Combines 1010 header raise problem

See my response over on New Ag Talk

a couple of years ago while working for a harvester, the machine i was running had a similar problem. it ended up being the header potentiometer on the throat.

Big Al: I think you are on the right track with the switch, or at least a poor connection in the switch circuit. The fact the up arrow does not show indicates that the header controller is not seeing the command. let's try and experiment and see if this would work for you. It will depend on which rev level software the header controller has. Put the machine in Return to Cut mode, engage the header and separator and tap the lower switch to enter. Do this with the header above where you want to be. If the machine will enter RTC then you can run the header up and down using the position control pot. May be a pain, but better than stopping. When you go to replace the switch, thrwoing the console over onto the buddy seat sure makes working on it easier. If memory serves, the power for the switch will come from one connector and all the outputs go into another. You will have to pull the locking wedge and release a lock inside the connector to get the wire out. Make sure the replacement snaps in and locks before replacing the locking wedge.

Hey Big Al, I'll have to agree with the gentleman below who said to replace the header potentiometer. On one of my 03 2388s it acted very similar to yours. We replaced the header potentiometer and that fixed the problem. In that case the potentiometer was so froze up that we could hardly move it by hand when we had it off.

Thanks for the info. We have changed a couple of those switches over the years and it is a pain to get to them, especially if there is a lot of you to get wedged in the cab with things dismantled. We have also changed out the header pot, pretty much every year (at least 6 or 7 of them) because they get so seized up, probably from all the cleaning we do throughout the season. We have never had this kind of symptom happen with the pot, so that's why we didn't think it was that, that was the problem. We have had rain and haven't gotten back out to the combine for the past week, but we will be moving down to ND this week and will have to get it fixed for the sunflowers. We'll try the RTC, and we'll keep you posted...