Combines Wedge kits

[tbran]

that's a tough one. long shoe kit is NlA. last pub price was around $2 thou., ouch. leave a standing order at all the salvage yards is best bet and call them till you wear the dog stuffing out of them and they know your voice by sound. Wedge kit off a new R series might be of help but again you would be better with a little welding shop help. When in la. we used to build a reverse wedge kit for grain heads on l,M's. 3.5" taper to 0" side cut on a pair of channels then channel welded up with a thin strap which was turned toward header. We had the upper plat extened and presto' a l,M grain head, rigid, that would shave the flat, flat ground in S. la 'round Opelousas, Jeanerette, Thibodeau etc. I gaar-on-tee. One could do this to the header and extend the hooks on the lower end and bolt in a plate and accomplish the same. Hook the top, lower the head to desired angle, measure and fabricate, line up the lower shafts and instant wedge kit.

 

[Curt]

Thanks for your ideas. I was planning on making a wedge kit anyways unless the price was right. I emailed a junk yard and they gave me a price of $1200 for a used long shoe. and a little bit more for the chaffers to go with it i.e. corn_bean. My only question is about the wedge kit, do you have to keep the plate on back of the head where it mounts to the machine on the same angle to the machineIJ Because pushing out on the bottom of the header would change the angle of that plate. You have the two tubes and the one falls into the pocket on the feeder house and the other one supports the weight of the header. That is my only concern when fabricating a wedge kit. Thanks for the help, Curt

 

[tbran]

no, with header hooked to top of combine and lower hooks unlatched, set the head so the front touches ground, support back with jack. Remove side bolts leaving only one bolt at front top each side. Slowly and safely lower header and supporting jack til you achieve desired angle. Mark plate for ref. and measure or make cardboard templates. Then unhook and fabricate side plates, lower filler plate and redrill top holes. A channel bolted to the bottom with a plate welded and drilled could be used to mount origional hooks, one of the shop guys has suggested.