Combines JD 9500 Walker Bearings

My combine is a 1995 model 9500 with the same number of seperator hours. I can only tell you what I know, and I have asked the same questions that you have. I replaced one of the aluminum cases and the seals to see if that actually tightened anything up. I appeared that it did tighten things up. My service tech showed me how weak the walker cranks are. If you push up on your walker you can bend them easily. So, if your walker's bind up on you, you will bend the crank for sure. I have also been told, and we do, grease these bearings every day with about 10 to 12 shots of grease each. I have not done this, but I have considered ordering the wood block conversion from loewen. If nothing else this would save the everyday greasing. I can't help you on getting the bushings off. I really don't remember for sure but I think we just left ours on when we changed the housing.

Check with Petersen Eqpt in Frost MN. I know he has installed hundreds of loewen wood blocks into JD combines. He also supplies an undersize wood block, along with shims, so that if your shaft is a bit worn, these will fit nicely. His name is Bruce Petesen, 507-878-3382.

I was not necessarily wanting to change to wood blocks, but thanks for the info. I was more interested in a benchmark to see when we should replace the walker bushings, to be sure we were not spending money on unnecessary repairs, and to find out how to get the original metal rings off without harming the shaft or catching the combine on fire.

I also have a 9500 with similar Hrs and similar age and I have a little play on all of my walkers when you push up on them. What is the listed greasing interval on your machineIJ Mine is listed at 200hrs, but I am greasing every 10 to 15hr by the sep. (depending on lenght of day) and can confortably put up to 20 pumps into both front and back mounts before it shows any sign of purging grease. We were told when we got it that it had the updated_latest version of walker bearing_and most other things(we were told it was specked up to '96 specifications) when we got it in '98. Just out of interest what other mechanical problems have you encounted with your machines recentlyIJ The last of my problems (as limited as they have been...touch wood) have been bolts coming loose in the electric clutch of the feeder house. Cheers Bundy.

We went ahead and replaced the whole assembly on the rear of the walkers. We used a hand grinder to get the old rings off. We only replaced the aluminum housing and the rubber bushings on the front of the walkers and left the old metal rings on due to tight working quarters and the fact that the old rings were not worn at all (used a micrometer to measure). Seemed to take care of things. Have been told by miltiple people to grease walkers every day or twice a day if you are putting in long hours. We have not had to do anything else to the combine other than turning the chopper blades, replacing the sickle sections, greasing, and changing the oil.