Combines Rocktrap issues

You are corect on every thing you said. Fuel use is high. Rocktrap is for looks only. If you get one, get the plastic fingers for the auger. THey last about 2 years before they begin to wear out. We ran one 2 years and never had one break. I think we found one brick in the trap in 2 years. lots more just got eaten.

Have a 9860. Have dumped lots of rocks from trap from straight cutting . Haven't run any through. fuel consumption is slightly (barely) under 1 gallon per acre. (936D header and picking 30 ft. windrow,wheat,canola,bly.)

I'm sure you have. But how many went thru itIJ Our 9750 would burn 250 to 300 galons a day. We cut green beans with it a lot. Good sample but high maintenance. lots of $$$$$$$ everyday. In rice the STS is a big joke. Even with a Shelby on it. An 8780 Massey with a 24 ft stripper would run circles around it. And burn a lot less fuel. With a bigger header too. Your situation may be different but we will never have another green combine.

Riceman, what problems did you have exactlyIJ All my neighbors are starting to run 9750 and 60s'. Another thing is the next new green machine we get will probably be a STS since they are discontinuing rice package on walker machines. What is the problem with a stripper on it. I noticed a guy outside of Newport ran a stripper on his 9750 last year then got a 9760 and runs a 925 draper.

when you say lots more just got eaten what all happened to the rotor how much downtime was there fixing it and were you able to fix it in the field or did the JD tech had to come out and fix it or worse yet did you have to take it out of the field and in the shopIJ Or was the rotor able to handle whatever was eatenIJ

We have had STS's and went back to walkers for most everything you said, fuel, high wear and tolerance for foreign objects. The rocktrap works as good as on a walker, but even on a walker you run something through a time or another. The wheat concaves are typically junk after 400 hours on the STS, while the walker goes well over a thousand. When the STS gets over a thousand hours it gets really expensive. Feederhouse, header lift, feed accelerator, rotor housing getting thin, threshing elements, tines, veins, chopper, grain handling system, all needs attention. The used equipment market reflects this. The STS has a capacity advantage every time you run a lot of residue through the combine. I wish JD would put this tine drum over the walkers like they do in Europe. Fuel consumption gets even worth with the 02 models, when JD started putting the TIER II engines in. There is a reason why the tank on an STS is so much bigger.

We own a 9650sts and love the thing. Ours has about 500 hrs. on the sep. and the concaves are still in very good condition. Wear is going to depend on how tight you run your concaves. Run them tight and their going to wear. We've run at least a half dozen steel fingers through ours including an electric fence post; not to mention a bunch of rocks, and there hasn't been any damage done to the rotor. Sometimes your lucky and other times not. If ever a finger gets pinned in a concave and stands erect then there's going to be big trouble. So far so good. As for our fuel usage it's been excellent. Fill every few days. Conventional we filled every day, even before the day was through. Once again fuel useage is going to depend on how the combine is set mainly in the concave area. If it's tight then she's going to drink more; because it has to work that much harder to get the material through her gut. later.

I bet you could not pay for them either. You are running from something. Your Cats did not work out either even after getting good deals after all the complaining. Anyone switching brands and combines like you are must be in dept up to your eyeballs. There is not that much money in custom harvesting.

Stripper was in good shape. Rice kept backfeeding down the top of the throat chain and plugged header. If any green material got into the combine it sounded like bombs going off. We put new wings on the Feed accelerator and that helped for about a day until the edge wore off. after that it was back to the way it was. We ran a brick through it while cutting levees and it made it through the feed acc. and concave before knocking one of the seperator grates out. The grate then went down and forward taking out 2 augers and the bearing holders before going back and bending the shaker pan in a u shape. It finally went out to the ground where we found it laying on top of the levee. Rock trap did not catch it. Poor trap design. You could not hear all of this happen because of the problems with the stripper making the machine feed so bad. The dealer had to fix it. 2 days for parts and 1 day to get back going. Thats with four of us helping. People here will buy Deere and Deere only. It does not matter what I tell them. Case IH cotton pickers will pick far cleaner than Deere. Side by side picking in the same field shows it. But Deere has better resale they say. If I am not happy with a machine while I own it, then what should I care about resale. I didn't buy it to resale. I bought it to use. Our 9750 was traded in because I could not find anybody who wanted to buy a 1000 hour STS. Wonder whyIJIJIJIJ On an aside note, I probably spent $200 to $300 a day keeping it in the field last fall. Stupid stuff like the electric motor for the fan speed adj. going out. Belly augers and bearing holders, rotor belts(3),feed acc. belts(4),feed acc. pullys. Rotor pully seals. The list goes on and on. We went red.

No there isn't much money in custom harvesting. That's why one needs combines that work instead of delivering a dirty sample and throwing grain out the back. The deals can be as good as they want, if the customers tell us not to bring those back, we don't have a choice. The walkers this year worked fine. The STS did a good job in the field, too, but is more expensive. And since there is not much money in custom harvesting as you alreday know, we stick with the walkers, that have been good for us in earlier years.