Combines handling residue from green milo stalks

[dakota]

We ran them Kirbys for the first year and I was not happy. I assume the heavy weight of the wet residue stalls your Kirby, too. Do you have the round plate that goes on top of the plastic coneIJIJIJ

 

[JAG]

After switched from The Spreader to the Kirby, first had the large flat plate and regular TR straw spreaders; then tried the tall cone with the small round plate and rubber spreader bats to replace the straw spreaders. That didnt work; ran the cone setup plus the regular spreaders; then replaced the spreaders with the chopper. The cone tore off (pulled through its bolt holes) soon after first trying it in milo; repaired and reinforced it; kept tearing itself off so have tossed it. To get by (again) for milo, just took off the Kirby altogether. what are you running nowIJ I guess the good news this year is that with 30-60 bushel milo instead of 100+ yields, there is less chaff to deal with. :| I'm thankful we have something to harvest; within 20 miles from here most folks have milo no better than 10 bu._acre.

 

[dakota]

Did I understand you rightIJ The Kirby fitted with the plastic cone, the round metal plate on top with the long rubber straps through the plate didn't workIJ I wouldn't doubt it. I haven't really tried any milo yet, but had lots of trouble in green beans and weedy wheat. Do you have enough hydraulic pressureIJ I turned the pressure up on the Kirby regulator until the belt on the Kirby pump burned up. like I said, it's our first year with them Kirbys and I am not convinced at all. We have them behind 470 lexions.

 

[Ilnewholland]

JAG, It's been about 8 years sense I combined milo, was with the TR-96 that I had, so I may not remember much that can help you. Is the discharge beater throwing the residue into the chopperIJ You should have a cover plate on the concave of the beater. It has a large one and a small one to cover it all the way up. Otherwise the green stalks will jam in the concave. I had one combine that wore a hole in the cover plate and would start windrowing then. Is the deflecter up all the way on the beater alsoIJ Is the roller in front of chopper covered with that rubber stuffIJ Are the chopper knifes goodIJ About all I can think of to help you. Ilnewholland

 

[JAG]

Right. The system worked very well on dry to medium-tough wheat, and the only problem in corn was that, until I slowed it waaaaay down, it would toss an occasional cob forward which would catch in the drive belts for the add-on hydraulic pump (mounted as an extension off the main drive clutch) and roll the belts clear off. I think whats happening in milo and weedy wheat is that tough weeds or stalks wedge between the vertical edge of the body of the spreader and the spinning arms. NHDon said he prefers The Spreader for that reason, that at least the material can fall off since it has no sides. When I had The Spreader, it also stalled out, but I found out later that at least part of the problem was a faulty regulator valve. Id try it again but I traded the thing on this Kirby and dont much want to put out the $$ to find out whether the problem is just the sheer weight of wet tough stalks, as opposed to wedging against the sides. With that add-on pump, Im sure theres plenty of hydraulic power. I hope IlnewHollands right that the residue systems on new CR series are a real improvement. How do you like the lexions otherwiseIJ

 

[NHD]

The chaff spreaders on the TR's are a pain. I have evengiven up on "The spreader". This year we had vines in the corn and they got wrapped around the shaft above the hyd motor and raised the fan up and off the shaft. They throw cobs up into things and are a real mess. The CR's seem to have solved the problem. Green stems seem to fall on the spreaders and don't get up in the chopper. Even with both plates over the beater grate some of the straw ends up on the chaff spreader. The CR's have a searated beater so that may help too.

 

[dakota]

After reading the other answers I understand that a TR has trouble getting all the residue coming out of the rotors straight into the chopper. That's why I couldn't understand that running with the chopper gave you trouble, too. If we had choppers on our lexions there wouldn't be a question. Everything coming of the rotors would go 100% into the chopper. The lexions aren't to bad otherwise. I think the operator station is the best on the market, even after seeing the CR. Of course there were some things going out during summer but no big trouble. In corn we had some loss problems and some header trouble. I think Claas is working on this right now.