Combines 500 series feeding improvements

Do you have enough clampsIJ I dont remember how many I have on a 525 but it was more than other guys had. I havent noticed any weeds spearing under the hose. The major improvement I noticed was in tall beans. The hose eliminated slugs that would occasionally plug the feed chains. I didnt see any improvement in short beans, but maybe my short beans werent as short as everyone elses. Tom in MN

Agree with the number of clamps on the hose. Ours are spaced one about every three feet. We used a type of channel iron that was used to make hog gates. The holes were already drilled so just cut off about five inches and fasten it to a guard then run a stainless steel hose clamp around the hose and channel iron. This keeps the hose tight to the cutter bar and won't let material under it. We don't raise much wheat so don't have any experience with down wheat. The hose we used was for liquid fertilizer.

I had 10 conduit clamps on the 518. If I had a more ridgid hose it would help. As for the short wheatbeans, we usually can average 30 to 40bu. from a stalk ranging from 18in. to 3ft. All depending upon the randomness of pop up showers in July and August.

We have two heads and one of them has the raised feather sheets and the other one has the Johnson bar. The raised feather sheets do help the feeding a lot and does a good job keeping the rocks out. The downside is trying to get the beans that shell out up the incline and into the auger. We are going to try installing a 1" tube at the sickle and run some air through it to try and get those shelled beans blown into the auger, I think if we did this the raised feather sheets will be perfect then. As far as the Johnson bar if the beans get to short it dams them up and then the reel has them pretty well shelled out before they get flipped into the header, but this only happens in real short beans. As far as the hose you can expect the same performance as the Johnson bar, but you won't have as good a seal at the sickle and we found that the occasional weed would get caught under it. If I can find the time I would like to make something similar to the Johnson bar but have the bar angled at 45 degrees and put an air hose behind it to push the shattered beans up the incline and into the auger. This should keep the head clean and keep the dirt and fines from sifting through the feather sheets and onto the skid plates. I think we all know the problems that causes when the skid plates are full of dirt.

Had a dealer them me that he had an old farmer doing hand stands after installing hump kit. I can see where shelled seeds could have a harder time getting into auger but how much more than a poor feeding head or with tube or Johnson kit. HCC level two reel is bound to help with the fingers sweeping more of the area all the time. Crary air reels work very well.

We ran a hose on one head and feathering sheets on another.(soybeans only) Weeds do not get under sheets like the hose. However I'm not sure I would buy a hump kit over hose because of price. It's also easer to put hose on and off.

dont trade for it if you gonna spend that much money go head and get a 800

and how much the combine spits out the back

There are 17 hose clamps on my 525 head. 18 to 3 beans sound like a normal crop that would yield 40-60 bu around here. I picture short beans as about 12 high, but I seldom have many that short. Tom in MN