John Deere 490pro rotary harvesting unit

The saw blades of John Deere rotary crop headers cut quickly and thoroughly at a high speed of rotation. As the fast-turning blades cut the full width, crops can be harvested regardless of the row spacing. Thanks to this row-independent harvesting technology, the field can be worked from any side, which is particularly important for down crop.

The fast-turning saw blades allow crops with a lot of weeds to be harvested easily. Besides maize, a wide range of crops such as sorghum, whole crop silage, oilseed, canola, pampas grass, and miscanthus can be harvested.

Key features:

• Fast turning saw blades can cut in difficult harvesting conditions to give the operator increased uptime.
• Headers can be used in various stemmed crops and there is no need for extra headers, which saves on the cost of operation.

After the fast-rotating blades cut the crop, the intake fingers push the plants into the gatherer drums that rotate in the same direction at low speeds. Every plant is pushed into the teeth of the gathering drum. The specially designed shape of the teeth ensures that both small and large plants are conveyed in a secure way.

The new and improved intake finger design allows for the crop conveyance to start deeper into the drum to ensure plants are more securely held prior to cutting, which in turns allows for a clean cut before being guided into the machine while maintaining control of the stalk.  Improving the intake area on the 400pro series headers allows for less cob and crop losses during difficult harvesting conditions.  The new intake drums with the new tooth design allows for better performance in down crops.

In the machine, the plants are taken off the back of the gatherer drum by scrapers. Depending on the width of the header, they are forwarded to the cross-feed drums or immediately fed into the angled feed drums in the middle of the machine.

To provide an increase in uptime and productivity the 400pro headers also feature a new-style gathering drum. This particular gathering drum allows for the top cover to be removed separately and quickly provide better access to the intake fingers for increased serviceability and easier access for cleaning.

Better crop guidance and reduced crop accumulation is possible with the new 400Pro headers due to the new guiding sheets and thin pointers between the drums. The guiding sheets that are positioned between the point and rotor provide better guidance of the plants directly to the rotor.  Furthermore, the thin points between the drums provide less crop accumulation in narrow row spacing and wet conditions which results in less plants being pushed over.

The AHC sensors are located at the two outermost points from the header. The sensors continuously scan the ground and quickly adjust the height and inclination of the attachment. This quick adjustment guarantees a constant stubble height. 

The AHC sensors are optional equipment for eight-, 10-, and 12-row machines. 

For eight-, 10-, and 12-row machines, the third sensor is optional equipment. The third sensor is only available in combination with RowSense™ system as it is installed in the central RowSense pointer.

The two-sensor Advanced Header Control (AHC) does a good job in most conditions. The optional third sensor is needed in extremely uneven terrain or on wide headers.

The header bundles the harvested crop perfectly and feeds it to the chopping unit of the self-propelled forage harvester (SPFH) lengthwise for an even cut. Only even, lengthwise feeding allows for the full use of the power installed on the SPFH.

Key feature:

• Bundling of lengthwise stalks is the basis for perfect chopping quality (Performance).