tbran
Guest
a few more tips. The feeder beater slip clutch is shimmed BEHIND the sprocket with shims against the lock collar. No matter how many springs one has installed they won't hold unless they are compressed by the shims. Pull the sprocket off and I bet you find a lock collar that is about rounded to a knob. Replace it to give a proper seat for the shims and check out the back of the sprocket and repair as necessary. Add at least 4 shims or 2 washers and reassemble with one spring. Now put the door wrench on a feeder beater finger and pop or slip the clutch (prior model feed reverser kit) to make sure you have not shimmed to the point of coil bind. Run as many springs as necessary. The other method is to put a spring in a vice and measure the total compressed height. Shim the clutch as before and measure the distance between the hole bottom and the washer with the jaws not meshed -jaws on top of one another.(this is not as hard as I think I am making it out to be. Hole depth plus clearance between six-eight gun cyl. and big flat retaining washer is what you are after.) Make sure this distance is around 1_8-1_4" more than collapsed spring height. Feeder beaters shimmed this tight can sometimes break the drive chain. If it does the fingers are retracting TOO lATE. The crop is being carried to far up_around and the cyl is snatching it back down thus causing a shock load. Adjust to make fingers protrude sooner and retract quicker. Anything that goes under the header auger should go under the feeder beater. In tough conditions and in corn we always run in full up position. Only time we lower it is in really thin short straw crops that need more even combing_feeding. If anyone hasn't posted be sure that if you have a chain drive thresher beater, replace the std. 18 tooth sprocket with a 25 tooth speed up sprocket. The gurus here have given some good advice so far, check it out and I bettcha you will be pleased.