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I could use a little more schooling....

D

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
Flex heads. Combined corn for three years now, but I picked up an 820 IH flex head last year and decided to plant a few acres in beans to try it out. So I know the advantage of this head is that it cuts really close to the ground and follows the contours of the ground. It came with lockouts that make it rigid and these are removed. How do you run these? Flat on the ground? Just above the ground? It all works fine near as I can tell. Just need a little guidance on operation.
 
Combine should have an automatic header height control that can be preselected to give you the desired height and range and you don't have to touch the height control til you want to fully raise the head.Ben
 
If he has a 1660 and a 820 head, there is a good chance the combine header control and the head aren't compatible. Probably the combine is electrical and the head is cable operated. What I have done, is stop at the end of the field and drop the head until the cutterbar just touched the ground without the weight of the head on it, and drive. The cutter bar will flex up and down with the ground and do a pretty good job.
 
You won't "tie up" your header (make it rigid) unless you are cutting small grains or milo. I cut the milo with the header in flex this year. It just depends on your year. Wheat definitely needs it rigid.

I sure don't like to use the flex head without the Contour Master and Dial-o-Matic. It just depends on your ground and whether you have terraces. I've had to run without it when a sensor went out, so it can be done with just the flex head. You have to run slower and I can't seem to do it at night. Not my favorite perk to do without. It will be worth learning considering the price of corn and your crop this year. I had around 700 acres of soys this year. .
 
You won't ever want it locked ridged for beans.

If it has some version of auto header height control, you want to use that. It is way cool.

Without auto controls, play with it a bit on level open ground. You want the header not all the way down in the dirt, and not all the way up that it is barely touching the ground. You want it right about 1/2 way, so it has room to flex up or down from where you are.

The trouble is, short or difficult beans don't like to feed in a header real well. Thrn, you need the header lowered lower. Less angle to sweep the beans up and in. And so, you need to crowd it down pretty low to the ground.

Combining beans is a bit nerve racking. Lot of dust, need to shave the ground but not eat rocks, and so forth. Beans bunch up and feed poorly much more so than corn.

Paul
 
I would have to agree with that, but Mike is correct. The combine and head are not compatible. The head has a cable system and the combine is electric. That being said, I believe the head can be converted. I have seen instructions for a kit to do so...just have not been able to find the kit. This is on my "to do" list for 2017. Links to one would be appreciated, if anyone knows. Hoping CIH is not going to be the source. Probably big bucks if so.
 
I agree. I have been encouraged to grow a soy and corn rotation. The elevator guys eyes bug out when I ask about wheat. He says there is no money in it. I gave up on oats until I need some for feed. Not a lot of money in Michigan oats, most people want the more pretty and expensive oats from across the border. I am pretty sure with a little experimentation with the swather and pickup head I could get some nicer looking oats...but they still won't pay me anything for them. So soy and corn is my thing right now and I am actually putting one small field into hay again because it is a watershed and difficult to get consistent yield in grain. I'm learning. :)
 
The only HHC I have this year is my right thumb on the rocker switch...and I am pretty good at it. Only a small field of beans this year so not too much hardship. Will try to get the HHC on board next year. My beans suffered from the drought as much as the corn. It was July before you could even tell there were rows of beans in with the weeds. I had to spray three times to keep the velvet leaf and crabgrass from eating the field. Never did get what I would call a canopy...even in the corn. Hard year. Some good lessons learned.
 
Dad and the uncles never liked the automatic headers too much. From the time we had Case 700 and 960's they wanted us to watch the header and do it manually. Of course those were 4 row machines and our ground is very flat with few rocks!!!
As we progressed to gleaner L2 and L3, we used the automatic headers much more. We switched back to Case with a 1660, a couple of 2388's and now a 7088. If I remember correctly, your head should have a bar or rod on the right side that can be easily seen from the cab. As you put more down pressure on the cutter bar, it moves to show you the position. The 2388 and 7088 both have had the return to cut feature, and that is what we use mostly. You raise the head at the end of the field, turn around, then hit the return to cut when you are straight. We then make adjustments manually through the fields.
As I said though, we have very flat ground.
 
I have ran a 1660 with a 1020 head,and they are compatible.There is a height indicator on the right side of the head,and you set the control to auto,and set the dial to adjust the height so the indicator is midway.After you set it up,you just drop the head down with the button-push and release-and it goes down to the preset height and will compensate for rolling ground automatically.If I were you,I would look for a 1020 head.Mark
 
I don't know what MI wheat is about. I assume it's soft wheat not hard red winter wheat like here in Kansas. The nice thing about wheat is your input costs are so very low. You aren't spraying it and your seed is just what you had cleaned from last year's crop. Not to mention it is an excellent soil builder. I don't grow as much wheat as I used to, but I still put in a couple hundred acres this year. I assume you can't double crop up there, but my wheat beans usually produce just as well as my single crop beans.
 
No money in it for him, or you?

Do they still grow white wheat in MI for the cereal industry?
Wheat can be a good crop in rotation with corn and beans... the extra year really helps break a lot of disease cycles. A cover crop after the wheat, like clover can produce 50-80 lb of N for the following years corn crop, too.
 
Wow. And we were drowning all summer over here. What a difference a few states make.....

Yea, my HHC isn't working right on the M3 either, and I just wing it also. Got the bean head on the L3, and thrn I remembered what a joy and ease it is to use with HHC again.....

Paul
 
It seems to me you are right! So don't feel that I am getting snippy in response.

I have a file cabinet and each piece of equipment has a hanging file in it. In the files I like to keep an operators, service, and parts manual. If it is too big for a file, it will be on the bookshelf next to it. I do not buy copies. Poor quality and often bootleg, I only buy good originals. Generally these come from ebay but a lot of manuals are from folks here. I just bought the combine service manual last month from a guy here. Looked for it for three years, which is my point. They are not always easy to find and I do not yet have one for the 820 head. But I keep looking.

One more point about IH manuals, they tend to skim over "the obvious". Unfortunately, "the obvious" is not always obvious. I will be interested to see if the question asked here is even answered in the manual.

But you are correct, I do need to get back on the search. I mostly do this during winter when I am tied to the desk doing taxes. During my breaks I try to update my manual collection.
 
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