About a month ago I saw a New Idea 3-row picker at an auction. It was a 3-row narrow but upon closer inspection I could see that someone had narrowed this one up from a 3-row wide. They actually did a pretty good job - I didn't notice it at first. So I looked it over to see what they all had done to it. On this model it can be done since there are 3 individual row units and elevators (which, by the way, looked like they had a lot of parts in common with the mounted picker) but it still looked like a LOT of work. On the 2-row models with the common elevator I think it would almost be impossible to do this because the elevator would have to be narrowed up when going from wide to narrow.
Several years ago, one of my brother-in-laws narrowed up a IH 2PR picker after he had switched to 30 inch rows. It wasn't too tough of a job because those machines also have the individual elevators like Tom was telling about. That picker has since wore out and been replaced by a JD 300 with a 343 head.
Just curious, Jerry - is there a shortage of usable 2RN pickers where you live (or a huge difference in price vs. a wide-row model)? Around here, the price difference is less than $1000, unless that has changed recently and I don't know it yet. And there are still enough around for sale if you do some looking around. For that relatively small amount of money, it really wouldn't pay to convert one anyway, even if you did all the work yourself. But on the other hand, to a person who likes to accept the challenge of "it can't be done"..........
There's a big price difference 'here'. A nice 324/327 will go for $1500, but a comparable condition 325/327 will get close to $3000! A nice JD 300 with a 343 head will get $5000! nice 323s will bring more than $2000. Any other machines go dirt cheap, probably because of parts.
HI GUY'S, I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR INPUT. THIS IS MY SITUATION . I WORK CLAY GROUND. I CAN SWITCH MY 7000 PLANTER TO EITHER 36" OR 30" ROWS. 36" YIELDS APR. 140bu. per. with 24000 pop. THE 30"YIELDS APR.160bu.per. with 30000 pop. I CAN BUY A NICE N.I. 2ROW WIDE WITH A 12 BED FOR $1100.00, OR A 2ROW NARROW N.I. FOR $4000.00. I KNOW IT'S SOUNDS LIKE A NO BRAINER. GO WITH THE WIDE BUT, NOBODY UP HEAR PLANTS 36". SO, I'D HAVE A HARD TIME GETTING SOMEBODY TO OPEN UP MY FIELDS. I HOPE YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND MY DILEMMA . ANY COMMENTS WOULD REALLY BE APPRI. THANKS, BEWILDERED IN MICHIGAN. {JERRY}
If you have the time and good place to work on it, you need to get started on the picker job before you plant!-----you will need to know if the conversion is successful before you plant!---I would tear into it myself, BUT I have been known to pull off crazy stuff and make it work!----lotta time involved, but I still think its possible to do!---might not look real pretty, but I think for the price difference it would pay! just my .02! thanks; sonny
Jerry, I don't know how many acres you have but if you think you can consistently get 20 bushels of corn per acre more with the narrow rows it wouldn't take too many acres to pay the difference for the narrow row picker. With all the additional corn you raise you might need a tax deduction anyway...:) Mike
There is a pretty wide difference in price in southwest Iowa. Two years ago, I bought four 324/327 combos for a total of $1800 from the Denison, Iowa area. All four are in working condition, good sheet metal, only needed a chain link here or a paddle replaced there. I seldom see 325s for sale around here. A 325 went for $3,500 at a consignment sale down by Corning or Bedford, Iowa the same year. We plant all of our corn on 30" rows, and (most of our fields) to 33,000 pop. We have a sidehill farm, 320 acres between Pop and me, with a mix of corn, beans, hay, and pasture. We only pick about 10 acres of ear corn for cattle feed every fall, and combine the rest. Our farm yield averages above 180 bpa, with spots well over 200 bpa. Anyway, we use the 324s for ear corn, with good results. We replaced the lift cylinder with a fixed rod to keep the snoots one foot off the ground. We pick the corn in the high teens in moisture, so the stalks are still flexible enough to bend around the center snoot and fold nicely into the gathering chains. Granted, you have to keep a close eye backward to stay on the rows. We lose very little corn, which the cows clean up later. As far as opening up your field(s), try drilling a hay strip or strips in the middle of your field. Even if you don't need the hay, surely some of your neighbors will buy it. At least it sells well down here. By fall those hay strips will be the perfect place to open up your field, you won't be dependent on someone else's busy schedule to get started. I realize that this method doesn't make me much of a purist, but it works for our operation.
HI, IF I'M READING YOU RIGHT, YOUR USING A WIDE PICKER TO PICK 30" ROWS. THE MOIST STALKS ON 30" ROWS BEND FOR THE 40" PICKERS PICK-UP SNOUTS. SOUNDS GOOD, THANKS, JERRY
I just don`t understand why you want only one picker , man has to have one for each situation wide row narrow row ,opening up to picking strait on ,but don`t just lock yourself in like that ! LOL
Just kidding ! Ask here and you will get all the problems solved!! Iits what ever works for YOU !! Good luck !
That is correct--wide picker on 30 inch rows. I think the 324s are actually 38 inch pickers, but they have worked well for two harvests so far. Those two harvests were pretty different, too. 2009 was a very wet harvest down here. We delayed our combining until late November because the standing corn was still in the high teens in moisture. We got the last load out just ahead of the first blizzard in early December, and it was still 16-17 percent. 2010 was a dry, early harvest. We were done picking, combining, and everything by early November, with 14 percent moisture on the shell corn. The ear corn was probably close to that when we picked it. We still had very few problems losing corn. The worst part was some blown down corn (pretty windy this year), which we had the luxury of leaving for the combine to pick up. That is one weakness to setting the snoots a foot off of the ground--the picker won't pick up very many downed stalks. It hasn't been a problem for us, since we only pick a small percentage of our corn crop to ear corn. This might be a deal breaker for anyone who picks all their corn in ear, has bad wind blowdowns, and doesn't have cows to clean up the mess over the winter. However, for most years, the 324 works very well on 30 inch rows, with the snoots a foot off the ground.
Hello I am new to the site. We receive Farm Show magazine and there was an article for a man in Missouri who refurbed New Idea pickers and would also narrow the heads anyody heard of him or know anything about it?
-- Edited by 4020408 on Monday 7th of February 2011 06:36:55 PM
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"Three feet aint very far until your diggin fence post holes by hand."
I have not heard of anyone in Missouri, but another southwest Iowa corn picker told me that Guyer's Machine Shop in Han****, Iowa could probably do it. Their main job is welding for a packing plant near there, so they have 3 or 4 high-skill welders to keep busy the rest of the time. They also advertise as specializing in farm equipment. No idea what it might cost, or if they had ever actually narrowed a picker. Their phone number is (712)741-5666.
