A corn head doesn't have a cutterbar or a reel — it has eight to twelve row units, each one a small machine of its own, and a single worn deck plate can shell ears across the whole width before anyone notices the loss. Corn head inspection and maintenance software has to speak that machine's language, not a grain platform's. Book a demo to see a row-unit checklist built the right way.
Corn Head Inspection and Maintenance Software, Built Around the Row Unit
Stalk rolls, deck plates, gathering chains, and drive gearboxes — inspected per row unit, tracked per head, with defects routed to a work order before the next field.
- 1 Gathering point / snout
- 2 Stalk rolls (knife or opposed)
- 3 Deck plates & snapping plates
- 4 Gathering chain & sprockets
- 5 Drive gearbox
A cutterbar, reel, and auger are what you'd check on a grain platform — we've covered that elsewhere. A corn head multiplies the work: the same five checks, repeated across every row unit, because one worn deck plate shells ears across the width of the header while the other eleven rows look fine.
For grain platform and draper header checks — cutterbar, sickle, reel, auger — see our combine header maintenance and inspection guide. This page is corn head specific.
What to check on every row unitrepeated per row, not once per head
Book a demo to see a row-unit checklist running on your own corn head, not a generic template.
Ear savers intact, no cracking at the mounting points, snouts tracking level across the row spacing.
Knife sharpness and timing on opposed rolls, no wrapping, flutes not rounded off.
Clearance set to stalk diameter, no worn or bowed edges, free movement if hydraulically adjusted.
Tension correct, no stretched or cracked links, sprockets not chewed from chain slap.
Oil level and condition, no metal in the drain, slip clutch holding correctly, no abnormal heat.
Flighting not bent, auger finger timing even, frame and wear plates free of cracking.
Grease and service intervals that actually get followeda corn head punishes a skipped grease point fast
Always confirm exact intervals against your head's operator manual — these are typical industry starting points, and HVI lets you load the manufacturer's actual schedule per corn head.
What a symptom is actually telling youcatch it at the symptom, not the breakdown
From a service manager at a grain and row-crop dealership
Corn heads get inspected less carefully than the combine itself, mostly because checking twelve row units properly takes real time and the harvest window doesn't wait.
Once our customers started logging it row by row instead of "head looks fine," we started catching the one bad deck plate or the one lagging gearbox before it cost a whole field's worth of shelled corn. It's a different kind of attention than a grain platform needs.
Frequently asked questions
How is a corn head different from a grain or draper header?
A corn head uses row units with stalk rolls, deck plates, and gathering chains instead of a cutterbar, sickle, and reel, and each of the eight to twelve rows needs its own check, not one check for the whole head.
Why does a corn head need a per-row-unit checklist instead of one for the whole head?
A single worn deck plate or mistimed stalk roll on one row can shell ears or cause wrapping while the other eleven rows look completely fine, so checking the head as a whole misses it.
What causes stalks to wrap around the stalk rolls?
Usually mistimed opposed rolls or dull, rounded knife flutes — checking roll timing and knife sharpness on the pre-season teardown catches most of it before harvest.
How often should corn head grease points and the slip clutch be checked?
PTO drive shafts and hinge points typically need greasing around every 50 hours, with slip clutch torque and sprocket wear checked roughly every 200 hours or once per season.
Can HVI track a corn head alongside the combine and other farm equipment?
Yes. The corn head gets its own row-unit checklist and service history, linked to the combine it runs on, alongside every other tractor, sprayer, and implement on the farm.
Give every row unit its own checklist, not a guess at the whole head
Stalk rolls, deck plates, gathering chains, and drive gearboxes, checked row by row, with defects routed to a work order before the next field. No credit card, no hardware to install.
- Row-unit checklist, built and assigned
- Pre-season & in-season PM intervals loaded
- Defect-to-work-order routing turned on
- Linked history with the combine it runs on
