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NC/NE Iowa | After reading all the threads about chopping corn heads on here I still cannot decide which way to go. We ran a Lexion (Capello) head for 7 years and the durability and longevity of the head was unreal. I don't want to drive far to get parts and resale is a killer so those are probably out of the question. Great head though if you have a dealer near by.
Bought a 2014 Case IH 4408 chopping last fall. Got the head home and realized bearing out of the #1 and #8 row gearboxes. Dealer said no biggy, his buddy is a new holland dealer a lot closer to me than he was. They picked it up replaced whole #8 gearbox and bearings in #1.This head didn't call for the update/recall like many others, but they did it anyways. Ran 400 acres and had a steady stream of oil coming out of lower gearbox where the hex shaft goes through the drive box on #8. Called dealer he had his NH buddy come pick it up again. Had someone go get the last gear box in Iowa according to the parts guy. Few days go by get the head back and already a spot of oil underneath it. Called dealer again, says he'll straighten it out, never heard back from him. After close examination I find out they didn't even put the new gearbox on my head, only the lower drive (which cannot be purchased according to the CNH parts book) so now I have a 2 season old head with a gear box that will probably shell out in the next few years. They told me to keep running it when it was leaking so we kept putting Lucas Oil Stabilizer in it to try to slow it down. No idea how long we ran it low on oil or the extent of the damage we may or may not of caused.
We only ran the head across 700 acres of corn this year. Last 150 were a nightmare. Granted, it was the best corn our farm has ever produced but only 19-20% moisture. Couldn't break 3.0 mph with out slip clutches going off. Friend of ours ran a new 4412F chopping and they had slip clutch issues as well. Since ours is out of warranty not sure I want to drop a bunch of $$$ on slip clutches as well as tear the head apart to fix the oil leak that both dealers so kindly left me with. We'll have twice the corn acres in the coming year so we cannot have issues like this.
So now on to what to do next. Trade it off for another 4408, buy a Drago GT, or go with a Geringhoff Rota-Disc? Case dealer in town sells Drago as well and they tend to promote those over the Case heads but uncle ran a Drago and had enough problems with it to steer me away. Supposedly the GTs are the next best thing. I think his is a 1st gen. We'd have to drive about 25 miles to get Geringhoff parts.
Anyone else had this many problems with their 4400 series even after updates were done?
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Mid-Missouri | If you liked your lexion head for 7 years with minimal trouble, why not use it or buy another one? Resale seldom is good if your on the selling end! It sounds like your current header is going to suffer resale value as well.
If your header had issues under warranty, why won't the dealer fix it properly? |
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NC/NE Iowa | Lexion dealer is 35 miles away and NEVER has parts on hand. We switched to a red combine so we'd have to run a Capello and supposedly we cant get "Capello" parts from the Lexion dealer. Nearest Capello dealer would be 45 or 50 miles away. The Lexion/capello was good no doubt, but stripper plates could use improving. Pretty bad head shelling in dry corn. Big reason for the switch from yellow to red was to get better dealer support and be closer to the parts counter. Gearboxes were in the process of shelling out on our Lexion head even after maintaining the head meticulously since we owned it from new.
Case head was out of warranty when I bought it(claimed to have 1000 acres on it) but since it was broke when I bought it and neither of us noticed he fixed it for free. IMO it was the quality to which the repairs were done is why I'm in the situation I'm in now.
Edited by kinserj23 2/15/2016 21:55
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Casey Illinois | Have ran a 4400 for 2 years. 0 problems, a couple updates. Would put it up with any of the other brands. |
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| If something needs updates sounds like problems. |
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Casa Grande,AZ | FWIW we have 5 4412 heads new in 2015 and put a little over 2,000 acres on each head with very little problems, mostly just loose bolts from the factory that the dealer didn't catch during set-up due to putting corn planters being put together at the same time, Do about as good a job as any geringhoff or deere 612C we had in the past, overall a really good head, way better than the 3412 & 2412's we had in the past. |
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ECIL | We like our 4408 cornhead, but had similar issues with the number 8 gearbox. We had it back to the dealer twice to fix it. The head was 1 week out of warranty when it first started leaking, the dealer fixed it, ran it 1 day, and it started leaking again. Ran it all fall, putting oil in it every day. Dealer fixed it again after fall. This time they put an updated bearing hanger on it. The dealer stood behind it the best they could, but we never saw a dime from Case IH, even though the cornhead was faulty from the factory. When buying new equipment from Case IH, you need to consider that they don't always stand behind their machinery.....at least that has been our experience. |
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Central IL | I'm trying to remember now to be exact... But, I'm almost sure there was an update on the #8 gearboxes to re-align them with the rear hex shaft, and it was only row #8. For some reason the were not straight and it was getting into the seal and causing the leak and even bearing failure in some cases. Our 4408 was leaking when I got it out of the shed last summer, they did the update and have had 0 issues. You stated you changed to the red head for dealer support, but sounds like your not having any luck with dealer support! |
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n.c.iowa | your local red dealer in the first place? |
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North Central Illinois | Geringhoff or Drago will solve your problem. The Case heads are a joke compared to Geringhoff and Drago. |
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| Funny how everyone can have different results, neighbor bought a 12 row Drago and had nothing but problems, bought a CNH head and has been very happy. |
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n.c.iowa | kind of what we have seen roadrunner. uncle had a series one and absolutely hated it, lasted on his farm for two years. the series two heads have had some haters and lovers. hope the gt's have all the bugs worked out, they sold a pile of them here locally. |
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NC/NE Iowa | spr352 The old man on the farm thinks there needs to be a bearing hanger so interesting that they did that to yours. Was is a Case update or something the dealer rigged up? Did you guys have any slip clutch issues?
The local red dealer only sold one of the 4400 series, otherwise all Dragos but I'm still not sold on those. I didnt want to spend the money for a new head so the only 1 year old I could find at the time was up in MN. Dealer I bought it from did right having is NH dealer buddy fix it for me the first couple times. I thinks its the quality of work the NH did is why I'm up **** creek. Also hard to bitch to the NH dealer whos fixing my red corn head and I do practically no business with the NH dealer other than a few parts every year.
We're one of those farms that takes practically nothing to town to get fixed unless it under warranty.
I'm pretty convinced I'm going to trade it off because I dont want to spend my time and money to fix a head that wasn't fixed properly by a dealer.
Edited by kinserj23 2/16/2016 09:40
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Flora IL | I bought a 3412 for damn near nothing and put on the old style deck plates from shoup and love the head and had no issues but at the very end had a slip clutch bust. we also run two 3408's with it that we bought new and have never had any down time.
Just a thought. |
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Pesotum, IL | Yes, there is a bulletin on right hand driveshaft misalignment. It involves installing a bearing support plate (p/n 84977230). It is a very simple update by the looks of it. Your red dealer should be able to provide the part and the yellow dealer install with no problem. We haven't had many problems with the 4400 series heads. Mostly gathering chains jumping out of time. |
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NC/NE Iowa | Friends of ours said there is a little plastic spacer available from the dealer that you can put in the spring tensioner so the chains run a littler tighter. We had the same problem with some chains getting out of time. |
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Pesotum, IL | Yeah we've put them on one of the 4408 heads we have out with so-so results. |
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North Central Illinois | Ghoffs and Dragos have been very reliable and durable around here for years. There are very few red combines running with CIH heads in this area simply because the CIH heads don't even compare in quality. Boog has posted on here for several years now about their trials and tribulations with CIH heads. They have tried every new series that came out and have been very patient I believe. This year he finally threw in the towel and got a Gerhinghoff. I think they were well please with little or any problems. When the 1000 series heads came out CIH had about the best cornhead on the market. Unfortunately time passed them by and they did not keep up with technology and changes like Deere and then Gerhinghoff and Drago. They are still trying to play catch up. |
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Pesotum, IL | The 4400 series is everything the 1000 series is and more. I'll put a 4400 up against anything else out there. |
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North Central Illinois | We will see but I would still put a Ghoff or Drago up against the 4400 series. Not saying it is a bad head but one look at it tells me it isn't made nearly as well. Everything on a Drago is heavier and wears longer than a Case head. The Drago puts more corn in the tank too. The 4400 I saw last fall shelled as bad or worse than a Ghoff.
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Issues with Case IH 4408, what next?
