Abstract: The pickup assembly has an upright loading duct with a primary conveying impeller located between the upper outlet and the lower inlet of the duct. A secondary crop pickup impeller adjacent the inlet combs through crop stubble as the machine advances and lifts severed crop materials up to the primary impeller where the latter propels the materials upwardly through the duct and out the outlet. Flexible rubber fingers on the secondary impeller are generally T-shaped, having heads that are releasably clamped against the hub of the impeller by an inverted channel which is capable of retaining a series of the fingers at the same time. The secondary impeller floats independently of the duct and has one or more gauge wheels associated therewith to keep the fingers of the impeller from digging into the ground during rotation.