Swather Opionions Wanted.

[Jay-mo]

Thinking about upgrading swather after this season.
Thinking about a Macdon/Westward 9000 series.
What do you like, what dont you like?
Thinking about going to a 36'. How does the split reel work? Trouble free?
How does the v-belt d****r system perform?
I'm hoping to continue running with one machine so it needs to do alot in a day and be trouble free or at least fairly easy to maintain.

[Freesaw]

they lay a nice swath; but be carefull on rough land they are fragile

[Jay-mo]

Fragile in what way? Built too light?

[tman]

A good friend of mine in Indian Head has experience operating MacDon and Honeybee headers and he told me the Honeybee is superior to MacDon. I can't remember the details that he told me but overall strength is what sticks in my mind. There was some sort of breakage with the MacDon if I remember correctly.

[Freesaw]

jay-mo i got my model numbers mixed up my neibour has a 30 foot 9000 and is very happy

[Hopperbin]

I have the 99 Westward 9300 with a 972 header. Greasable Canvass bearings stay pretty much like new as long as they get some grease, much better than the older 960. Have 1500 hours on mine but purchased it at auction 4 years ago. Split real was is ruff shape seemed the previous owner run it in the ground or something the steel teeth we all bent up.
Straighted them not much problem but have some wear on the bushings never replaced one yet but my neighbour that has only 200 hours less on his machine the bushings are like new. Also the cam system has wear and causes a little banging noise, cannot hear from inside cab but I think I will work on it for next year. Other than that real works very well. AS for V belt d****r "Great" my d****rs are origional. No tracking issues. I put the honey bee knife kit on mine, runs easier with less power, no knife breakage but I keep everything straight. Put a feed roller made in Manitoba somewhere on this year and seems to make a smoother swath.

[Jay-mo]

Hopperbin, what does the honeybee knife kit include? I mean, what does it change from the stock Macdon knife?

[MBFarmer1]

Hopperbin, I have the 972 Header and have had nothing but trouble with it. I also have a 960 head and much prefer it. My 972 head jams constantly in th emiddle where the gap in the split reel is as well as on the ends of the knife. I also think this has to do with the reel as there is about a 6 inch gap between the end of the reel and teh side of the header. The header will cut if I go with the crop or against it but as soon I go sideways to it, it jams. Have you ahd any of these problems"? Made any changes?

[Hopperbin]

The honeybee kit gives you knife head, complete knife in one piece or split in not sure 3 or 4 with connectors( that is what I have)( have broken the connectors),guards and spacers.
MBFarmer I am not sure what you mean by jamming, when I think of a knife jamming it would have to be all across. Maybe it is a feeding problem you have. On the middle of my real the steel teeth are bent to the middle. That is the way it was when I bought it, I don't think it was made that way. On the ends of the real you should have special tines that are heavier to help pull leaning crop into the header perhaps yours are broken or missing. I prefer to cut say canola or wheat in a way that it leans into the header so as it does not hang up on the crop divider . Not sure if that is your problem. Also you could make sure knives are especially good on ends and middle. I use the Empire dividers with the rubber wheel dividers all welded up solid to header as they were falling apart. I have made no special changes.

[cris]

I think if you want 36' you better get a split reel. I know that we had our new h.bee header on an New Holland windrower for five minutes before the middle tines were nipped. piss a guy off or what. had checked clearance and everything. The reel dipped in the middle or the ends of the header sagged to shorten the center fingers.

Had a MacDon and thought it was ok, but this new honeybee runs faster with 6 more feet. 1 - 1½ mph faster in big canola.

[boarderbloke]

just wondering, are they making the 36' Honeybee (or 30' for that matter) header for a windrower any lighter than the Honeybee headers for a combine??? i had a 36' HBee header (w/UII split reel) on a 2388 CaseIH combine a few years back, it was terribly heavy, even after adding fluid to the rear tires of the combine.

[Jay-mo]

Cris, I know what your saying with the tines getting trimmed. I definetly would want the split reel on a 36'.
Does HoneyBee make their own reels or do they use the UII's?
I dont have any experience with the Macdon reels but to me they look cleaner and simpler compare to the UII's?

[mustardman]

They use UII on honeybee and unless macdon has improved since my pull type swather with macdon pickup reel ,I wouldnt go there.

1998 30 foot honey with uII and have never replaced one part on the reel

[cris]

They use a UII, The header is different than a combine header but I don't think it is any lighter. It doesn't have an adapter, all the hydraulics are on the swather. It cuts better than our combine header as well. The tractor unit is a lot more substantial to carry the weight of the header(longer for better balance).

[cris]

I personally would take a U2 first. I think the MacDon is OK but on our 974 header, the reel needs all new bushings and our U2s have been trouble free. I also like how the U2 is somewhat more like a bat than a rod with fingers on it.