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West Central Illinois | Wondering what people might have to say about each. Pros/cons of each. We we would be running a jd combine. Any experiences or food for thought when considering purchase for next year would be appreciated.
Thanks |
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Watford City, ND | sthpaw10 - 10/25/2016 22:09
Wondering what people might have to say about each. Pros/cons of each. We we would be running a jd combine. Any experiences or food for thought when considering purchase for next year would be appreciated.
Thanks
Which headers are we comparing? Rigid or flex??
600D draper are okish. I'd prefer a Macdon over them any day (D60, D50).
Flexdrapers are a coin flip - lots of people like the Deeres and the MacDons.
On older rigids, 936D Deere's are solid units. The MacDons are good, but lighter built IMHO. I'm comparing 960, 962, 973. I do prefer any double knive drive over single (can't get double on Deere 936D). |
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East Central, Nebraska | i have no experience with either but have been contemplating a switch to a flex draper myself. i am also looking at both brands. a guy i know traded a 40 ft macdon fd75 into a local dealer recently. i wasn't terribly interested because it was a 40 footer. he had agreed that it might be a little much for my combine (a 9760 deere). we had talked a little about it and he asked if i had looked at either up close. i said no. he said on the deere their is a spot between the belts that you can stick your hand that that he felt that you would have to lose soybeans there. i would likely have to agree. just watching here locally it seems to me that the mac don will be my likely choice due to the fact that it is what is on the front of most combines around here and that is likely what i will find the most of used. i guess we will see. my auger head works fine and seems to be worth about nothing so maybe i will stick with that for a while. the more corn i pick the more i think that a better investment for me would be a chopping corn head so that could likely be where i burn up any equipment upgrade money. |
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NW TN, Dyersburg | This is my second yr with a 30' FD75-S Macdon, I traded in a 630 Hydraflex, I know this isn't apples to apples but the difference in performance is amazing. The Macdon is a very good header, only negatives I know of; its heavy (but I'm told the Deere draper is lots heavier), changing guards &/or sections is more of a pain (slower) than on the Deere & I've had the cutter bar to stop when cutting crossways (90*) to the rows (all sections hit a stalk simultaneously). Overall, it's a very impressive header. I have a friend that's on his 4th or 5th yr with a Macdon, for the last 5 days he's had a demo S680 with a Deere draper, he liked the combine but says he wouldn't have the header, says it's not even close to the Macdon in performance. There are lots of Macdons in this area. |
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West Central IL | Our dealer sells both. Told us that we would be happy with either one. We went with the MacDon. |
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| Not exactly apples to apples but I know several guys who have gone from 600 series auger heads to Macdon's and found the Macdon's to be way more durable and reliable.
From what I've seen around here the Macdon's will have less trouble in tough ground conditions where the Deere will want to push and drag.
As for flex this terrace with about 4' of rise was cut with one pass with our 35' Macdon.
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West Central Illinois | Thanks cliff -
We are coming from an agco draper on our combine.
Have also heard that pushing can be an issue with Deere but that is remedied by adjusting the pitch of the feederhouse throat. Drapers are designed to run more of a downhill pitch, while auger platforms are to be run more flat. Could be part of the reason guys might be having issues - no experience myself though.
Thanks for the input. |
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| In our area, Macdons are the choice due to terraces. The ability of the "backbone" of the head to flex allows us to fit in and around terraces better than any other option. |
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South Dakota | I purchased a FS75 last year. I coundnt believe the world of change from auger head. Recently I had my center feed drum come to a stop. The drive chain came off the left size and all hell happened. It turns out the fingers bent because they don't break. They caused the crank inside to break. It bent the drum all up. $5000 and 4 days down time. I posted this and was surprised to get responses that showed this happened. I took my drum to auto shop to have them straighten out. New crank and replaced fingers with poly. I still am not sure why the fingers bent. I had some slugs when it was damp I had to reverse but I didn't have a rock go in????
Not so in love with my MacDon anymore. |
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| Have you contacted your dealer or MacDon about the issue? My experience with them has been really positive they stand behind their products when something isn't right. |
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Alton, Ia | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZduWsOiWTpY
Whatever marketing person at Deere that thought this video was a good thing should be shot.
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Walnut Grove, MN. | Had a Macdon traded it for a auger head it was worth it |
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| That video is only relevant if you run a Deere disk ahead of the planter. |
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NE SD | That video is not a marketing video. It was a product intro to dealers. We have some terrain similar to that so I fail to see the problem. |
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NC Iowa | The Deere draper head is incredible. For us, it absolutely never pushes damp straw, never has once. And if in any case it ever would, all you have to do is turn up the hydraflex pressure and it will stop. On a nice flat field you can have your pressure set fairly high where it needs little flex. You can have a second setting that is extremely low and as you approach a gully or any uneven spot you can hit it to that setting, turn it into a noodle and then change it back once its flatter again. There are no smile/frown adjustments, you never have to get out of the cab or think for one second about if the head is light on the ends or heavy and mess with the linkages for each side or the springs of the center adapter. There's no lock/unlock levers or weird bolts with washers behind them that slam up and down a million times a day. The center drum is pto driven with gearbox, no chains. The reel isn't chain driven, I think there is a chain there too on the MacDon. Direct drive on both ends with PTO shafts, no hydraulic driven belt drives. There isn't a tank of hydraulic fluid on the head. You will never lose a single bean on the belt gap. If you want to combine beans get a John Deere. If you want to tinker, get the MacDon. |
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| I'd have to agree with rod. You can start earlier cut later and work on it less |
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West Central Illinois | Why did you trade back to an auger head? |
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South Dakota | The Titan dealership that sold me the MacDon Unit repaired it. Yes factory was told. Nobody ever heard of such a thing happening.
This is a posting about my problem when I had it.
http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=663869&posts=1... |
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South Dakota | Before my problem I knew in the first minute I would never have an auger head again.................I still wouldn't go back
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Walnut Grove, MN. | the combine with the macdon head always seemed to be stopped when i got back to the field with the truck seemed to be a broken guard or sickle section. the other combine which had a auger head kept going. was rarely stopped. |
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NE KS | I like the idea of the draper but dad said he used to combine beans with a rigid head back in the day and will be damned if he'll ever use one again. I know everyone says the macdon is a flex but really its nothing more than a rigid head with skit plates. Dealership brought one out last week and I was surprised it worked better than I thought but its still not a "flex" head. You've not seen a terrace until you cut one that is 30' at the riser and 12' at the break on the channel side. My 2020 is a POS but it will shave the ground in any terrace, ditch, swag, or low spot. |
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Macdon vs. jd draper
