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Central KS | Since we got a little rain last night, I am going to start looking for a corn head. Have talked to several different people with different opionions. I have a 9750 Deere combine. I have always figured I would get an 843 or 893. I want something with knife rolls, so I was probably leaning towards an 893. But... After talking to some different dealers, I have had several that recommended a 1083 Case IH. They said as far knife rollers go, the 10 series case heads were petty hard to beat. I talked to another dealer that had an 883 header that had been updated to like a 1083 with the waterpump bearings. I was wondering what header would be a good reliable head, and would do a good job of cutting the stalks off for me. Which ones will have the best gearboxes, and other components for the money between a Case IH 883, 1083, Deere 843, 893. What are thing I should look out for on a corn head? TIA. |
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| We have been using Case Ih corn heads for 30 years. The issues to look for in these corn heads are,The knives hace to be in close messh to each other ,like 1/8th inch close,check on the 883 if the rools have too much play.the squere drives could be wore out.not hard to fix.The knives do wear out and become rounded at the front,but they do go a long time before needing replacement.The drawback on the 883 maybe that the drive sproctket{top end} may have a schere bolt.Should this be the case a retrofit can be put in so that the top drive is a splined shaft and sproctket can be put in.CaseIh dealer would know this.When these older heads are in shape they are very trouble free and an excelent job.We have both a 883 and a 1083 haeds and do a lot of custom havesting and have no complaints on the jobs we do.Good Luck,hope this helps.
Old Guy in central MN. |
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Southcentral WI | Well, going with an 883 or a 1083 would definitely save you money up front. Getting an 893 with knife rolls is a good idea, pairs with the machine well. However, the roll design on an IH head is popular, with the 'teeth' of the roll matching head to head as they work, while the Deere's are intermeshing. On the Deere, with knife rolls, you have long life even after they get dull, they act like a regular roll. However with the IH design, once the rolls become dull, you'd better replace them if you want to do a good job handling the trash. I speak from personal experience. Gearboxes on both heads seem to hold up the same, as long as maintenance is done regularly. Save money upfront with the IH head, but in the long run it's pretty much a wash.
Dave |
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| Any IH/CIH head in the 800/900/1000 series will do pretty much the same job. The row units and gearboxes on the 900 & 1000 are different but there is nothing wrong with a 800 that is in good shape. The reason the boxes were changed was because of a lawsuit with Deere.
Any of these red heads have a far superior stalk roll design to any of the old green heads. Another option is aftermarket rolls on a Deere head, both Calmer and Clarke Machine have good aftermarket stalk rolls for green heads.
If I was looking for a head to use for quite a few years I would look for the cheapest 800 that I could find and totally rebuild it with parts from Shoup and Calmer. Then you would know what you had and it would be good for a few years without needing much. If you keep good oil in the gearboxes they will last forever. |
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Flora IL | 1083's are great heads. Deeres are more up to date in some areas. But they cut great and bullet proof gearboxes. Try to get oone with water pump front bearings. We never had that and greasing them isn't bad but time consuming. And its just convenient to not have to mess with it.
We had a 81 and 83 year 1083's for many years. Traded one for a 3408 since we went to a 6088
A lot of years and corn been shelled and not many issues so we can't complain |
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| A red head with totally shot beyond belief knives will still do a better job pulling stalks through the head than a Deere with inter meshing rolls will.
There is a reason that all Deere stalk rolls are wore out at the very front and the rest of the roll looks like brand new. It is just a crappy design. |
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Western illinois | if you can find a good 1083 with poly snouts, they're hard to beat.
just check knives. they need to be adjusted so they just miss each other.
the rolls have a square drive at the gearbox. if they are worn, the
knives won't meet the opposing roll like they should. the front gathering
chain idlers will wear where they slide through the aluminum support.
that will cause the gathering chain to wear into the stripper plate.
also the snout latches will wear out the aluminum casting making the
snouts a pia to raise. check the auger floor for cracks or even holes.
gear boxes are no trouble at all usually. all items mentioned can be
replaced. just takes money. all in all a very good head. can't help you
on the green ones. |
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South Dakota | I think the chopping head leaves too much mulch on the surface and keeps the ground cool. I know most of you are probably deep tilling. I use a salford in the fall and it doesn't work as well with a chopping head. I run the salford again in the spring. Many ways of doing things
Tull |
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sw corner ia. | 843 with clarke machine (which are oem case knives) rolls.
Nothing lasts as long or is as cheap. |
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cropsey, il 61731 | I bought a 2208 er.. started paying for a 2208 head last fall and it's pretty nice, but expensive (almost as much as the 1680 combine). What I wanted was the hydraulic deck plates and auto height and I have it in the 2208. However it's really a NH head and I'm not convinced it's the best solution (no bearing, bushing or bracket supporting the rolls in front). If I could have waited there seems to be a few 1083's around with the hyd deck plate conversion in what seemed 'rebuilt' condition (knives, chains, sprockets, water pump bearings). Plastic dividers are nice and can be retrofitted at any time also. Bottom line for me is I could have bought a $13K head and added the auto height sensors for much less than the $26K 2208 - I don't think there is an extra $13K of value to me (for my operation).
Nice thing about the 1083 heads is parts are available from the dealer, shoup and any number of aftermarket sources. Lots of them were made, so gearboxes, etc are available salvage as well. JD heads are certainly well built, but the whole stalk roll idea doesn't seem to be a great idea once there is a little wear. I guess the stalk is supposed to break down better because it's pinched like a moco does to hay. However, shreding it up with knives seems to get the job done as well.
thanks,
Pat |
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| I disagree on the gearboxes. The Case design is much more reliable. |
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Amherst WI | I'll second that. I have some freinds that had red combines for years. About 4 years ago they went the Machinery Link route and got a JD 9660 or 9770. They love the 635 hydra flex bean head. They hate the 893 corn head, with a passion. They had red heads of over 30 years and never changed a gear box, they have changed at least 3 on the 893 and one of them, they changed twice.
As long as you keep oil in the red ones they run forever.
If it were me I would go with the 1083 route. Even those are getting to be 10+ years old now. The tin is going to start cracking on them, and a 800 series head is going to be even worse. Unless you want to do a COMPLETE rebuild on a 800 series I owuld staty away from them, not that they are bad just getting really, really wore out now. |
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| 800 and 1000 series are good heads, 2208 are good except when they put the center auger bearing in they don't feed in dry condtions. We're running ajd 608 now and like it. I do have a bish head adapter to go from a red corn head to a 9760 and a head sight system if you go that way. thanks steve |
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Central Kansas | With last year being my first year of growing corn on limited acres, I looked for a head last year. Just about bought a 883 but found a 1083 for $1,000 more so went with that one. It does not have the water-pump bearings but was told by the owner that he greased them twice a day and got along just fine. I had to adjust some things on it for "Kansas dry land Corn" (stripper plates) but other than that, it ran flawlessly! Looking forward to hooking on to it again this Fall and beings we got 1.60 hundredths of rain over the last couple of days, feel confident that it will get used. |
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| Non of the Deere or IH/CIH heads mentioned are chopping heads. The IH/CIH heads have knife rolls, they do not chop. The stalks look like they've been chopped when you compare them to stalks that were run through a corn picker (green head).
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central ILL | I had red heads for 25 years and always thought they were the best. But i ended up trading for a newer John Deere combine with a 893 head with straight fluted rolls. I built a 4 in. wedge kit for it to make it run flatter and it will cut stalks closer than my old red heads did. Have 2 friends built kits for theirs and they can't believe how close they cut. I would never go back to a red head. Plus if i need parts Deere has them. |
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| Maybe you can get Deere parts when you need them but it's not that way around here. We don't buy alot of Deere parts but what we use should be pretty common stuff and 80% of the time I hear "we don't have it in stock but can get it for morning" and lately it seems like more often than not the next day parts has turned into a two or three day wait. On the other hand the Case IH dealer most of our parts come from probably has enough parts on hand to build an entire corn head out of parts and Case has gotten real good about if they don't have a part they will have it the next day. Seems like Deere used to be really good about getting parts the next day and now it's worse than before but since Case opened their warehose at Cameron, Missouri our red parts are second to none. |
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| If you had a "red" combine behind those red heads all you needed to do in order to leave 4" stumps is adjust the faceplate on the throat. We've done it more than I care for combining down corn so I know it is possible. There is no reason a 800/900/1000 red head on a AF combine can't run as low or lower than any other combo out there. Just adjust the angle of the head and the snouts. As for parts, I know what parts we are likely to need and keep those in the combine cab. That pretty much equates to gathering chain idler sprockets and a few assorted bolts. Anything else that we need we have a parts head laying in the pasture that I can rob anything off that we don't have new on hand. In the past 12 years of running a 844 IH (now a shop made 853 soon to be a shop made 882) that was worn out when it came here we have had to go to town to get parts for the corn head during harvest exactly 1 time to get a piece of 2050 chain and a connecting link.
Parts at the dealer I'd say red and green are pretty equal "here" based off of my experience but we don't get many parts through the dealer anyway. Be prepared and order what you will likely need in advance from Shoup or Sloan.
Edited by Kooiker 7/5/2010 20:56
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Caldwell County Kentucky | I've had a IH 963 corn head for 11 years now. The tin work is cracking, I just riveted on some panels over the cracks. Replaced the auger trough since it was cracking. Put in a poly on top of the metal trough-works fine.
Two of the gearboxes didn't hold oil when I got the head, they still don't. I just put in a bunch of JD corn head grease once or twice a harvest-works fine.
Doesn't matter what speed (mph, not over 5-6 mph) you run, the corn stalks are pulled down and cut off whereas the JD heads leave the stalks sticking up in the air 3,4, or 5 feet leaning the direction the combine ran.
I'd go with the 883 or 1083.
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Oklahoma Panhandle | Wildcat385, email me if you are still looking for a cornhead. I have a 1083 for sale set up to run on a JD 9750. We replaced a lot of parts on it two years ago and it is in good shape. Going to switch to a 12 row. Also have an 8R30 Gleaner head for sale. |
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Cornhead bang for your buck
