Hugger with calmer rolls question

Get you a disc chisel and leave it alone. I have the first style Glenco 9 shank w/4in twists and have no problem on 200 bu stalks.

SteveM C/IL wrote: Get you a disc chisel and leave it alone. I have the first style Glenco 9 shank w/4in twists and have no problem on 200 bu stalks.

I have a 1500 Min-Til and it won't quite handle the trash. To be honest 200 bu is the low end. I vary from around 200 to 235 average depending on the year. The bottom ground I'm sure is far over that while the high ground is under. And it's in the bottom ground where I can't make it 50 feet without plugging. That's about 1/3 or more of my land.

Dr, besides simplicity and reliability is the hugger a whole lot better than a late model black head? I currently have a black head and admittedly, it needs the roll blades flipped from side to side. It does good but not good enough in its current state. I got this hugger for the 52 real cheap but it needs everything. I was hoping to avoid using a stalk chopper.

Lonn wrote: I'm considering rebuilding an old hugger 6 row and am wondering if anyone here has any experience with the combination. In 200 bu corn can you go right in with a chisel without plugging up? Are the Calmer stripper plates better than gleaner plates? Is the extra expense of the plates worth it or will the rolls alone do the trick? I'm told by the dealer that there's no need to slow the gathering chains down like is needed on CaseIH or Deere. Thanks

I dont think anyone has a better designed deck plate shape than The Hugger 3000 all the way back to the orange heads.

IIRC Drago even copies it (shape, obviously the automatic adjustment is a Drago exclusive)

The new 3300 Command has IH style deckplates. Might work in the corn belt, but IMO does not work here.

The reason I like the hugger deck plate is that any loose kernel has a chance of getting swept in by a cob or a leaf.

Gleaner does seem to do a good job on gathering chain speed on any corn head since the early 80s N series, the early Ns and A series heads seem to run a bit fast for my liking.
We have a 1988 Bish Converted N830 rotary head made to fit a L2. that thing runs SLOW. Near perfect loss levels.

I ran a 9500 with a 893 for a guy last fall and that thing had terrible ratios and was flinging ears and deck shelling quite bad in a very dry corn situation (13 percent)

A buddy in Idaho runs a 893 on a R70 and he was so disappointed he bought different ratio sprockets and got the speeds to a more favorable level and it was doing a good job.

As far as residue management, I like the looks of the Calmer, but for the price I think the Snapping Roll Mod (Agco dealers should be able to get a printout with measurements) would be an acceptable substitute. But we dont have the residue and soil you do, so its up to you to guage what will work better in your situation.

I decided for my acres it is just too expensive to convert.

We replaced the knives and stripper plates on our hugger two seasons ago with Agco stuff. Think you’ll also be very satisfied with the results. We then follow up with a 9 shank soil saver like Steve mentioned and that’s all. Zero issues with trash.

I'd at least try the snapping roll mod, feeds the stalks further back and chews on them better, let alone how much better it feeds.

GM Guy wrote: AAlso, how bad were your old spirals? If not terrible, I'd be interested in buying them. 50-125 bushel yield environment demands alot less from the head...and more from the budget...lol

they were pretty bad. The new spirals measure about 4-1/2 at the rear while my old ones measured about 3-1/4. On the flute mod, I had started cutting some of the new flutes when I found they were brittle and no good. AGCO sent a second set which were just as bad and by the time I got a good set I had no time to waste and didn't make the mod. Maybe this winter I'll get it back in the shop to try a couple things and do the cut out mod too.

New spirals were $101 each a year ago. If I ever need them again I think I'd weld up the old ones.

This mod to the Hugger blades helps tremendously when the roll points start getting worn. They don't look bad until you compare to a brand new one.

My comment was about the AGCO recommended mod. I know nothing about Calmer.

Lonn wrote: Dragging this up again. I did put new spirals and flutes, all from AGCO last year but there is so much trash that I am still forced to stalk chop, I was wondering on thoughts about sharpening the flutes like on the Calmer rolls. I'm done for this year but next year I was thinking of doing this on one row to try it out. Are the AGCO flutes hard enough to last doing this?

I guess it would be hard to get Calmer rolls in Russia too!

I know this is old...but are those numbers for the "measurements" on the agco mod pictures in millimeters or what

We are on our second 3308C. The first one had strip bars that were rounded downward. On the second one, they are flat. The first one had the lugs of the gathering chains together. The second one, they are now staggered. It seems like everything they didn’t like about the Hugger, now they are going back to it.

On the Hugger flutes, I always thought I should grind a sharp edges on them to cut the stocks better. I never did, but I thought that would make all the difference in. I miss the round bar that was on the Hugger striper bars.