Jeffersonville, OH | Dekalb - 6/11/2023 20:40
We’ve had gleaners for many years. Still run them. I think you’d be disappointed in a S98 capacity wise compared to an 8250. The S series gleaner is really a class 6 machine with more horsepower added. An S98 won’t run with an 8250 or an S780. We run an S78, it’s been a great machine and works well for us. 8 row corn head and 30 ft Draper is enough in our yield environment. Having said that, those are the heads you see on many class 6 machines. Once the gleaner class 8s get some hours on them they’ll find out that there’s a few components that can’t handle the extra power and they will fail. Solid machines but they’re really only at a class 6 maybe class 7 capacity wise.
I had the same conversation with a customer with an S790 Deere looking at an S98. I explained the shortcomings of the Gleaner in a brute force capacity situation, where with a Class 9 Deere you can just force material in the front if you don't care what comes out the back, and we discussed his requirements in a sense of acres and bushels they can cover in a day now with their S790.
The rest of their operation won't handle the bushels the output of the S790 could run if you could force it, so we actually can likely do a better job harvesting and maybe an extra hour per day of actual harvesting instead of sitting waiting on trucks or the cart to get back. They also admitted that the S790 doesn't do as good a job on losses or grain quality as they would prefer, which is where the Gleaner can really shine. So, going from memory, he was looking for 25-30K bushels of corn in a 10-12 hour day, which is easy for any Gleaner combine depending on grain handling...and his standing goal is to harvest 200 acres of beans a day (which he also admitted all depends on how much you move, not the size of the combine). That goal is no different with the Deere or the Gleaner, it depends more on how much you move, what time you can start and how late you can run...but I told him my customers with S97's and 40' headers CAN cut 200 acres in a day, but it's a good and big day. I have a customer with 2 S96's and 40' drapers and they can also cut 200 acres per day per machine, but they are in heaven cutting in fields not usually smaller than 500+ acres.
An S78 and an S97 are very different machines in the soybean field, the feeding changes they have made in the S9 made a big difference. Again, I have customers running 40' headers in good beans (55-70bu/ac) and they can comfortably cut at 4mph, sometimes 4.5mph if things are nice and dry. Sure you hit a green spot you have to slow down, but they feed so much better than the older machines, and with what we've learned in the rotors and adjustments, they act VERY different.
Now, I'll agree a Class 8 is not a "Real" Class 8...more like a 7+. Our rotor losses are our bottleneck. We can force a ton of material into them, but will blow some out the back, as will any machine to a point, but our point is probably earlier than most other Class 8's. We have always been advised, and advised our customers than our S97 is the best bang for the buck, and unless you need extra HP to climb hills, the threshing capacity is pretty close in MOST harvesting situations. Most, not all. Your Gleaner dealer will know your area and harvesting requirements best!!
Chris |
Anyone here running a S9 series Gleaner?
