Jeffersonville, OH | NwmoW900 - 8/17/2023 22:08
Looking to update our 4412 case ih head. Haven’t been very impressed with it. Went from a gleaner 3000 when we switched colors and I think it was a better head. Will we be disappointed with a 1230 GT non chop? We shell a lot of corn 20-23% and then end up down to 15 or under sometimes when we finish up. Will it save corn? Reliability? Or should I consider geringhoff? Thanks
Holy crap, how bad are CIH Cornheads? The 3000 Gleaner heads are dead nuts reliable, and do an OK job, but they are a 30 year old design that was limping along.
We sell Gleaner 3300 heads, and the Drago GT's...mostly Gleaner to Gleaner customers, and Drago to anyone else. Trade for mostly Deere heads on Drago, but a few CIH here and there.
The 3300 Gleaner is WAY ahead of the older 3000 header in terms of kernel losses, and the amount of trash it brings in. Night and day difference. You have almost nothing coming out the back of a combine running a 3300.
The Drago GT is a half step above it. From customer feedback, one of the best heads on the market. Low trash intake, best corn saving ability from the Quad suspension and auto adjusting deck plate with the downside being it does take extra maintenance of blowing out the deck plates regularly. Every 2-3 days depending on weather and morning dews. I have only had 1 customer question if it's actually worth the maintenance, but he is probably one of the most critical people I know...his maintenance program is already above and beyond what 95% of farmers do, and I bet he's going completely overboard on his cleaning.
One of the first heads we sold went on an S790 Deere, with a brand new Deere head being traded in. I went to demo it one Sunday morning, snapped it on his combine, calibrated the header control, and we went to shelling. Customer is a long time customer of ours, ran Gleaners for years until he got a bad couple machines back 2008 timeframe, and we told him to switch colors while we got the issues sorted out. VERY picky guy, gives very good feedback, but usually all negative, keeps the positive things to himself, and focuses on the bad. Anyway, he drops in and within 100 yards of shelling corn he looks over and says "You're not getting this head back." He was that impressed over the 612C Deere, that quickly.
As someone else said, Is saving corn worth the extra work? That's what you need to decide for yourself. See if you can get a demo of a GT, or find one close so you can ask that farmer how much work it actually is to him.
Also, most people saying the deck plates stick are talking about the older Series 2 designed deck plate adjusters. If those weren't greased with the right grease, they stuck terribly. The GT is a completely different design needing no grease for the deck plates. The only thing that can stick them is enough trash buildup to physically run out of room for them to move.
Chris
Edited by c_mayer 8/18/2023 07:41
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Drago GT
