Pick-up Header

[Southpaw]

Looking for information on a pick-up header that will pick up a 30 ft.canola swath at between 6 mph and 8 mph. Don't tell me a JD 914 as that is what I have on my JD 9860 and it literlly falling apart.

[shamus]

Would not the Rake-up or Swathmaster do the job for you. Made by same company out of Saskatoon. I have a Swathmaster and was picking peas at 7-plus although I know that is not canola. Though my dissappointing IMC is going through at over 6 I guess.

[rosco]

Swathmaster and Rake-up are both made by Precision metal Fabricating in Saskatoon. 1 800 667 6845. I thought that JD came out with a new pick-up platform-615, I think- to stand up to the high speed of 9860 combines.

[poorboy]

In looking at the JD 615 pickup in the new sales brochure for the wts combines, it shows an airbag suspension system for the pickup. Whether it will help the small tires and rough zero till ground at 7 mph is hard to say. I doubt that any of the pickups will stand up to that speed on rough ground if they use small front tires. A straight cut header can do it because it is riding on the big combine tires which smooths the ride out considerably.
Perhaps running you pickup so the front tires do not touch the ground would work.

[rosco]

Poorboy, some neighbours of mine made wedges to fit just ahead of the pivot point for the pick-up. The wedges keep the pick-up belts running at the correct angle without so much weight on the little wheels. Like you said, the combine carries most of the weight, and the little wheels would only touch on uneven ground.

[WoolyBear]

Maybe Y'all just need to slow down a bit Southpaw...... JD is suppose to be built for the task, not the operator!

[Southpaw]

Poorboy, Yes, I think that the new JD pickup should be better. It has a fixed (non pivoting) wheel on an airbag suspension. I also think that Swathmaster and Rakeup headers would be able to do the job. Thanks for the info.

[silverback]

This is going to sound bad, but is the combine that good or the canola that light? If the combine is that good, next year you will need a 50 foot swath to go a little slower.

[Southpaw]

Silverback, some of both. We have some canola (600 ac)that had to much water and only yielded about 15 - 20 bus/ac.The rest of the canola (550 ac)is doing 30 - 40. The standing wheat is doing 30 -45. We are straight cutting the wheat at 36 ft. and going between 5.5 and 6.5 mph. The swathed oats averaged about 115 with 10 - 15 ac spiking at 175 -210. At this high yield we had to slow down to 3.5 . Very impressed with what this JD 9860 combine can do.

[wd9]

Like send a few more small farm families to work in the city.....