Combines elephant ears

We have run a 1480 and 1482 pulltype machine with 2 ears on the 4 ear mount for 10+ years in crops like you describe and nothing has broken. Even the pulltype machine with the Steiger 4wd on the pto has eaten green weedy stuff that slugged the rotor and killed the tractor in an instant. I managed to explode a pto U joint that way this year but the elephant ears stay on. Others have expressed the opinion in an earlier post that unless you are feeding the combine a huge volume of green tough weedy stuff,that you shouldn't have a problem. We did not cut away any of the mounts,just removed 2 ears. Good luck to both of us

Hey, you guys are onto something here. It appears that the new AFX rotor uses 2 impellers instead of 3 or 4. Check it out in the Quicktime movie at: http:__www.caseih.com_files_tbl_s21ProductVideos_Video87_34_AFXrotor6.mpg

The Disrupter guy again. I will try to explane why two ears are better then one. The 80 series combines have a 32 inch rotor and origionally had four ears. The 60 series combines have a 24 inch rotor with three ears. We found that there was more space between the three ears on the 60's, (to grab the crop) then there was on the 80 series with four ears. By removing two of the four ears it opened the feeding section up to except larger and fuller crops. I personally think their should be two ears on the 60 series and three on the 80 series but that would take a lot of changes. This is an easy fix and it works. My rotor and cylinder bars have the same concept. We remove every other tooth on all types of bars to make them more aggressive. I tell people if you want to grab a handfull of straw would you hold your fingers close toghther or spread them wider apart. Call me if you wish ask for Don @ Estes Mfg. Co. 1-800-235-4461

we HAVE TWO 1480'S RUNNING IN WHEAT, CORN AND SOYBEANS YEARlY. THERE IS NO BETTER MOD YOU CAN MAKE THAN GETTING TWO EARS OFF. SIMPlY UNBOlTING THEM WIll DO FINE. OUR 1680 ONlY HAD TWO, BUT THERE ARE STIll MOUNTS THERE FOR TWO MORE.

If you just remove 2 elephant ears without changing the hub to a 2 ear hub , it will break and you will have elephant ears laying on the feeder house like i did.

Feedlot; As you may know, a new elephant ear will have good square leading edges, and that same edge will run straight front to rear and not be worn to a concave shape from the sweeping and grabbing action in the cone. If all I ever did was corn, shot elephant ears work ok, 'cuz thats the way my own are, but I'd hate to run them in tough greenstem soys next fall. They'd have no traction in tough conditions. Bean straw this year was short and dry so it didn't bother. I run a 1660 myself.

The elephant ears and inserts (wear plates) are some or the most important parts of your rotor system. They get to the crop first and start it swinging to the outside of the rotor. Good square edges are very important as well as square edges on the concave bars. I rebuild and hardface all the rotor ware parts in my shop, have been doing it for 27 years. Ck out my web page for prices. If you call Estes Mfg. Co ask for Don 1 (800) 235-4461. Web page is (www.estesmfg.com)

The best elephant ear has good edges anywhere the crop touches it. As you know, we are able to replace the wear bars on the front of the ears to help maintain "suction" of the inflow of crop, yet when the elephant ears long edge is worn sharp it may tend to lose traction on the crop while in the cone, slowing flow. This shows up in damp conditions most. If in corn, even a shot set of elephant ears will do pretty fair, but straw crops.....not. Don't know of any "rules" as to when to replace as far as measurements. It's time for new ears if the long edge has a dip in it or looks swaybacked you might say. Cone vanes can have some dents and dings or other battle scars if they're not ripped or bent in a horseshoe.

i dont know whether theres a definitive rule concerning the replacement of ears, but ive found that they usually show you when they ned replacing. sometimes, at the start of harvest, they might be slightly rough and need a day or two's work to perform well, but mostly, when your combine starts "puking", as i always say, its time to replace.

If you are going to be replacing them, and you have had feeding_rumbling problems, give a look at the Marlin elephant ears.