Rotor compared to a concave

Could someone explain the difference between a rotor and a regular concave combine? I have a 6620 and am looking to upgrade to something that will do a better job on a 400 acre budget. I have a lot of hills and am not sure what to look for. Sidehill? someone else recommended a rotor and I don't know what that is. Thanks

The primary advantage rotary combines have is increased threshing area in a machine that can still fit in standard shed doors and drive down the road. Also, instead of having to get the threshing done in one shot under a cylinder, crop in a rotary is moved along the entire axis of the rotor allowing additional threshing time. Area x time = greater capacity.

Gotta remember, though, rotaries have concaves as well as conventional combines.

I would look for a JD 9500 sidehill. There you will have more capacity and some better comforts while running it.

I had alot of hills in NW Mo and id take a rotor over a side hill any day of the week

Go with the 9500 side hill like J D says . The saved grain will be impressive. clint

I wonder if they meant a rotary like a Case IH. Great combines, but they do break up the straw pretty bad.

In my opinion a 9500 is old technology even deere don't think much of them anymore, I would go with and older IH 1400 series Rotor combine will do a lot better job threshing out and not near the damage to your crop.

A CIH rotary is good on hills leaning one way but not the other way due to the direction of rotation of the rotor. I'm pretty sure we leaned them to the left when we went around the side of terraces to reduce the loss out the back. In row crops sometimes you don't have a choice of which way to lean the machine.

I like my 9500. It is still simple enough in many respects that I can do most repairs. It has enough technology in it to be able to monitor things. They are getting older so it would have to be taken care of (no mouse eating wiring, etc) for it to be a good move. This one has been on the farm since it was a year old. It's got around 3500 hours now I think but still works well.

Picture in your mind the cylinder/concave arrangement in your 6620. Now, turn the whole assembly 1/4 turn so that the left and right ends of the cylinder are now the front and rear. Now, enlarge the whole thing so that it would fit in your 6620 in the area from the feeder house to the screens. That is basically what a rotary combine looks like inside--just a super big 'cylinder/concave' running longitudnally in the combine. Of course, the concave arrangement is somewhat different such that parts of it can be removed for different crops. Good system, but not without its disadvantages---need a crane to remove the rotor for major repairs, can be a handful in green soys, but do give a nice sample. Try one out and see for yourself.

Ben

I've run conventional Gleaner combines since 1979 or so.

Many, many smart farmers running all sorts of colors of equipment say going to a good older Red rotary combine, like a 1460 or newer/ bigger, is a pretty smart move. Simple machines, easy to figure out, do a good job.

I've never heard much at all about the JD rotary machines, according to them they invented the design 20-30 years after every other company had one, but anyhow whatever. The conventional JD combines are popular with the Green folks in the neighborhood, tho I don't actually hear such glowing reports as I do from the Red rotary combine owners.

Gleaner has had nice rotary combines since the 52 series, but they had some growing pains getting to those models, and it shows in the decreased number of dealers any more.

New Holland is not a popular combine at all here, so I have no idea.

Massey, I think they make a rotary, not really sure, have to go quite a ways to find a Massey dealer gp here any more.

A rotary can control the way it thrashes in many different conditions because it moves the grain and trash through the round cylinder much more, in a controlled way. A conventional combine relies on gravity and a rather short path through the cylinder so hills and tough conditions are more of a challenge.

Rotaries tend to chew up straw into small bits, if you need to bale a lot of good long straw a conventional will give you better straw.

As big a fan of Gleaner as I am, I would strongly look at a case-IH rotary if upgrading.

Paul

A rotary uses multiple passes over the concave to thresh the grain, a conventional has one pass. The rotor also separates the grain, so you don't need straw walkers. If you have lots of hillsides a Gleaner rotary is hard to beat.

The rotor shines in side hills.

Maybe look for a 1688 or 2188 depending on your budget and never look back. I've had a couple older green conventionals and my 2188 is the best thing I ever did. Get a Shoups catalog and your set!