John Deere 42 combine

putting a 205 corn head on to run corn this fall and I had someone tell me I should run filler plates on the cylinder of the 42 just wondering if it will shell corn with out them? Thanks Howard

That always seems to be a debate on here... and I think a lot depends on where you live, and how wet you combine corn. I live in SE WI, and frankly have never seen a combine in the shop without them! Here, corn combining can start at 30 percent moisture, and thats where they are needed, in high moisture corn. Others on this site who live in a climate where it is possible to get corn to dry to near market moisture report that they never use them.

Being you have a 42, I doubt you are looking to combine 1000 acres of corn with this rig, right? I'm guessing it may go out for a few Saturday afternoons? If that is the case, why not let the corn dry into the low 20's or lower, or just run without them? It may not be perfect shelling, but would probably be pretty good. Good enough to have a good time, anyway.

Good luck and have fun! And POST SOME PICTURES!

that sounds good because I dought I could find any today and yes its just for fun thanks Howard

That is a subject of constant debate! I used to have them on my old 55rb and 45sb. The 'new' 95 doesn't have them at all.I can honestly tell no difference in quality,capacity.....They say you "need" them in higher moisture corn.I really cant tell....The theory is that whole ears may pass through the cylinder and not get threshed/shelled.Since you don't have them and are just doing a few acres,just run it and don't worry.

If you would find them for a 45 or 55 just measure and cut off and redrill 2 of the 3 holes. And we always used them in the 45. It does keep broken pieces of cob from ending up in the grain tank. Before the 45 Deere and had 4 of them with corn head on at one time had a Massey 35SP that we had a corn head on and had the filler bars but the cylinder was to bent up to get them in. So we ran it without them and it put a lot of broken cob pieces with a few kernels still on out the back and also in the grain hopper. The filler plates are just a mild steel, I have cut up a lot of them to use the flat plate steel for other things. If I remember they are 4 1/4" wide and 1/4" thick and just a tiny bit shorter than the width of the cylinder. Not sure about this but I think the way to fasten them in would be the same on the 3300 and 4400 machines and if any parts yards around they should have plates you can make fit. The 3 holes for the 55 down are just for a half inch bolt. Think the 85 and 105 might have used 4 clamps per bar but still nan be cut down easy to fit your machine. And we never ran a high moisture corn, it was always to moisture for storing as ear corn in cribs. When we had the Massey it was mostly used to open fields for the single roe corn picker. Did try the Deere without them and it did the same as the Massey without them So took corn head back off and put the bars in.

My first 95 had them. It broke down in harvest and we changed the corn head to the other machine without them and shelled 20% moisture corn with no problems. I also shell 50 acres a year with my 105 that does not have them. I have not used any in the last 6-7 years. Tom