Reel Settings

In tall standing crop, position reel above the cutterbar. Raise reel until bats and fingers strike just under the grain heads to help guide crop into cutterbar and onto belts.

In short, damp, or weedy grain crops, move reel back and down to help pull crop off cutterbar and onto the belts.

IMPORTANT: Do not position reel too far forward. Reel must feed the cut crop onto the side belts. Material buildup and slugs result if reel is positioned too far forward.

Pickup Reel — In crops that are down and tangled: reel must be set low and ahead of the cutterbar to help lift the crop while guiding the cut crop onto the belts. Ensure reel fingers cannot contact cutterbar.

Finger Recommendations in Down Crops — Position finger angle so that the fingers lift the crop, but not so much as to carry crop around reel.

Finger Recommendations For Standing Crops — Position finger angle so that there is minimal disturbance to the crop when entering; helping the crop onto the belt.

Reel Speed — Set reel tip speed (slats or fingers) slightly faster than ground speed.

Excessive shattering of grain heads, or material carrying around reel, indicates that reel speed is too fast.

Cutterbar plugging, flagging, or slug feeding indicates reel speed is too slow.

In down, tough crop conditions, a faster reel speed is necessary to “comb” the crop. Slug feeding at the cutterbar (or poor feeding) indicates that the reel is adjusted too far forward, too high, or too slow.

Optional — For conditions where excessive material is wrapping on reel, an optional Reel Flip-Over Kit is available. The kit allows reel fingers to flip over during each rotation of the reel, dislodging crop material that has wrapped around the reel. See your John Deere dealer.