D****r headers

[mgh]

Looking at getting a 25' Honeybee or Macdon d****r header for our 2188. The manufacturers have some almost unbelievable claims as to speed and efficiency increases due to better feeding. Has anyone seen this firsthand? I've also heard that the honeybees are good at picking up rocks. Is this true? Heard a rumor that the Honeybee header has a rock trap right in the combine adapter. If anyone could shed some light on this topic, I'd really appreciate it. Please send both your positives and negatives.

[poorboy]

The d****r headers are very good machines. As to a honeybee or a macdon it is personal preference just like chev, ford, or dodge. I would seriously consider a 30' header instead of a 25'. The d****rs follow the ground much better (easier on the combine operator) than a rigid table and they feed more even. It is easier to travel slower with a bigger header than fast with a smaller one. Faster ground speed will cause more rocks to be picked up. Make sure you buy a pickup reel.

[rosco]

MGH
We run two macdon 25's on JD 9500 machines. I would have to disagree with anyone who says that you pick up a lot of rocks with a d****r header. Gauge wheels are a must. The big ones on the back are okay, but for peas in hilly land you need the gauge wheels that mount in the dividers. There is a space in front of the center canvas that rocks sometimes will get hung up, but don't count on that to save your rotor. I do believe that d****r headers feed better than an auger header. It is like picking up a swath as opposed to a tangled mess going up the throat. Pick up reels are a must for peas, as is the cross auger. I like the design of a macdon, and the 972 cuts very low. Honeybee is very well built and has a great knife and knife drive. They also use a drum with fingers to push material up the throat. I don't know much about the Deere, but they seem to be selling them fairly well. We are considering going to one larger header and it will be a macdon, just because we are familiar with it. The one problem area we have found with the macdon is the rubber slats on the center canvas will rip off after too much reversing in tough cereals and the canvas has to be replaced(about $550) feel free to ask anything else about a macdon.
Ross

[craig]

We are on our second Honey Bee having gone from 25 to 30 feet. I would never go back to rigid header. Better feeding and better flotation are the key elements. I would make the following comments on Rocks. We tend to tilt the headers back as much as possible which means many rocks go under the header as opposed to on the table. Easier on guards and we seldom have to replace one. If you get a rock on the table it tends to ride at the bottom end of the d****r and is dropped in front of the d****r that moves material to the feeder house. We keep an eye on this area and if we are working close to the ground we try and clean this area on a regular basis. If a rock gets past this area they sometimes stop the drum in front of the feeder house. So if you have a decent rock trap in the feeder house you have 3 areas to stop rocks before they get to the cylinder.

[dhewlitt]

We have 6 years experience with a honey bee and love it. Incredible feed and cut. Last year we added a second combine but with just a rigid header.
The combine with the d****r was cutting 6 more feet and going 2 mph faster.
Identical combines.
Needless to say sencond d****r header for this year