R52 and 800 series Head

I'm sure an air reel would help BUT, at what cost ?? You will use more fuel for sure, along with eventual upkeep of the system.  Years ago I learned if you moved the header auger forward as far as possible and up off the floor 3/4" of an inch, your poor feeding will become much more acceptable. The cost to try it?? A couple of #50 half links in the auger drive chain to allow it to be adjusted fully forward and upwards.  After moving the auger, your current reel needs to be back as far as it can be to just clear the auger.   Changing your 16 tooth auger drive sprocket to one with 2 or 3 less teeth will slow down that monster diameter auger (which is part of the problem) to also improve poor feeding.  I used to grind off the weld on the 16 tooth factory sprocket and weld on a new smaller diameter sprocket to do this. Do these three things first before spending thousands on an air reel.  Also attaching 1/2" lock washers to the auger flighting to "grab" the crop can help in some conditions.  Just drive the split of the lock washer onto the auger flighting and the tight fit keeps it there.

I haven’t even priced an air reel yet so I have no idea of the cost. I was planning on calling the local JD dealer Monday and price one as they are a air reel dealer. Closest Gleaner dealer is 100 Miles.

Doc is right on on the header augers - all the books and service always taught down and back as closed as possible - we sent a demo unit out to a customer and he was having issues of crop boiling up behind auger - the adjustment was made up and out and it worked -  in about every condition .  As to speed, for some reason the RPMs, if slowed down or even sped up feeds better.   The problem of most feeding is short crops where the header is  on slightly uneven ground and the reel is too high on one side and the crop bunches - then when the cutter bar comes up the crop bunch is swept into the auger.  Installation of a raised feather sheet on each end is a good asset  as it places the crop closer to the reel .  On most heads we run the reel as far back and as close as possible. On the large flight 800 and up augers the end flighting MUST be cut back to miss the reel arms on each end - then remove and redrill rearward the stop bolt for the reel and move the reel back as close a possible .. IF the reel needs to go forward to pick up down crop it can still be moved. 

Where I come from, there isn't any oats or wheat. This adjustment works very well for soybeans. If it doesn't work for cereal crops, you just have to adjust it back to where it was.

More than 5K but less than 10K ???

Hmm, Dr., where are there no wheat or oats?

Tbone95 wrote: Hmm, Dr., where are there no wheat or oats?

SE Minnesota wheat and oats are pretty much things of the past. I could get political on who to blame. Let's just say the government pays better for soybeans and corn.