Combines How tight should the feeder house chain beIJ

[Rotor_Man]

It does seem tight,but does not seem to cause excess wear of the chain.I replaced chains in 2- 14 series combines 10 years ago. Chains show little wear at 250-300 hrs per year. I check every couple days and do not adjust as long as the lowest bar is clearing the floor by 1_4 inch or more.I suspect that if you let em run on the floor it would wear out the floor pretty fast. I also use the black ace roller kit to support the top of the chain. Makes for a lot less noise and wear on the bar ends and slides. We used to have a lot of trouble bending and breaking feeder slats on the 2 strand chains untill we welded a steel ring around the center of the rock drum to support the slats. Once we got the bent_cracked slats out of the chain the slat breakage stopped.

 

[Unit_2]

Plowboy, Seems like the owner's manual has changed a little over the years. In the 1600 and 2100 owner's manual it said to run so the lowest bar was at least 1_8 above the feeder house bottom, and it did not matter if you ran the front drum in the top notch like most of us do in corn or in the middle notch like we do cutting wheat or other small grain crops. Now in my 2388 owner's manual it says if you run in the top notch you should put it in the middle notch to adjust it so it is at least 1_8" off the bottom and then move it back up. And if you run the three chain feeder chain, an 1_8" is not enough gap, because that middle chain will wear a hole in the feeder house bottom right there in the front where it comes off the drum. Yes the three strand feeder chains might feed a little better, but I never wore a hole in the bottom when I had two strand feeder chains. K.A.

 

[shucks]

At a dealer sponsored combine clinic a couple years ago a Case rep. told us to use the nickel_dime method to adjust chain. First put the front drum in the middle position,then adjust the apron so that dime could slide down the throat floor and out the front but a nickel would not(thicker nickel should hit a slat and stop but the thinner dime would slide under the slats and out the front)After adjusting tension put front drum back in the desired position.Use the coins on each side of the throat about 8-12 inches in from the sides.Throat floor must be shiny and clean.

 

[Buddy2366]

I bend several feeder house slats on my 2366 every year. I have tried to think of a way to re-inforce the slats themselves.Tell me more about the ring you welded on the rock drum center to support the slats. Is it something you devised or did you get it from your dealerIJ I have been racking my brain on how to prevent bending slats. Thanks!

 

[Rotor_Man]

I had the local metal shop make a band that fit over the center of the rock drum in 2 pieces. we used 3_8 or7_16IJIJX 1-1_2 mild steel. Some drums are different so measure the thickness needed to fill the space between drum and slat. I used a tape measure to get the circumference of the drum divided by 3.14 to get the diameter. With these numbers the metal shop was able to fabricate the two halves needed to form a tight fitting ring on the drum. I tack welded 3_8 nuts near the ends of the ring halves so I could use a 1_4 inch bolt_nut to cinch everything up tight for welding. After welding,grind off the nuts and clean up the welds. Have found that any slat that was bent inward against the drum has a 50% chance of cracking and breaking as the drum band works it streight. Once I got rid of them I had no more slat trouble.

 

[rlang]

The ace roller for feeder house chain sounds beneficial-who sells thisIJ Thanks, Richard

 

[Rotor_Man]

I got the Black Ace roller kits at the local Case IH dealer. I think I have seen them advertized in the CIH parts flyers,so I think they all can get them.