Combines Front Feed Chain Trivia for 200

I have the same problem with my '94 R-52. Sometimes the ears hit the top of the feederhouse so hard that it knocks the top inspection door off the feederhouse. I always run my feeder chain on the fast speed. For me, it seems to help a little bit.

Had an 89 R50 that would do the same as you described. The frustrating part was I could never predict what conditions the build up would occur. Sometimes in the middle of a warm dry day was just as bad as early in the day with dew on the shucks. A dealer installed a "false floor" from an R52 feederhouse and that cured at least 95% of the problems. It took some modification as the feederhouse of the 52 is longer. But it did make a "new" machine out of the R50.

I am sure you have verified whether the chain is centered. Thats the only problem I have had, but then my chain only jumped 1 sprocket and not all 3. It is interesting to hear that you replaced the springs when converting to 557 chain. I also felt the old springs were getting tired and allowing the chain to sag excessively. However, I am not sure new springs did much good. Are you back to normal yetIJ Tom in MN

Define normal please.

Holy catfish, Pete. I wouldnt have the foggiest idea. Maybe I should have asked if Hyper is back to full speed after his hospital visit. Tom in MN

What sort of chain is that and is it made like OEMs. look for something sharp on slats causing it to pull material around drive shaft. Remember rear chain has to be as aggresive of front for as to pull material away and of course you need to be sure it is turning somewhat faster than front. R50s and I believe some R52s had to much gap from front feed sprocket to square tube, we reduce that down to 1_2" range. False floor will likely help but more economical than that for that old machine would be to weld on slanted filler from bottom of square tube forward to give less chance of material building and then moving back and wraping around shaft. If this was a wraping crop like flax ect. I would suggest to move tention drum back into throat as far as possible and install fairing extentions to prevent straw from getting on back side of slat. Same may hold true or at least help that machine in corn.