Combines R52 trouble with beans

The 800 is a big improvement over the 500, especially with the U2 reel and SCH sickle. The 8000 is similar to the 800, but is beefed up in some weak areas. The common weak point on the 800 is the drive belt pully idler pulling out of the header end plate. An easy fix if caught, but if not can be a big chore.

Here is an update. I think we have finally found the problem, although it's tough to admit it took us this long to figure it out. I guess we put to much trust in a dealer. We first went through and set the head like we felt it should be. We noticed an auger flighting extension was bolted on the left side and would take material to far to the right. We did remove it. Next I noticed that some of the retractable fingers were so far right that that they would not help much. No light bulb yet! looking at the throat the stripper plate on the right side didn't extend as far into the middle as the other side. Things didn't seem right but still no light bulb! After all this was a package deal we bought. After another disappointing attempt I talked to a helpful dealer in our area. Bingo! Our head was set up for a R62 or 72 and the filler kit for R52s was never installed. We bought the combine and heads privately from an elderly gentlemen and the conditions must have been drier and it work for him. His dealer did a sloppy job of set up and we ended up paying for it. Anyway, we got a kit today and tried it even though it was tough it worked. I think we will be in good shape now. It shows you how important even feeding is. I'm still debating how the rear drum blocks should be and we have 2 out of three dealer say grease the torque limiters alot and 1 says hold back on the grease even more that the book says. One guy said if you don't grease them they will slipIJ Thanks for all the good comments

WOW it's hard to figure sometimes!!! Very few small machines around hear so we have not installed any 700 or 800 heads on them. Got a couple questions for you if you don't mind. Wondering how many fingers get removed. Kits for old heads just removed two or three. We found it better to remove up to five if fairing extentions are installed (that is straw conveyed three or four inches in from side wall of feeder). Other question is: Does kit have full seven inch tall flighting all the way to feeder openingIJ I ask that because welded on flighting is reduced to about six inches near feeder opening and I was wondering how Gleaner addresses that. Do they just extend that whole piece of flighting with six inch stuffIJ My opinion on slip clutches is grease them all you want. I'd rather overgrease to help prevent wear and doubt torque holding capacity changes enough to make a difference. Now if your talking the old ratcheting jaw slip clutches of the old days that's another story.

I know what you mean in you other post about all that material getting compressed to approx. 2". The tightest spot in all of feeder system is at the rear of front feeder and that is just ahead of toughest transition in combine. I cut floor loose on both sides of feeder about one foot forward. I then pushed down to increase clearance by approx. 3_4" at rear and rewelded. I changed seal arrangement to match new machines. lowering floor just that little did a couple things. It made more room for crop and maybe more important it allowed for better transition into or under rear feeder. Best of all the three machines I did worked flawlessly for a change. I did some more fine tuning when in there working on feeder that I'd done on many other machines over the years but I think the floor trick has been the best trick outside of shocks. Anyway an update on cutting flighting on far left and right of 800 head with HCC level two reel. I got brave and cut away and tapered about three inches of flighting. That allowed me to bring reel down and back to keep beans feeding when beans are very short and wet. Of course you'll want the power for aft option so you can adjust on the fly and be very careful to see you have limits in place to prevent metal to metal contact OUCH!!! I do fell sorry for the less than perfect operators that need to run these conditions without an air reel. Any one know how just air assist systems work as compaired to complete air reelIJ How about vibra sheet behind guardsIJ How about a pressurized hose trick with properly placed ventsIJ Now thats something I could work on this winter. Take care Gleaner fans.

Dan'l, you hit the nail on the head. These aren't just combines, they're a way of life. "learn'n, fergit'n, learn'in aggain", arrrgh

For R52 and 42 they tell you to remove 4 retractable fingers on the right side. You remove the bolted on flighting extension on the left side. This flighting is shorter in depth than the welded on flighting although I'm not sure how much without measuring. The kit includes a filler plate (piece of heavy tin with sloted holes),an extension for the straw retarder (angle iron with holes) and a wear plate extension (heavy stainless steel curved piece) Anyway, you are centering the crop as it comes in because of the size difference in the throat of the machines.