.com/GG2/ |
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| Forget those grabbers, they are a waste of money. If you have any green stems or grass they will wrap & throw beans over the back of the head. W e put a set on a CIH 1020 head a few years ago. Broke 3 off the first day. By the the time harvest was over with we had either broken or removed all of them except one on the very ends of the platform
"farmerpete'. Hard to say without seeing your platform in action but sounds as if either your reel was set too far ahead of the cuttewr bar or too high, or maybe both. |
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east central ND | I think boog has it with the reel settings. We ran ours as low as posible without getting in to the sickle with the reel teeth, and most of the way back against the auger to push the soys over the flex tins. Running the head as low as possible without pushing dirt (poly helps alot) flatens out the flex tins so the beans slide easier. Also the pitch of the finger can be adjusted more agresive to "flip" the beans into the auger ( too much and beans will follow reel aroiund. Green stems or dew still on makes it all worse, of course.
Edited by D6Joe 6/27/2011 13:02
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| I agree with boog. I never ran a 220, but sure have seen a lot of them do a nice job. A few worn items might help cause your problems, but I would say incorrect settings are most of it. Getting the reel and the auger set are VERY critical. I was having bunching problems with one end of a 1020 Case IH head for years (I'm embarrassed to admit). While helping a neighbor cut, I told his Dad about the problem I was having trouble with the head at just about sundown every evening. He came over and looked the head over. We made a VERY miniscule adjustmentto the pitch of the tines on that end. WHAT A DIFFERENCE he made.
Go find some old experience and ask their opinion . . . while it's running. EVERY adjustment of forward, back, up or down on the auger AND the reel AND the retractible fingers IS critical. Be anal about it. It will make a difference. If you don't have a manual for the head, find one. It should have initial settings for the auger height and retractible fingers. Start from there.
Good Luck !
Edited by 7150 6/27/2011 12:59
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Martinsville, Ohio | Good points and the reel always worked better for me turning about 1/3 less than drive wheel speed though I see a lot of reels pounding away, LOL.
Ed |
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Macon, IL | Pete, I ran a 220 on that combine. Was able to run 4-5 mph.
1) I did several modifications-grain grabber made the least difference of all. Skip it.
2) If the beans were short I had to run the reel really low-like almost all the way down low. There are some longer wider reel fingers from Shoup or Sloan Express-those made much more of a difference.
3) If you don't want maintenace and costs then I don't think you want the row crop head-especially for opening fields and if any odd shaped fields with point rows.
It is awfuly hard to find a 220 that isn't beat to crap. I finally just bit the bullet and bought the cheapest piece of junk I could find with a straight auger, working wobblebox, and straight frame. Sounds like you have that already.
It will cost about $2,500 to put a new reel and sickle and poly on the bottom. You will have less in that than anything else, but it is going to take some time. Easy job-just takes time. I also replaced the steel fingers with plastic. Only thing I didn't do at that time was put on the narrow snouts-that made it a lot nicer but was another $1,000.
Only thing that will REALLY make it great is a full finger auger conversion-but that is pretty pricey. I want to do it, but can't bring myself to pull auger and get it done. I really wish somebody made an orbit reel for 220s-but all I have found are only for newer heads.
If you decide to do it I would get started-working solo that project took me more than a few days. The poly on the bottom of the head was easy-but you will an air chisel and hammer. Very little simple tack welding on the reel from Shoup-takes literally about 3 minutes-with a mig-just to spot weld them to stay together. Be very safe when working under that head!!!! And if you put on a new sickle be very very very careful-good way for you or a helper to lose a finger-no joke. |
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southwest wisconsin | I never had any experience with a row crop head before, but if your head needs alot of work, i would opt for a nice 220 or 920. It sounds like your reel is too far forward. With the head flexed to the max, it should just clear the guards and the auger. If i remember, the 3rd hole for reel height and almost all the way back, to the point of the reel teeth almost touching the auger flighting. One other adjustment is the skid shoe angle, you want to "heel" out the skids so they dont plow dirt, do this first before making any reel adjustments. Hope this helps |
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ECIL | boog, D6Joe, and 7150 have great advice. For the money needed, I'd say look into a 920 head. The 200 series was a good head but IMO the 900 series was better. Chances are for the money needed to repair the 220 you could find a decent 920. I believe choice #2 is certainly worth pursuing. If you cannot find what you want for your budget then repair the 220. If you do find a 920 my guess is it will need to be an older one to fit the 7700. You wouldn't be able to utilize the fore and aft reel adjustment, the 7700 isn't equipped to do that. If you have the dial-a-matic header height contol feature you can use it on the head. Most likely you will need to redo the hyd. hoses to hook up properly and get a different harness or harness extension for the DAM hookup. Check the # of pins and their pattern to make sure.
One other thing about the 220 and feeding, was the head running level or tipped down? If it was tipped downward the beans wouldn't feed into the auger very well. And while looking at it, make sure the auger stripper plate is properly adjusted or you will slug the feederhouse a lot, even with dry beans. BTDT with the stripper plate. |
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| IF you keep the 220, check the flighting. If/when it gets rounded over, you need to grind it down flat. May not be the only thing to make it feed better, but it should help. If you do grind it down, you may need to adjust it to the stripper plate also. |
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Elizabethtown,KY | If last year was the first time you ever combined beans, go ride with an experienced operator for an hour or so and learn from him. When you do get another head or re-do the one you have get someone to help you set it up properly, I've been running a combine for 50 years as my dad started me out on a 55 John Deere when I was 12, and I still learn something new about one every year. |
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Faunsdale, AL | We bought a used 222 flex head and got it all fixed up last year and about half way through soybeans, a tine came loose and about cut the auger in two, so we had to find another quick. Found a 224 flex and made do with it to finish up.
Point is both of the headers were so far out of adjustment to cut with our combine, it was hardly possible to use them. The reels were like 6" too far forward and the leveling/cutterbar angle adjustments all along the back of the heads needed tightening up so it would cut close in the front without dragging the back of the header in the dirt. Maybe the guys that had them never had any short beans!
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Northern Illinois | I bet you can find a used head cheaper then fixing the old one. Find a couple consignment sales and see what used heads sell for before fixing your older one. In my area used heads are awfully cheap. |
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| see if you can find an air reel head or a air blower with snouts, forgot name. Air reels save many beans. And a 900 series is much better than a wore out 200. ALL of them need some work.and adjustment. |
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southern mn | Second that on air reel. Got an Ih 1020 35 ft with crary air reel and it does a great job. You really don't know how much the air is doing until you turn it off for awhile. I had a draper and I could never get it set right. Combine ate a lot of dirt that year. Just as muddy last year and never pushed once. |
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| I agree with that Ed. But it sure is hard to keep it that slow after dark. |
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South East Illinois | One thing that might have been missed. Check and see how much dirt is under the head. If there is allot of dirt it can cause the head to not lay flat enough to let the beans slide in. The complete sickle can be loosened up and slide it forward and clean it all out. It can make a huge difference if it is clean. Hope I didn't confuse you more. Talk to a service man. A good one will be willing to help if he knows you will call when you need them. |
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south west ohio | i bought a nice 220 head this winter at a sale and sold it to a local dealer along with a7700. if you decide you want to look for a new head let me know and i will get you there contact info. it was still on there lot a few weeks ago when i was up there.
brian
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| I agree with the above post that talked about grinding the flighting square with a disc grinder. You can’t believe the difference it makes! After running a 220 for years that made the biggest difference of any change I ever did. I did the same thing to my 930 as well. You hardly take off any metal off just grind the flighting square it makes a night and day difference! |
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SC MN | Contact Joe @ http://www.agmachinesolutions.com/index.html .
He will come to your farm and convert your auger to a full finger auger. Changes the entire dynamics of the head. Can run the real higher to avoid shattering and still feed well. You still need to maintain the rest of the head but a full finger auger is a must. |
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Bean head for this fall, what to do.
