Combines 2388 Unload Auger

Brodale, I hope somebody can give you a better answer than Im going to give you. I wondered the same thing several years ago when I changed the vertical auger in a couple of 2188 that I had. When I got the horizontal auger off to get to the vertical auger they looked about has worn as the vertical auger did and I did not want to find out what would happen if they could not keep up with the feed of the new vertical auger so I changed them also.

last spring I had to do something about the vertical auger in our 1680. Greenstrat had sent me pictures of how to weld a round rod on the flighting edge to regain the worn performance as well as make the thing last for a long time. I took his advice and rebuilt the vertical auger as per his method. The horizontal auger looked worn, but pretty much only from the gearhead out about 2 revs on the flighting. I left the horizontal auger alone as I figured since it only wore less than half as much as the vertical, then it must not require near as much effort to move the same amount of material. The setup worked fantastic all year (2005) Of course each situation will be different. I can only say that leaving the horizontal auger alone worked well in my situation.

These UHMW plastic wearshoes are another alternative for fixing combine augers. The plastic wears as good or better then steel flighting. Maywes has them too.

They don't have to be replaced together. It only depends on how much an auger is worn and what you are planing on running through, like several hundred thousand bushel of corn and soybeans. If you do that, I would replace the horizontal, when it gets below 50% of its original thickness. If you do not run that much abrasive grain through it you could wait until the auger starts getting sharp at the front end. If you take the unloader of to replace the vertical auger, you might also consider that you are already half way to the horizontal.

I thought about replacing my vertical auger last fall because there was such a big gap between the flighting and the tube (3_4")but the edges of the flighting was still square. I know this doesn't really relate to your question but does anyone know how much gap there should be between the tube and the flightingIJ (3_4") seems like it would let alot of grain pass by. Brad

lundell also makes a complete horizontal auger assembly. You can get a 2 piece or a single 208" unit. We are trying several of these for next year on customers machines. They look like a well built unit and when they do wear out, you just replace the flighting area that is worn. With the life we are seeing with the steel augers several customers were wanting to try these. I have had one unit out for several years and the flighting still looks really good. Again, they can be bought through MayWes.

problem that I see with the plastic is that the edge is still flat and takes all the wear as the grain tries to go around causing it to round off. With a 3_8" or so rod welded on the edge, the auger not only has more than double the wear surface but also now has been built to an angle causing grain to want to go to the middle instead of rolling over the edge. Kind of like the corners of a semi U blade on a dozer, which boils the load to the middle so as to carry more and lose less around the sides. Anyhow, when the plastic is shot, you still will have to take apart the whole auger assembly to bolt on some new. Weld the rod on there once, and you may never do it again. No brainer for me. I have done every auger in my combine except the tailings, and the 12" horizontal unloading auger. The fountain auger is probably sees the quickest destruction especially if a large grain bin extension is used, and it has to push grain against itself for quite a while. This is still a very cheap and easy fix which will outlast anything I have ever seen. Good luck.. gs