Headers Dismantled Machines

About Headers

A combine harvester is only as good as the header you have attached to it. Fortunately, there’s a wide selection of mounted and trailed headers available, whether you’re harvesting corn, peas, soybeans, sunflowers, cereals, grains, or other crop types. Covering anywhere from a couple to 18 rows or more at widths exceeding 50 feet (15.24 meters) depending on the model, headers are constructed from high-quality steel and other durable materials and rely on folding, hinged, and rigid frames able to withstand demanding field conditions. While many/most headers are designed to work with specific crops, some also offer all-crop harvesting flexibility. Leading manufacturers such as Case IH, John Deere, and New Holland are constantly working to enhance their headers’ feeder chains, knife systems, belts, augers, sickle bars, and other components in order to help obtain higher efficiency and reduce crop loss.

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CLAAS ORBIS Corn Header

Header Categories

Headers generally fall into one of three categories: row crop, platform, and forage. The forage category further breaks down into row crop, rotary, and windrow subcategories. Platform headers use some form of a cutter bar, rotating wheel, and auger or fabric- or rubber-constructed draper that collectively cut, gather, and feed the crop into the combine where it’s cleaned and separated.

Rigid platform models have long been in use, but you’ll also find flex platform headers available that provide enhanced flotation and ground-following abilities on uneven terrain. Case IH’s TerraFlex headers, for example, have a flexible cutter bar that moves 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) up and 3 inches down and an airbag suspension system to support this ability. Row crop headers, meanwhile, use snouts or spikes situated between the rows to position the stalks for cutting. Forage headers are ideal for small grains, grass seeds, cereals, and other crops, and include pickup and windrow variants that gather and pick up forage that’s already been cut.

A Variety Of Features

There’s a long list of features that you’ll find on modern headers, including everything from folding frames that facilitate easy transport to headers with hydraulically controlled and automatic self-adjusting deck plates. John Deere headers come with a variety of useful innovations such as a time-saving reel resume and reverse feature that lets operators save separate reel positions for typical conditions and for crops that are down, tangled, short, or leaning. Newer Deere headers also feature a header control unit that enables communication with the combine, yield-mapping accuracy, diagnostics, and more. Case IH headers, meanwhile, also support in-cab header adjustments, as well as chopping and non-chopping configurations to match the grower’s residue-management system. MacDon C Series corn headers use carbide knives and four serrated edges integrated into snapping rolls that it claims cut decomposition times in half compared to competing headers.

Find The Header For You

TractorHouse.com offers for-sale listings for thousands of new and used headers built by popular manufacturers including Case IH, CLAAS, Gleaner, John Deere, MacDon, New Holland, and others.