Combines BlASTED ROCKS

I just got out of the 1660 and couldn't agree with you more on the rock trap and rock drum. Because of wet weather last spring we didn't pack the land before or after planting. As such any rocks are loose on the surface. I have the 1.5 inch knife The small rocks just go under the guards but the larger ones 2 inches to a few 6 inch ones won't. The beans are laying flat on about 35 % of the field surface and part of the field had an infestation of thistles. It scares the hell out of me also. The good thing is that the feeder slip clutch is set fairly light and as such whenever the rock drum or the auger hits a larger one (3-6 inches) you hear a thud and the auger or rock drum just stops instantaneously without bending feeder chain bars. I also had a couple of small ones (2-3 inches) that made it to the rock trap beater. Those are the ones that scare the hell out of me. Thank Case IH for a good rock drum and rock trap. They are worth their weight in gold in lying or weedy beans.

We just got a 2388 and we are scraping the ground to get sawfly wheat how do you adjust the feeder clutch to slip getting tired of fixing feeder chain.

Go get some 2" PVC conduit and clamps and some longer bolts for the guards and bolt it on. I still run an old 715 and rocks are my fear with this machine. I don't have the worries with this setup and the beans feed much better especially shorter ones. If you do it make several sections with a small gap between. My 15' has 2 sections jointed in the center. Use one ended clamps that are made for the PVC conduit as they fit tight. I used two nuts under the clamp between it and the guard and used the original nut as the hold down on the clamp. Good luck

I have the same rock guard as you and if the head flex's enough the reel will flick the rocks right over and in. I played around with header height, guard angle and moved the real back a little. so far no rocks. But I agree on the pvc pipe as a guard. I think it will perform better in shorter beans.

Try tilting you knife back a bit. Rock will hit the guards and the knife will tend to ride up and over the rock. Currently your knife is probably tilted down a bit so that when it hits a rock it 'scoops' it up and onto the header. In our area rocks are a way of life, but we deal with them.

We have a 1020 20' head with inch and a half knife. We tried a Johnson rock guard several years ago and did not like the way the beans fed over it. last year after wrecking about 5 feeder slats I bolted inch and a half PVC in 2 foot sections onto the header as ihman described. Since then have run over 800 acres of beans and only picked up 4 small stones, no damage.....

Just a thought,has anybody ever heard of picking stones!