Combines combining field peas

[Meldrum_Farm]

Hello Shopguy, I can give you a few general observations for those two crops, although I have an R7 (5 years now) with sunnybrook rotor and extended concave and 30' rigid head. Have grown canola for over 20 years and peas for at least 10. Peas First, everything goes far better if the crop is dessicated_dried down, especially if there are lots of thistles_cleavers. Second, a pickup reel has not been necessary (have tried with and without). Third, crop lifters are required, and can be left on for wheat_flax_barley-spacing should of approximately 10"-12" works best (have 12" seed rows),you can go a bit wider if you have to; anything much closer together seems to block flow. Most in our area use flexible Claas lifters as opposed to a rigid lifter-have modified_bent mine so they touch the ground an inch earlier-keeps the head a bit further away from the ground. Have combined both "rolled" and "unrolled" ground; you'll definitely pick up less dirt and fewer rocks if the ground has been rolled after seeding. Fourth, make sure your rock trap is emptied at least once a day. Depending on the land, I pick up a rock(at least fist-sized) every 20-50 acres. Combine settings Presently running cylinder from 600-650, concave almost wide open. I keep 4 concave filler bars in at all times- tried with and without and found no significant difference in cracked peas (and it's quite an aggravation changing back and forth). Wind is usually close to maximum, unless you have very small_light peas. Top sieve is usually 3_4", lower sieve around 5_8". Have found that peas are a "sunshine crop"; when the sun goes down, vines will quickly and noticeably toughen, plus it's harder to see header due to darkness and dust-you might want to stop shortly after that point. Immature_wet vines and pods can be "gummy", resulting in poor flow_feeding of vines on the header. Have had that same "greenness" transfer (and build up) in both clean grain elevator and discharge chute (after the chopper); from personal experience neither is fun to clean out. In a 35-40 bushel pea crop, my "sweet spot" seems to be around 4-4.3 mph at 15 lbs of boost-will vary depending on smoothness of land, humidity_temperature, crop condition, etc. You'll soon figure it out for your conditions. Canola First, (and it's common sense) try to swath uniformly with a minimum of wads_beaver houses in the field; no combine (nor operator) is happy ingesting lumps. Concave is nearly open, cylinder between 700 and 850 (depending on time of year_crop toughness). Wind is 3-3.5 (around 1_2 way) as an initial setting-my R7 has a perforated screen that is lowered (beneath the accelerator rolls) for canola_flax_light barley. Wind settings will always be a balancing act with a small-seed crop, and will need to be "tweaked" during the day. By looking into the grain tank, you will see how a minor wind change will effect the amount of chaff coming in; I always expect some, and make adjustments according to conditions Sieve starting points: Top sieve is usually 3_4-5_8", lower sieve around 1_2"(close it up if you're getting pods). long term average coverage has been around 9 acres_hour; no doubt there will be lots of people faster than me (but it's a comfortable_steady speed). You'll find where the "sweet spot" is pretty quickly in canola. Hope that helps; remember that it's only one persons observation. David

 

[shopguy]

Do you know anyone that puts a stopper lip on back of upper sieve to stop canola from running outIJ

 

[Meldrum_Farm]

Hello Shopguy, No, I don't know anyone nearby who has done that, although it has been mentioned several times in this forum. I did have an adjustable "tailboard" on my previous pull-type combine, and it worked best when either the crop yields_volume were extremely variable or when there were strong winds. Usually the tailboard was raised as high as it would go (about 3 inches above the top sieve) for flax and canola, slightly lower for wheat and barley. Have found that it is much easier to accurately set the gleaner wind-sometimes it only takes 1_4 turn adjustment more or less to minimize loss-just keep looking in your tank; you'll see changes almost instantaneously. To make a tailboard, I'd be tempted to try a piece of aluminum flashing or furnace air duct, bent to an appropriate angle and fastened with about 4 self tapping screws-you can always cut it shorter with a pair of tin snips or easily "hand bend" it to experiment with various angles. If that works, then something more permanent_durable_adjustable with slots and wingnuts can be created. Hope this helps. David

 

[oatboy]

Meldrum farm: lots of good advice in your post. The settings sound similar to my experience with an R-70 also with Sunnybrook rotor and concave. Curious to know if you use stacked helicals and whether or not you still run the cage sweepIJ Also, could you tell me a bit about the rock trap your combine hasIJ Is it an aftermarket add onIJ

 

[Meldrum_Farm]

Hello Oatboy. Yes, I followed Dan Hurtt's advice and double-stacked the helicals-ordered them from Sunnybrook. It made a noticeable difference in "rumble" reduction-found that boost levels were reduced about 4 lbs after that point. I do run the cage sweep and it only jammed once this year (wet flax). Normally run 2 cage covers (1 and 2),but this year added 2 more. If you are standing in the engine compartment the first cover is located to the left of the point where threshing and separating cages bolt together. The second cover is bolted immediately to the right of the first one. The third cover (home made) is accessed through the grain tank and is bolted on the separating cage (top right side;it's immediately below the pipes that support the cage sweep). That one helped a lot; it looked like the sweep was "bulldozing" long straw ahead of it and jamming. The 4th cover is actually a two piece Gleaner part, but I've never seen it in any combine, and they're called a "spring wheat kit"( part numbers 71320423 and 71322133, page 220 of my parts book) but I'm only using 71322133. From the grain tank side, I observed that that a lot of straw (wheat, barley, canola) would stick through the cage on the discharge (extreme right side) , preventing any straw above it (where the sweep would push it) from falling down, then the cage would jam. That one eliminated (so far!) my cage sweep jamming-haven't seen any increase in grain loss, and the cage section below it is now usually free of straw, as opposed to being constantly plugged with straw. The rock trap was added for the previous owner at his dealership. Will check to see if it was some kit, or fabricated there, then let you know. It looks like two small plates were added to the sides of the door to prevent seeds from spilling out-door hinge is in original location.The result is that the door doesn't swing closed as much compared to factory (about 2" less ),so there is quite a bit of room to collect rocks. Haven't had any experience running without it;can't say how much it impedes smooth crop flow-but can see from discussions and observations on this forum that crop obviously wouldn't feed as smoothly over the trap. Hope that helps. David

 

[NDDan]

Harvesting both them crops with P3 you may benifit plenty with the use of rotor sweeps. The sweeps will help the canola threw without breaking it up when super dry and or when green. Also the peas will flow better at slower cylinder RPMs. Other helical tricks will certainly help. If you have a '92 62 you have a very slow feeder house (similiar to prior rotaries). For green canola you will want the faster feeder drive pulley used on newer machines. Another step better for the green canola is the pulley and belt used on the lTM feeders. That will add another approx 20% of RPM to feeder. With a little moding to shield bracket you can move belt to normal fast speed positions for crops you don't need the super fast speed. A rebuild of both feed slip clutches with full set of springs is highly recommended if excess sliping has ever occured. Don't over look rear clutch for if it slips a split second the front will slip right out. Of course feeder shocks are a must and I highly recommend rock door hump. let us know how you get along. Take care

 

[oatboy]

Including the cover you mentioned (71322133) is something I will have to try. The cage sweep travelling to the end of its stroke by the "stop sign" always reminded me of the stuffing tines on a square baler, and this cover should help remedy that. While I was operating without the sweep, the top of the cage, say from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock would stay clean in peas and canola, but would stay covered with short straw and chaff in cereals, especially at the thresher end. It made me wonder if one could get by with much shorter tines on the cage sweep, as only the top needs to be swept. This would make the whole assembly much lighter, and presumably easier to drive. Any thoughtsIJ

 

[Meldrum_Farm]

Hello Oatboy, So far, that separating side cover seems to be the answer on my R7. The only other time I experienced plugging was when canola stems came through on the back threshing side, just above the concave-usually after dark when conditions got tougher. The stems and pods would bridge just where NdDan said they would; 6" below the sweep tines-I wondered about extending them with some kind of flexible_durable plastic, but covers 1 and 2 seem to have that solved (for this year). When the sweep was jamming last year (in wheat, canola and barley) I experimented with: removing some tines and_or disconnecting the sweep with little improvement. If the sweep was disconnected straw would eventually fill up the top 1_3 of the rotor, while removing some of the tines and reconnecting the sweep slowed down (but didn't eliminate) the jamming. Flax has never been a problem, some straw sticks through the lower grate on the separator (closest to the "stop sign"),but never seems to go any further. Have been straight-cutting it the last couple of days-fields are wet; flax testing around 18 (estimated moisture). Next year I'll see what happens in wheat when cover n3 on the separating side is removed-right now I'm so pleased that the sweep isn't jamming-used to dread seeing that red light. Are those locations and crops where you usually experience jamming and plugging OatboyIJ Haven't had a chance to call about the deepened rock trap-haven't forgotten. Hope this helps. David