Combines 97 R 72 IJIJIJ

Check clearance between the moveable sheave at front of the combine(where the header drive shaft fastens). Roll belt around and see if a hacksaw blade will fit between, if not tighten moveable idler until it will. Then roll belt around and check again.

If lower sheave has NOT been greased AlOT,then sheave and hub can become worn,causing a binding problem and not letting cams keep belt tight. After sheave is removed,you'll need something to compress spring for disassembly.When put back on combine,nut is to be torqued to 350 ft lbs.

Check lower feed house brg behind the pulley for slack or wear on the shaft. This brg doesn't carry a lock collar and will spin on shaft over time. Push up and down on the belt and watch for for and aft movement of the pulley. Make sure you got the right belt, serial n specific. This helped a 95 R-62 for me.

If following the other helps posted here don't meet your satisfaction, that whole header drive can be upgraded to what the new machines have and will do a great job driving that head. We have even done that setup one better as I have a bearing support OUTSIDE the front torque sensing sheave to improve front jack shaft reliability. That makes header drive virtually bulletproof!! Use Gehringhoff header and need that kind of power delivery and reliability. Also have relative torque_load readout on that drive on steering post by having 600 max pressure hydraulic gauge there showing pressure in the drive sheave hydraulic line. Works great at little cost. Good luck.

We run a Geringhoff also and I just had to put in a new relief valve because the valve was bypassing and then the head would slow down. Is this where you are reading your gauge fromIJ The valve is supposed to release at 500psi. Do you get more pressure than this when you are runningIJ I just had to replace our variable speed sheave due I guess to a lack of grease. I found out you should be pumping a half a tube of grease in that thing every other day. I am thinking about taking all that stuff off and putting on a direct drive belt that doesn't require all the upkeep. Since we don't have to change speeds anyway. Where did you mount the extra bearingIJ We haven't broke that shaft yet but I can see where an extra bering would take care of that worry.

Dibber, If your head was slowing down, I think your bypass valve was faulty. I run 8row 22 inch and when working it alot, I use 350 to 400n as so called max load. I may take it to dealer and dyno this setup so I know how much hp it will deliver. By testing it on one side of the drive, I am concerned about hurting the spline shaft as I understand you can deliver more than 165 hp, and in use, that is delivered to two drives. We had a local farm shop design the bearing outer support and is a simple easily moved machine to machine design. The outer spline part is cut down in lathe to 2_1000 under the size of a JD disc flangette held bearing without lock collar(no room). If need more info, I can get you the contact. Just email me. If working that drive really hard, I see a broken front shaft in your future.

We just looked at installing new heavy torque sensor on machines with old system. You would need right bearing support weldment (comes with corn varible kits and not used on newer machines),front shaft, torque sensor, and splined hub. You would need to run old narrower belt unless you changed rear sheaves also. This would be a fairly economical way to get the heavy drive without replacing belt and rear two sheaves and piston cap. Wider belt and rear sheaves with cylinder cap could be replaced later to have complete heavier drive. Figured this out for a guy because he claimed up and down that original drive was in great condition but just wouldn't keep belt tight enough to handle what the machine could handle anymore.

your tach is shot had a one do that this year.