Combines why won t my 860 cleanIJ help

We removed our middle sieve and everything worked much better, there doesn't seem to be enough air for all three seives, most of our neighbors have done this as well. Also check your air deflectors behind the fan and try to adjust them.

This is irritating, I know, but a little more information would be helpful. What kind of trash are you getting (chaff, white caps, heads, straw)IJ What kind of shape is your concave inIJ Do you have the front of the concave blanked offIJ Does this happen in all conditions, or just at special timesIJ Have you checked the speed on the rear beaterIJ I'm always happy to put in my two cents; just need a few more facts.

I ran a 750 Grey cab that was the same way. It about drove me crazy, trash and pods in the bin or grain flying out the back . When I got the 860 I tried a few modifications to the shoe. The set-up that I liked the best was...loewen air foil on the top. No middle seive at all. On the bottom I took out the round hole screen at the front and installed another loewen air foil. I then install the regular bottom seive. I also found that by adding a strip of belting (rubber paddle strip) and hanging it from the rear of top airfoil about 1 1_2 inches from the top of bottom seive that the air is used much more effectively. The strip makes the air blast go thru the airfoil instead of straight on out.I run the top airfoil on the wide side ( I want all the grain to go thru to the bottom seive). I run the front lower airfoil on the narrow side. This set-up is much easier to adjust and alot more predictable.

It comes in with all types of trash. Not white caps. Tiny bits of chaff,beards and straw. The concave is okay from what I can tell. This combine has only run in wheat for the past 15 years. I do not have the front of the concave blocked off and I'm not real sure exactly what you meanIJ It does happen in all conditions but it's just wheat. Test weight and moisture differences show no effect. I have not checked the rear beater speed directly. I seem to get a lot of straw across the sieves. we also run a 750 and my father in law has run 860's for years. His two (860's)machines don't have this problem and I have mine setup the same way. What the heckIJ The fan appears to be functioning and we've tried new belts, etc. If I start to push the machine (ground speed) it wants to run a lot thru the rethrasher. To the point of clogging the rethrasher. It just seeems like the grain wants to go over and the chaff ends up in the bin. I've heard of taking the middle sieve out and just haven't had the nerve to try it. last winter I had it in the local Massey shop and they said that it appeared that everything was working normally. Hope this helps and thanks for the quick response.

This is one of those "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV" situations. Here goes... It appears to me that you're over-threshing and loading up the seives. In order to get the berries out of the head, you're running pretty close on the front of the concave, maybe a little too fast on the cylinder speed. If it were my combine, I'd block off the front of the concave by bolting two filler plates under the front bars (part n 273 456 M1). What this does is keep the straw and unthreshed heads in the cylinder just a little longer, allowing you to run the front of the concave a little wider and the cylinder a little slower. That also keeps a lot of the straw from spearing through the concave. The book will tell you to have the back of the concave fairly close. It needs to be closer than that. Tighten it down until it touches, then back off a couple of turns. It should be running as close as possible for wheat. This configuration will allow you to run the front of the concave wider and keep from overthreshing. Stupid as it sounds, run the front part of your top seive fairly open, the back section fairly closed, and the other two according to the book. This tends to blow a lot of the lighter stuff out when it cascades off of the pan, through the fingers, and onto the seive. One last thing is to make sure that you don't have auger flighting extensions on your header auger. If you do, take them off. The flighting should end at the edges of the feederhouse. If they're on there, they tend to bunch the wheat in the center of the concave and make too thick a mat heading into the cylinder. To thresh the thick mat, you have to overthresh the top and bottom, and that loads up the seives. This is way more than two cents worth, but the 860 really is one of the best wheat machines ever made. I used to custom cut with them, and any time they couldn't do a better job than the other brands, I knew it was my fault. Good luck!

We have an 860 that we only use in wheat some. We had the same problem a few years ago. we discovered after much head scratching that there is a pan or plate that bolts on the back side of the concaves to help get the straw onto the walkers. This plate broke up and was gone. When we replaced it, the problem went away. Don't know if this is your problem or not and as I recall, it is a pain in the a** to get to without taking the concaves clear out. Hope this helps.

Wow what a great site. Newbie here but not to the MF combine. I absolutly agree with geekyfarmers post. As a former MF combine specialist, I belive what he said is probably the case with your combine and that is what I would have recomended. Also the most critical part on the machine is rear beater speed. It absolutley needs to run at 740rpm or a little faster for the machine to function. The whole machine basically runs from this shaft. Make sure it is up to specs. 860s were probably the best conventional combine ever produced.

I think your drum bars are probably worn out I replaced mine last year and it makes a huge difference. you will not know until you compare a new and old drum bar

If your wind deflectors are other than parallel to the housing walls, the low pressure side of the deflector board will cause the air to suck your chaff down through the sieves. It's a very easy adjustment to make, and should be eliminated before getting into major work.

I have the handle for the deflector shield all the way down (up against the frame). I'm confused as to which housing you are referring too. Vertical or Horizontal. The book says to place the deflector so that air is directed in the vertical as soon as possible. It makes sense that the chaff is being sucked down. That would explain why I can be throwing grain over and still have chaff.