The biggest problem to date that we have had on our old l2 Gleaner 1979 version, is the worn out hopper bottom. Constantly fixing cracks, which if left, turn into holes that allow grain to flow back into the machine is a real pain! Routine bearing failures are just a fact of life.
We just grease ours, never have had a problem with them. We constantly unload on the go alot also, so I would think we would have problems if it was a serious issue.
I agree with the others on this one. We had an M2 and l2 for 18 years and never-not even once-had a problem with either unloader pivot. We did clean and oil them annually. Do you clean all the crud out of yours occasionallyIJ letting corn rot in the bearings over winter isnt going to enhance longevity.
I have concerns most over the bearings of the main clutch. We unload corn at field ends with seperator off, at full rpm, and those bearings run alot. Replaced them twice on R72 and are getting noisy again - about 2400 engine hours and 1800 seperator hours.
We put 2 of the regular bearings side by side. We had the hub bored out to fit two bearings. It was the regular agco bearing. They started to growl and never failed totatly.
94 R62. Around 2700 engine hrs. Have replaced idler clutch bearings 3 times. Main shaft bearings twice and header counter shaft clutch bearings once plus fan bearings once. When replacing main shaft and clutch bearings before this season we removed the bearing seals to check for grease. Each bearing had less than a teaspoon full of grease with the balls barely coated. All the old bearings had almost no sign of grease left in them. No bearings have failed as yet, just started howling. Our conclusion, most of the bearing problems we are having are related to inadaquate lubricant being used by the bearing manufacturer. Bearings came from the AGCO dealer and in Agco boxes.
When NDDan says he ties the wire up he means it. You can recognize his signature on machines with about 6 or more white tie straps on the seperator clutch wire. One can break and not lose a wild wire.
A good point however grease ables often fail by being over greased and having the seals blown out. One shot once a week, when your half through or once a year whether it needs it or not is what needs to happen is some instances. I've not had the bearing trouble in the main shaft area. What is the feasibility of a greasable on the main shaftIJ Could the pillow blocks be machined to channel grease to a greasable bearingIJ I know my turn is coming on this repair. The following refers to a 99 R 72 I would like to see heavier gauge metal for the elevator halves. Doubling the thickness there would not double the cost but would double the life. I like that math. The OEM belt on the bin auger clutch is longer than it needs to be. Should be just long enough to be installed. That would decrease the backward bend at the tightener and decrease belt cracking. We mounted a second idler on the other side or the belt to even further minimize bending. It works. ) ( Changing the transition under the rear feeder drum and dropping the feeder spout floor 3_4" as discussed on this board works. A small retooling cost at Heston. A large capacity increase on the farm. This may have been addressed on the 5 series but I'd like to see a smart shoe loss monitor which spans the entire width and would identify which 1_4 or 1_3 is over loaded. My biggest problem is uneven shoe loading restricting capacity and increasing loss. We've changed distribution auger configuration but still haven't won the battle. A real time in cab reading of shoe loss and return elevator loading could help fine tune performance. I've cut separator cage size holes just aft of the stationary chopper knives. This is the second cylinder_ threshing device on the machine and the grain made available by the mechanical and centrifugal force of the chopper drops nicely into the distribution auger area. Now I'm sure this mod could be refined over my wobbly plasma cuts. Again low cost. Also move thresher grain loss pad to just above the spin spreader. What grain strikes it in the upper discharge area of the separator cage doesn't tell my what is going to pheasant food.