Combines constipated 1440 in cowpeas

algar: Anytime there is rotor rumble and hi power consumtion, the rotor speed (350) is too slow. Also, the end of the rotor is fitted with kickers as they call them, which throw straw and other material by centrifugal force, down to the beater. The rotor must have RPM enough to take advantage of flywheel action to transport the crop from one end to the other, rather than fighting it all the time with torque. Rotor belts get tore up early if they work in those conditions too. I don't do cowpeas myself, but wet soybean straw is the same story. You may want to try a rotor speed of 600-700 or greater (on the high side of 2 speed gear case) and maybe a 2-4 concave setting as a suggestion.

Do you have angle iron kickers installed at the rear of the rotorIJ The front lip of these will catch vines and hold them causing buildup of vines. Also, sawtoothed stripper bars on the rear of the rotor will work against the vane transits, slowing down feeding. By the fact that your problem is at the very rear this may not be occurring badly, but if the angles are installed I'd suggest removing them.

We had the same problem a few years back in green stemed soybeans. We found the rear vaines over the grates were in bad condition, bent, broken, and one missing. We changed them in the field, with a lot of stretching, grumbling and skinned knuckles. But it made a tremendious improvement. We also run our rotar Much fast than 350(450-650). We grow seed beans and always have good cleanouts. Have a Good day!

Terry,I don't recall what you recommended as the best set-up for the rear of the rotor.Please refresh my memory.Still love my St. John rotor.

Thanks for all the help. I tried speeding it up to 450 rpm, never did try it any faster, but had lots of cracking, as well as it seemed to just rumble more (cowpeas seem to crack easier in my opinion). Finally replaced the last vane that was damaged, and moved it to fast position, was in medium. And then added one short vane in very end of cage. As there isn't any vanes in the last 3 or 4" of the cage. Also replaced the two rear grates to smooth round hole types (doubt this was any benefit). After doing this it ran fairly decent even at 350 rpm. After all this, I think they need 3 or 4 short vanes installed at the very end of the cage to push the material on out. I also think Tj's comments about the notched stripper bars and the angle iron kickers make sense. Thanks again Algar