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Galahad, Alberta | Hey, I run a 962 macdon on a 9610, and we combine field peas with it, which I think is almost comparable to your soybeans. We have gently rolling land and I can scalp the ground if I need to and I don't worry about rocks. Yes I do pick them up, but the neat thing about the draper is that there is a space in the middle, just ahead of the center canvas where any rocks brought in on the delivery canvas' will get dropped and just sit there until you come to the end, lift and turn, oh look at that, there's a rock, stop, get out and throw it off. I did weld a piece of 2" x2" angle iron across in front of the front center roller to keep the canvas from "flicking" the rock up when you lift the header and the slats hit it. I just went to the Macdon site and I notice that my 962 and 960A adapter are a lot different than a new 974 and 873 adapter, so this might not work as well on a new one. One add on piece that I highly recommend are divider guage wheels. http://www.valleysystems.ca/images/MacDon%20960.jpg I have had these on two draper headers and I think they are great. The macdon guage wheels/transport wheels are mounted behind the header and are too far from the cutterbar to respond quickly to changing ground. Again this is on a 962 and a new 974 flex might be a lot different.
As for maintainence, the manual says to change the roller bearings every 3 years and there is an oil filter to change, but other than that, it's pretty simple. There are driveline universals to watch, but that's what grease is for. In two years, cutting about 1400 acres of peas, wheat and barley a year, I've maybe changed 3 guards and 8 sections, broke the knife once. My own fault, got into some green foxtail around a slough. Stuff is fine as hair but cuts like haywire.
Rosco
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 (pea stubble-1.jpg)
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 draperguagewheel-1.jpg (70KB - 544 downloads)
pea stubble-1.jpg (72KB - 545 downloads)
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Draper Head repair and maintenance cost
