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215 flex head on a john deere 55 combine

J

Jim Pollock

Member
Last year my son and I bought a 55 john deere combine with a quick tach feeder house. It has a 13' head and we used it to cut my sons beans but it was a chore to keep it out of the dirt. This year he has about 15 acres and we would like to get a better head. We found a 215 flex head real cheap but it needs a little work. I posted a question on a facebook group but the one guy said even if We rigged up some way to drive the hydraulic reel, the head wouldn't feed right because the drum in the 55 feeder house is farther away form the auger than say what a 4400 would be. Does anyone else have any experience with this?
 
Not to be a negative nancy here but that little 55 will really be struggling to have the cleaning capacity to handle a 15 foot head in good beans. It would probably struggle just to pick it up and carry it around. That extra 2 foot of head adds a fair amount of weight.
 
No problem with the negative comments. I would rather find out now rather than after I buy it. Although I have seen posts where other guys have put a 215 on a 55 and seemed to be happy with it. I would much rather have a 213 flex head but I haven't found one yet. They only want 200.00 for this 215 head.
 
I had a JD 215 header on a JD 95 and it just did pick it up. Your JD 55 would not be able to safely pickup a JD 215 head. The 200 series headers are longer than the ones that were made for the 5 series combines. So you have the weight far out in front of the feeder house.

There where Quick Tach headers with after market floating sickle bar headers. Also hydraulic header height controls with a feeler bar under a ridged header does not work that bad. The common header control was "Robot" around here. Basically a feeler bar with a cable running up to a hydraulic valve.
 
I m going to Spallingers combine salvage yard in the morning and see if I can find a head with a floating cutter bar or a head control system. Im wondering, how hard would it be to cut a 215 head down to a 13 or even 12 foot head. I really hate to pass up this 215 head as it has a newer auger and an almost new wobble box on it.
 
For that kind of money you could probably just buy it and re sell it or pick it up and use it for trade bait anyhow. I don't know what the market in your area is but around here the 213s are still worth their weight in gold if you find a good one. May not hurt to put some feelers out for a hart carter or love floating bar for your current 13 foot head. I have a love bar on my Oliver 525 and it's not a flex head by any means, but for a little 13 footer its plenty good once you get the hang of it.
 
JD advertised the 3300 as being able to handle a 215. A 3300 isn't near the combine a late 55 is plus they are even lighter in the back then a 55. I'd have to check my manuals but I think JD advertised the 55 as being able to handle up to a 15ft header. Course that was with the older lighter headers. I would try to the 215 first before giving up. So what if you have to add some weights to the back. So what if you have to crawl along. Its just 15 acres and not 150.
 
here is a link to a thread with a picture of a 55 with a 215 head.

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=harvest&th=63309
 
Put some ads in regional shoppers for a floating cutterbar. Someone is likely to have just the bar hanging in a shed somewhere. You already have a head, and can just add the bar to it. Should be able to buy it cheap.
 
I bought the 215 flex head. I just need to get it home. It needs new wood slats that hold the reel fingers but I don't think that will be too hard to fix. I will need to come up with a system to drive the hydraulic reel.

I have an extra hydraulic pump from a 55 combine with the reservoir and all. Would it have enough capacity to run the reel if I mounted it to the head and ran it with a belt off the sickle drive shaft. I found a variable flow valve which I believe would adjust the speed for around 65.00
 
Adapting the JD head to a JI Case machine I used a pulley on the end of the auger to drive the reel without having to rig up hydraulics...
a270906.jpg
 
I have a floating cutter bar ots still on the head 20 foot i want to use the head on my 1660 for straight cutting wheat so no need for the love bar scrap price and you come get it i will help get it off the head.
LS NESD
 
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