Combines Straw wrapping on l2 tresher rattle chain

[Gleamer]

Bean stems wrapping, I have been there to many times myself on a M2. First suggestion, always run engine at full operational throttle, your rattle chains and fan and straw walkers and chopper need these rpm's. Adjust your cylinder speed and clearances for the conditions, damp conditions we tighten and speed up, dry conditions we open and slow down only if beans are cracking. Generally our cylinder is 3_8 to 7_16" and maybe 1_2 if we have a lot of thick trash. Make shure the upper rattle chain flipper door is up, it should only be down for wheat or small grasses. we also installed an option from gleaner, it is a device that has about 12 rods that keep bean stems off lower rattle chain, it installs right behind the concave, looks kind of like a heavy hay rake and bolts in on the sides of the feeder house. I also went one step furthur by welding in knives in the rasp bars about 3.5" appart and 3_8" tall. 3_8" was my target hieght because I have no need to close the cylinder down any farther. These knives help tear the trash into smaller pieces, less likely to wrap. They do take a little more HP but I know it helps, they do scuff corn a little bit nothing I have ever been docked at the elevator for. One thing I have never worked with is the beater fan, you can speed it up or down based on the sprocket size that drives it off the cylinder, I think you want it to be a little slower than the cylinder so it wont beat the trash right back down onto the rattle chain. Sorry to ramble on, I have spent 5 seasons getting close to perfection, I generally dont plug for several days at a time now. Best of luck

 

[Wilben]

Gleamer, Thanks for your quick response. Different conditions have required cylinder settings between 1_4 to 5_8 inches so the knife thing probably would not be an option and I am reluctant to add sharp edges that would further crack or split dry beans. Anything that would scuff corn would certainly damage the beans. I didn't know of the optional rake attachment. I was thinking about welding or bolting in such a device. I dont throttle back during tough conditions, only during dry conditions when there is no wrapping problem; this can dramatically reduce cracking especially in the cylinder and clean grain elevator areas the only problem with doing this is that you have to live with some warning lights. Used this successfully for years. The optimum speed in very dry conditions is when only the two elevator lights are on. This has been a different year in that harvest is at least a month behind because of cooler weather during the summer and lack of early moisture and lack of stored water because of our ongoing draught. This leaves one with conflicting harvest conditions. The beans themselves are quite dry which would seemingly necessitate slower cylinder rpm. Because of the late harvest most days have been cool and humid which means tough bean straw and pods so then you need to increase cylinder speed. I was also considering speeding up the beater. My thoughts were that a faster beater would help keep the straw elevated above the thresher rattle chain. I would think that a faster smooth surface such as the beater would cause less damage than the knife approach and would probably aid in threshing during tough conditions. The problem would probably be getting the right size sheave for the l2. Seems we may both have a problem with rambling. I do really appreciate the suggestions.

 

[Gleamer]

This issue we have been talking about has been my only frustration with my machine, I never had a problem untill I changed out my 5 bar concave and traded it in for a rebuilt 7 bar. You know everyone said more capacity with the 7 bar. The extra 2 bars and openings are at the back of the first 5. I often wonder if stray is punching thru the concave right onto the lower raddle. If so in hindsight I should for beans put in 2 filler bars in the back , I would still have 2 more bars to thresh on and may make the trash fly back furthur. I have even thought about building a slanted shelf above the raddle to sheild it from trash, but then your think someone would have tried it by now. but still I think you should run your engine speed at full for air reasons only, you can dial down your cylinder speed for the conditions. Good luck

 

[Wilben]

Thanks for the advice on the cylinder extension. local dealer was no help. like most dealers you have to know the part number for the item. Found it in my l2 parts book but that was of no value either because it doesn't give a part number. This is what it says: "order through machinery". The parts book shows a picture of an extension with 11 teeth. I found two junked l2 combines, with an extension, that had 9 teeth. They both have mounting holes for the M combines but were mounted in l2s with just the two center bolts. Not a comfortable way to mount but seems they worked okay. I installed one and it has stopped the wrapping. As far as slowing the throttle down while doing dry edible beans I must disagree with you. There are definite advantages in product quality. I used to use a sprocket slow-down kit to reduce the cylinder speed well below the standard belt pulleys. The disadvantages here are obvious. Sprockets wear more and are noisier. Also it was a hassle to install and remove because the speed was then too slow to be of use in corn and small grains. I compromised by getting a smaller drive pulley for the cylinder. Found a pulley the size I wanted but not able to find one that had the right mountings. Machined the center mounting from another pulley and used it. Works great. Slows the cylinder considerably (not as much as the slow-down sprocket kit) yet can still speed it up to do corn and small grains. Slowing the throttle to between 2000 and 2100 rpms has no detrimental effect on the airflow; just open the air slightly to compensate. Combine studies have shown that reducing the elevator speeds reduce cracking and splitting. I have found that the slow-down improves grade 1-2%. The quality improvement more then offset the loss in capacity.

 

[Gleamer]

I am glad you found the extension, you know it's like a hidden secret and if Gleaner would have pushed those parts and made them known, they would have been serving their customers well. I come from a Gleaner family, my dad built the from 1952 thru 1987 and retired. It's the only thing we will ever have so I have learned to love them, you know. A bit of history, the auger tube in the pan, he made the first one ever made, he punched the holes in it for the fingers and access plates and rolled it in the brand new slip roll former while all the wheels were watching from west allis. His first combine was an E, chain drive everything, then we thought we were something with an F, He had a stroke and wasn't able to help anymore so I traded it on the M2 we have now, he thought it was way to big, someday I would like to swap out for a rotary. My next experiment with ours might be filler plates between the cylinder bars and possibly staggared spikes (8 max) on the cylinder to prevent slugging. My brother is concerned bean straw may wrap on the cylinder. Oh well better go, Good luck

 

[Wilben]

Tell your brother to give it a try. I have used filler plates on both the l2 and a K2 with much success. As long as the cylinder grooves are not worn too badly you should not have a wrapping problem. Really enjoyed your advice and conversation. I finished harvest of my pintos last Thursday. Really the best day we had all harvest. Never had harvest drag out like this year before. Friday was a terrible day; I'm sure that there were dry beans on the move that were cut, especially those in windrows. Never got to look around the country but I noticed windrowed alfalfa fields in bad shape. Wind gusts were 60 mph. We had snow last night, about 2 inches, and there is a wind advisory out for today again. There is a substantial amount of dry beans that are still in the fields. Been a trying year and it would have been even worse if the first freeze hadn't held off for over a month past normal. Not the case for everybody. Corn harvest next, all reports in the area are that the moisture is still near 30%. We didn't have the ideal dry down conditions like those reported in the eastern Corn Belt compounded by the lack of moisture and a cool summer. Don't get me wrong, my corn yields will be quite good, but that will probably not be the norm for many.