Combines deslugging tips

lMAO! Not at you 93aRRRgh-52, but with you! I have had my patience with our R42 taken to my breaking point. lITERAllY I have gotten slugs from beans that our old CIH 1660 would not thought twice about digesting. I have created several new swear words in the process, rethought my whole purchase descion on this combine, and I too have shaken my fist at her and threatened to imediately trade her off, if she did not straighten up and fly right! She is too big to put over my knee and spank! (that was not very politically correct of me now was itIJ) Any way, I got a slug last week that took two of us 3 hours to get out. The mass was no larger than two pillows. I did it again Friday. I could not reverse the mass out, and my helper was not anywhere nearby! So I dug. I wish you had posted your tip of removing the belt Thursday! This slug was not as bad as the one a week ago, but I could not reverse it with out the slip clutches clicking. What a good question, how often should the slip clutches be greased and how much grease. ESPECIAllY the one on the end of the rotor driveIJ There are two there, the book shows once a year but that is for one of the two, is the other 10 hoursIJ Anyway I wanted to add the following!!!!!! Go back in the General Forum a couple weeks and I state that I can leave the rear feeder house blocks up!!! I AM SOOOOO WRONG, with these green ropes. I think if you have good dry stems, you could get away leaving the blocks up with out a problem, but this season is a real challenge. When I got this last slug out Friday, I gave up and thought I better try turning the rear blocks down. I did have to grind an edge off the one inside to get it past the large bolt, but I got it turned, then the outside one. I went back to the same beans I had been fighting and would you know that they fed fine. I did have a couple large bumps and bangs at times due to uneven feeding, but they fed past the transition area. What a relief! But now I have to spend more time switching between corn and beans and milo. I really appreciate this website. lots of good information, that only operators can relay to others! Thank you! I do have one question, Has anyone cut a hold in the side of their R machine to get at that inside rear block easierIJ If one does, does it weaken the structure of the combineIJ

Hey oldstruck, 93aRRRgh-52 is a friend of mine and only lives about 6 miles from me. I always change my rear blocks when going from corn to beans even though it is a pain. A couple years ago, I tried not changing them and I was using the reverser quite a bit but since I went back to changing them I hardly ever have a slug.(KNOCK ON WOOD). I know there are guys on here that don't change them but it doesn't work for me. By the way, I did get your e-mail.

Have had it happen before and dug it out by hand the first time.Not fun. The next time it happened I took a couple of chains and hooked them equally on the bottom of the front chain slats near the drive chain and pull it backward with tractor while someone reversed from combine seat. Did not want to pull to hard but just enough to give combine reverser a little help. Probably not the right way to get the wad out but it was alot faster and less frustrating. Had round hooks on chain so it went on slats.

I am glad you got the email, Dan! I had video also, but looking it over, this new canon I got seems to be slow at taking video, then the replay looks like fast forward on the computer! So I did not send them along. I apologize if I was misunderstood. I was not intending to make fun of, or ridicule anyone. I was laughing that I had the same thoughts about our R42 as 93aRRRgh-52 had with his frustrations. It made me feel that I am not all alone! Actually I was kind of releived that guys with experience are having the same troubles I am having. Before this I was concerned that it was just me and or our R42. Believe me, I need all the friends I can get! I am in an area that is a "sea of red" (wouldn't you know in Nebraska). There are some Green ones sprinkled in, but I would be the lone Silver machine in this area. My dealer is about 35 miles from me, he sells both Yellow and Silver, mostly to the south and east of where he is at, we are north and west of them. They are the ones that told me on my "preflight check out" what things I needed to change and would not have to change in different crops. Taking an extra 20-30 minutes to rotate those blocks would have probably gained me a day of harvesting, due to cleaning out slugs. With the weather we are having, that would have made it so we would most likely have been done with beans, even those short green ones!. I chaulk it up to experience. I think a road trip for me is in order, to meet you guys in person and take a look at what you both have done to make your machines operate better! Plus a road trip that is not a parts run, seems to take some stress off at times. Thanks! stu

I leave the blocks in the corn position, but have cut the top side off so it would have the same amount of travel as if it were in the grain position. I still have plugs but the reverser has taken them out so far. The front blocks are on the grain side, what does the corn side do (help)IJ Will it save corn from being shelled off cobIJ yeilds up to Beans(45 bu.) corn (160 bu.)not this year but in the past, don't know what it would do in higher yeilding crops. GOOD lUCK

I leave the blocks in the corn position, but have cut the top side off so it would have the same amount of travel as if it were in the grain position. I still have plugs but the reverser has taken them out so far. The front blocks are on the grain side, what does the corn side do (help)IJ Will it save corn from being shelled off cobIJ yeilds up to Beans(45 bu.) corn (160 bu.)not this year but in the past, don't know what it would do in higher yeilding crops. GOOD lUCK

Using the same idea you could chain it up to something solid and use a come along to help pull it back

How wide a head are you running , what are the row spacingsn and how fast do you goIJ I am 16' on 15" rows and at the best 4.5 mph.

Hi 93aRRRgh-52! We run 6 row 30 equipment. I have been running around 2.9 to 3.2. on 55 bushel or so beans. 4.5 mphIJ Wow! That would be wonderful if we could get to 4! But I think our limitation would be hp and we are still stock oem on the processor area. We looked for and purchased a 16ft 800 series flex head after we aquired our R42 last year. I went over to southeast Iowa to get it. It was not perfect, but less than half the cost of a new one and the dealer included a SCH cutting system with the purchase. That we installed. It has worked very well for our relay wheat plots as compared to a 15 ft. head we had with our previous machine. I am curious about your 15" rowsIJ Do you have a planter for 15"IJ We have been thinking about going that route, or at least trying it. I will add I hope you did not feel I was laughing at you earlier, with your feeding troubles. I was laughing cause I was soooo relieved that I was not alone! I swear there have been two times I had to get in the middle of our R42 and open the hatch to the rear feeder house and clean it out from behind, and think the same things you stated! A grenade came to mind more than once!!!

Not problem I don't even know what lOl means. But if you are going from a 1660 to a 42 you probably do notice something missing. Dan was shocked at 4.5 mph, but I have about 10 acres to go and, DanIJ how many do you have to goIJIJIJ(let's not talk about the stand of "double crop" beans I have coming up now). The reason I asked about width is I think my combine would choke on a 20' header(I'd slow down). Esp. in 15" or narrower rows. I'd like to go to 20' but think it would take a 62 to do it. I use a 12-30 Black Machine for a planter. 15" vs 30" is a whole nother debate.