tractorseat
New User
We were looking at a Gleaner M2 combine today. It has a 15' flexible grain head. The owner told us that he had experienced difficulty getting oats to feed up the head and into the throat properly if the oats had a lot of green foxtail or other green weeds growing up through it. He said that it was because the distance between the knives and the auger and fingers was too great, and the green stuff just builds up in a wad in front of the fingers and then gets rammed through all at once when the wad gets big enough, resulting in a plug somewhere downstream in the machine. Because it's not possible to reverse the flow of material through the machine, a plug-up meant stopping and unplugging by hand. He also said that this was a design problem with all flexible heads, be they for AC, IH, JD, or anyone. He had tried to find a rigid head, but said that they are pretty hard to come by these days for that size machine.
Is this a common problem with flex heads in ripe yet weedy oats or wheat? He indicated that with rye, the problems weren't nearly as bad, because rye is so much taller and spans the distance in question much more easily. Is this specifically a Gleaner issue, or is it really something that all flex heads do, regardless of make?
Thank you.
Is this a common problem with flex heads in ripe yet weedy oats or wheat? He indicated that with rye, the problems weren't nearly as bad, because rye is so much taller and spans the distance in question much more easily. Is this specifically a Gleaner issue, or is it really something that all flex heads do, regardless of make?
Thank you.