Combines Wear on 2388IJ

Farm Kid2, Check the the back up plates on the rotor empeller bars. If it is a specialty rotor, the rotor bars over the concaves may need replacing, the bars over the grates should be alright yet. If it does not have the chrome plating on the clean grain auger it may be getting a little thin. The elevators should be fine yet if they have been kept ajusted correctly. Check all the bushings in the shoe hangers, but I would thing they should be good yet. Hope this helps. K.A.

It is a specialty rotor, but I'm not sure I follow you on the backup platesIJ What part of the clean gain auger goes first, the screw or the tubeIJ What is an easy way to check those bushingsIJ Thanks a ton.

Farm Kid2, Take the front rotor cover off that is under the cab to check the impeller bars,"elephant ears". On the outside edge of the impeller bar there is another bar bolted on with four bolts. That bar contacts the crop first and gets the most wear. If you change that bar before it is worn into the impeller bar you only have to replace that bar and you save a lot money. If the wear is past the back up bar and into the impeller bar, then both bars should be replaced. On the grain auger I had to change both the tube and the screw on my 2188s the last year I had them, but they had over 1600 rotor hrs before I did that. The hanger bushings are kind of tuff to check. I try to shake the different hangers with my hand and if you can feel any slack it's time or you can run the machine slow and if you can see any slack it's time. Hope all this helps. K.A.

Unit2, As a lurker, I jusy wanted to say that I have learned a ton from your posts on Axial Flows. It is obvious that you know these machines inside and out. Thank you, Chuck

Thanks Unit 2. That's just what I needed. On your machine, what % corn, beans and wheat you think you did in those first 1600 rotor hoursIJ I've heard corn and beans wear out the augers a lot faster than wheat, which is what we're used to. Any input on thatIJ Thanks again, Mike

Farm Kid2, You're correct that beans and corn take more of toll on combines than wheat does. Beans are about like harvesting a good crop of sandpaper with some dirt thrown in. Corn is especialy hard on the augers because of the volume you run through. I run about 55% wheat, 25% corn, and 20% beans, but usually I harvest as many bushels of corn as I do wheat. Hey, Farm Kid2 and Chuckm if guys want to show your friends and neighbors who have silver or green combines a little trick that your red combines can do, take them out to your combine and get about five shop rags, tie a knot in the shop rags, start the combine up, turn the seperator on just like you were going to cut with it, and run those rags through the combine one at a time. They'll come out the back end in perfect condition with the knot untied . We tried that on my cousins silver combine and it distroyed the rags. K.A.

Awe, heck, that's nothin'. My JD buddies tell me that if they throw a red rag in the front of an STS, $5 bills come out the chopper! lOl Thanks again for the help, Mike

I have to try that!

There is an easy solution to this puzzle piece, The elephant ears create a vacuum cleaner effect and with no material going through the machine the immense amount of air volume flowing through the cage with no material going through, probably shoots that rag through like a rifle. The Gleaners dont have any elephant ears so the rag is thrashed like grain would be because it doesnt have the air shooting through the cage as the IH does. I was in a shop one time and they wound up the rotor on a 2188 (without the feederhouse attached) a sack was laying on the floor about 15 feet away, the durn thing just sucked that sack right into the rotor and out the back, thank goodness I wasnt standing closer, might have sucked me in too.