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EC IL | I do not have experience with the GT, but from what I have read the GT has no real changes to the deck plate open/close function. But they should self-clean the deck plates (unless wet debris sticks) unlike the series 2.
Yes, we have seen the exact same thing on a series 2 as you. Deck plates will stick open under high speed. There just is no ability for the deck plates to spring closed when stuffed full of stalks. However, higher drive speeds on the head helps too so there are just 2 or 3 stalks being processed in the plates at one time vs 4 or 5 stalks. We run 600 rpm any time speeds are over ~ 4.0, and try to raise the head so less of the large butt of the stalk is being processed too. If you must run with the tips on the ground, slowing down is just part of the day. You don't want to tear up a gearbox anyway with too much sustained load.
Separate the problems of the "head" though from the problem created by the crop. If you have spindly stalks & small ears mixed in with large stalks, it's really a planting and early growth issue, not a cornhead issue. You need every plant to come up at the same time so ears and stalks are all the same size to stop this. Also, if you have broken-over stalks that pull tassel first, they will also shell the tip of the ear, especially if the cob is soft.
You addressed cleaning as being adequate, but what exactly are you doing? Do you still have the ~2" wide X 14" long plates on the bottom of the rows? We took ours off, and reinforced with 1/2" pipe and bolts, allowing all 3 debris-removal ports to be open at all times. We were told the plates are not needed on non-chopping heads. In good conditions, we do a 100% cleanout (shy of taking off the snapping rolls) every 200 acres or so. In poor conditions where lots of debris lays on the skid plates, you may have to swipe the material off of the skid plate every 1-3 hours so the bottom hole stays clear, and do a full cleanout every day. If the bottom debris-removal hole gets 100% blocked ever (especially with wet debris) you will be in for a very long cleaning process. I'd love to have a high cfm compressor for this process.
We grease the tensioners per the pre-season checklist, and have not had to re-grease in 1200-1500 acres any year since, and we have not had to put cam travel limiters on the deck plates. But, we are not trying to run sustained high speeds in most years either. If yours are sticking, do a complete cleanout, and get them working again before use by following the pre-season checklist. If that doesn't work, you may have the seals beat out of them and they are full of dirt instead of grease. It's just not worth pulling whole ears through the deck plates. If you have never had snapping rolls off, you have never fully cleaned the whole debris channel out either.
I would still test other brands before you buy. We ran a Calmer (w/ JD row units & Case 2200 series plastic) one year and went right back to a series 2. We realized quickly we got spoiled by the Drago's better stalk/ear processing and didn't know it. The shell corn savings vs any other standard pitch short roller head is huge.
edited for spelling...
Edited by Deepfreeze 10/7/2021 16:07
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drago series 2 vs drago GT
