[AT] 2 row corn combines

John Hall jtchall at nc.rr.com
Mon Oct 9 18:21:42 PDT 2017


Al, you are probably the last person I expected to reply! Younger than 
me and land flat as a pancake! I think you may be on to something about 
the planter dog tracking. I would even encounter this problem within the 
same planter width, ruling out a row marker problem I guess. Yes, 
working up the hill is the best way, but unfortunately  it doesn't 
always work that way. You are spot on about the "tail fins" pushing the 
other rows out of the way.

I planted 3 acres last year in June, behind wheat--as an experiment. 
Corn did OK, then the good Lord sent us a curveball named Hurricane 
Matthew. Man I was splitting the field and doing my best to pull the 2 
rows being picked away from the standing rows (slightly wind 
flattened--ok maybe 75% flattened). Anyway I actually salvaged most of 
the corn, as long as I didn't drive over it. Dad was impressed with how 
well the combine and I did.

Regarding the 3300 itself, LOVE IT!! My hearing is somewhat screwed up 
from being around loud equipment all my life, so I installed a cab 
interior kit--a lot quieter now. I still wear an ear plug in my right 
ear to help with the engine noise.  As you may recall, we did a ton of 
work on this combine when I got it, and it is still holding up great. 
There are some things I could still do to it, but economics just don't 
make sense right now. I do have to replace the steering tires, as they 
are coming apart on me. FWIW, you know how uneven the ground here is. It 
didn't take me long to realize I had to put water in the rear tires and 
put a 150lb weight under the belly inside the frame. There never were 
many of this model here, mainly 6600's. I'm 95% certain this one came 
from down your way.

I will say this, much the cab in this thing is made for a small fellow. 
I removed the original seat and installed one from an old Murray riding 
mower--its WAY more comfortable. We won't even discuss raising the seat 
up to work under there. I ain't young as I used to be.

John Hall



On 10/9/2017 8:12 PM, Al Jones wrote:
> Oh boy some good memories riding with either my dad or granddaddy in
> the cab of a MF 300 with a two row head!  The head had "tail fins"
> that you could adjust in or out to kinda push the corn away from the
> front wheel.
>
> I wouldn't be surprised at all if the planter didn't drift on you.  We
> have a field on my grandfather's farm that has a sand hill on it, to
> the naked eye it wasn't that steep but I have felt the tractor and
> implement "dog trot" several times on that hill if you're going across
> it.  Of course the soil is sandy there so that can affect it too.
>
> Len has probably got the best solution. Lay off a land and then work
> on the downhill side, or if you have enough turn rows, just start on
> the downhill side and work your way up without laying off a land.
>
> How's the old 3300 working out for you?  Frend of mine started farming
> in the early 2000s with one.  He went from a 3300 to a 6600 to a 7700
> (full throttle monster) to a 9500 now!  I wouldn't wish working on one
> of those old deere combines on my worst enemy, but they'll still get
> the job done.
>
> Al
>
> On Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 7:44 PM, John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:
>> Yes, that is a good idea. I do break it out into sections once my
>> outside rows are done (16) , but only 8-10 wide--too slow to drive over
>> any more, plus I can stay closer to the truck. Time matters when you are
>> 10pm getting in for the evening and have to be at work at 7AM.
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/9/2017 6:46 PM, Len Rugen wrote:
>>> Instead of going back and forth, skip up 20 or so rows and go across again, then make all your passes on the downhill side always until you work out 40 rows.  You'll only push over 1 of 40 rows instead 1 of 4 :-)
>>>
>>>
>>> Len Rugen
>>>
>>> rugenl at yahoo.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>       On Monday, October 9, 2017, 5:29:48 PM CDT, John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>    I imagine quite a few of our "more experienced" list members have ran a
>>> combine with a 2 row corn header. For those that have not, Its like
>>> running a 5 foot bushog behind a tractor set to straddle two rows. Long
>>> story short, you better hope the guy planting kept the rows within a
>>> couple inches of the correct width or you will run over whatever you
>>> aren't cutting.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I'm running a 3300 Deere combine in corn on 38"rows. Sometimes
>>> on slight hillsides I seem to be knocking down the row on the "lower
>>> side of the hill". I've got 3 theories, one is that the row markers on
>>> the tractor (chains that hang down from a bar under the belly of the
>>> tractor) are vertical (obviously) and therefore changing our spacing a
>>> little. Or maybe the planter is dog-tracking a little (4 row IH
>>> 800--kind of beefy implement to dog track). My last theory is the steer
>>> tires on the combine aren't gripping and are letting it dog track. At
>>> the moment I have rather narrow flotation style tires. One of them is
>>> leaking so I want to put on another set. I am thinking of using 3 rib
>>> tractor fronts, do you guys think that may help my problem of knocking
>>> the corn down? The last new combine here was a 6620 Deere 2wd that came
>>> with some SERIOUSLY ribbed rear tires--they left their mark everywhere!
>>>
>>> Any suggestions, and no, getting a 3 row header is not an acceptable idea.
>>>
>>> John Hall
>>>
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