The design of the Case IH Varicut grain header adapt to all conditions to extract the maximum from every field and every crop for the ultimate in high capacity, high quality harvesting. With its high knife speed and its contour hugging ability the header maintains a consistent short or long stubble height, at a high ground speed. The integral knife drive pulley flywheel is designed to maintain knife inertia and to cut out peak loads, providing smooth running at any harvesting speed. The reel is synchronised with the ground speed, with automatic reel speed control, reacting to the combine’s forward speed to provide low-loss intake and top quality output.

The full capacity of the Varicut grain header can be exploited whatever the straw volume of the crop in question, with the aid of a movable knife that allows long-strawed crops and high volumes to be easily ingested for even and consistent feeding. For short crops the knife can be quickly retracted on the go, without reducing ground speed. A large 107cm reel diameter with exceptional lift height of 184 cm (approx. from the ground level to middle of the reel) makes it easy to limit losses to a minimum and reduce reel wrapping in crops such as canola and rye.

All grain headers are superbly equipped to deal with laid crops. Lifters can be set to reach below the cutterbar to ease the crop from the ground and improve cutting performance without picking up stones or loosing valuable ears. Lifters are available for conditions requiring them, such as flattened straw or over-ripe barley, while for circumstances where they are not needed, they can be stored in a convenient location on the right hand side of the header.

Case IH engineers have worked long and hard to minimise every possibility of seed loss at the header. The effective design of the poly crop end dividers gently presents the most down and tangled crop to the reel and cutterbar while positively following ground terrain. Reel options include plastic tines, recommended for most crop types and conditions, or steel tines, for demanding work such as thick, tough and laid crop. With the reel design and gentle crop engagement of the six bar reel, effective feeding and cutting, resulting in increased crop quantity and quality, are guaranteed.

Smooth, even crop feeding is guaranteed by the stainless steel auger floor, while the profile from the cutterbar to the auger floor is designed to ease the flow of crop into the auger trough. The auger is protected by a slip clutch and is driven by a heavy duty drive chain to ensure long life and positive drive even in tough crop conditions. It gently conveys the crop from cutterbar to the feeder, while an integrated grain saver prevents valuable crop from falling back to the field.

To follow ground contours as closely as possible and capture the best crop quality without soil contamination, the header features a wide range of adjustable elements. The cutterbar incorporates a fully adjustable suspension system designed to follow constantly changing ground contours in the most adverse harvesting conditions. It’s the key to full harvesting efficiency in every soil type, from soft to hard, dry or muddy. As an option, the TerraFlex torsion block - the heart of the header - can be controlled from the operator’s seat to adapt to field conditions. The skid shoes are designed to float softly on the ground, even in soft soil conditions. The Flex header can be used in rigid mode to harvest other cereal crops.