Combines How can we do a better job in miloIJ

I run a 98 R62 and have alot of experience harvesting milo here in central Texas. With a yield of 5000 lbs_A I can run 6.5 mph so yu should be able to run faster than what you are. This year I have made the hyper modifications, therefore I know the machine both with and without the modifications. Stock, it had 4 reverser bars, I never had a problem with losses out of the rotor. How many reverser bars do you haveIJ Is this the first year you are expereincing these problemsIJ Perhaps your bars are wornIJ What do you have your concave clearence set at, I usually have it on 4.5. As for the sample in the bin, make sure that you are returning the tailing back onto the rotor, that makes a big difference. Some varities clean alot better than others. After I made the hyper modification I did loose some out of the rotor but reduced it by closing the seperator grate some and I plan to install another bar on it. The header, I have a 400 series and have the head savers. They work great, would not cut wihtout them. These are so called the "newer" style. They come in about three foot sections and have poly finger that extend out in front of the cutter bar.

Hello, currently run R-62's and have cut lots of green leafy milo. Milo can be a very tough crop to harvest before a freeze due to the green leaves, which tend to carry the grain with them through the rotor. First of all what is your bar configurationIJ I assume you have the 3_4" wide spaced bars. The order of the reverse bars is very important. We have a pair of reverse on the "A" row (left Side) then another set on "B" row perpendicular to each row. The rest of the rotor is all forward bars with extended bars on the discharge. Concave settings: With machine off, try closing concave all the way down until it makes contact with rotor. Then make sure concave is level and concave scale is zeroed out. Adjust concave from 3_4"-1 and go from there depending on crackage. Adjust up in small increments if needed. Speed up rotor to 600 rpms loaded. Seperator grate: Sounds like you are on the right track by adjusting this up. With your setting on 3 I would measure the clearance between the grate and possibly close this down a notch or two. By doing so, the sep. grate is helping to pull of the leaves creating a final freefall for the grain before it leaves the cage. The R-62 we are running has the sep. grates material with a 36" rasp bar at the 7'o'clock position or front of sep. section. Peg bars: There are so called peg bars for milo that are to be put in on "A" row in place of reversers just 2 opossite of each other. These will drastically reduce rotor loss next to nothing. Although I do not know if Agco is manufacturing these or not. Header: For milo harvesting there are Richardson and Britten crop savers available through Agco, Case-Ih, John Deere dealers depending on your area or TSC,Country General,Gebos stores. Either one of these brands of guards work real good in eliminating loss of milo at the header. Hope this helps, Good luck!

Thanks for all of your advice! We ran an R50 for many years before purchasing this R52 this year. The R52 does not have the option to return the tailings to the cylinder. We had that option of the R 50 and we will probably need to install that on this one. The machine has been leveled and only has about 300 hours on it so the cage and bars are in mint condition. We were running the right side concave clearance very close, (about 1_4 inch) trying to thresh the berries out of the head. Is this too closeIJ We only have two reverse bars in the A position. We will try putting in another set. Our dealer suggested taking some of the cylinder bars completely out. He thought that would help "agitate" the material in the rotor to allow more complete seperation. Have you ever tried that modificationIJ Is it worth putting in the rasp bar on the left side grateIJ Will it work with corn or does it cause more cob breakupIJ Where can a person buy these milo guards and will they work on the "clean cut" sickleIJ Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Thanks for all of your great advice. Where can a person buy peg barsIJ Are they sort of like the short bars on a Case IH speciality rotorIJ We have removed every other wire from the "low wire" seperator grate. This has really helped reduce rotor loss in corn but in milo, the grate seems to get plugged with stems and leaves that get stuck in the open holes left when the wires were removed. Any experience with this problemIJ We have been running the concave clearance much closer, more like 1_4 inch. We still had plenty of power and were not cracking the grain but is that too closeIJ Thanks for helping me out. I really appreciate it.

You may have to put the little plastic plugs in those holes. We put a bunch in this summer and they seem to stay there rather well, although I haven't checked them lately.

Open the air to 7. Open the chaffer to about 5_8 - 3_4 inch and adjust sieve so that you get a clean sample and that good airflow lifts the milo chaff off the shoe. Most of the shoe material should be lifted into the chaff spreader and blown out. Drive about 4-4.5 mph depending on hillside to keep shoe and machine fully loaded. I'd check_replace_add if necessary the reverser bar to keep milo in the rotor a little longer to reduce rotor loss. Check distribution auger to make sure all fingers and auger flighting is in place to keep material evenly distributed across shoe. Check accelerator rolls for excessive wear.

Check with your local Agco dealer on the peg bars. These were used by custom cutters in South Texas a few years ago in green milo with great results. The company sent us a set due to same problems. Agco said that they would start manufacturing these and implement this into dealer network for availability. This was over 1 year ago, so you might have dealer call Agco and see what they have to say. Agco offers a plug kit Partn 71371547 (plugs approx. 250 holes) This definitely stops leaves and stalk chunks from hanging onto sep. grate, thus allowing grain to fall. If reverse bars are on "A" row 2, I would recommend 2 on "B", allowing earlier agitation. Four works real well, without any noticeable power loss. Sounds like your concave setting is fine, if anything you could back off a little if crackage or power loss.

Check out our mod page that T lange has got, as we have an idea that might help with the leafy milo! It like pegs that stick through the cage but we have used knife sections that cut the material up, they meant to help with reducing hp compared with straight pegs!!! but do the same sort of job. Rolf

Hello there!! This works for us. We run a '93 R-52 with 1_2" spaced cyl bars, two rev in the center section and two rev. on the lH. end, with extended bars on the discharge end. Also a 12" F concave bar in the bottom of the sep grate. Concave on 2 or tighter (if not cracking) cyl on 500 to 550 ( I found just 30 rpm can make a difference). We run a air foil chaffer but otherwise run the std. top chaffer wide open and the lower sieve closed perty tight and the air wide open. We do custom work and pride ourselves in a good job, we were only doing 2.5 to 3.0 MPH in 15 to 18% moisture milo but doing a great job. We run the same bar set up for corn etc. Hope you find this helpfull. Are you cutting milo in KSIJIJ

We are actually in NE although we are close to the KS border. Do you think that the F bar bolted in the separator grate and the extended cylinder bars are helping a great dealIJ Those are mods we might consider making. It just seems that a nearly new combine should be able to do a better job without making a bunch of modifications! This machine is set up with the 3_4" cylinder bars instead of the 1_2 " ones. I suppose the 1_2" do a better job in small grains. Our problem is that we do an equal amount of milo, soybeans, and irr. corn and need to change between crops with relative ease. What about the return to cylinder optionIJ Do you have that on your machineIJ We were encountering pieces of broken head in the grain tank that contained milo berries. If threshing is not complete the first time around, those pieces have to either end up in the grain tank or be blown out the back. let me know what you think. The more info I can gather, the better. Thanks.