Combines Soft bars

[joe]

What bent the barsIJ rocksIJ SlugsIJ

 

[Erky]

Small rocks, the same ones that didn't bend the old bars.

 

[tj]

You've had 2 different types of bar installed -- The first set with the 800 hours was likely a heat-treated set. These are casehardened, but will tend to crack, especially in the area behind the holes where the fine threaded mounting bolts are installed from underneath. It's hard to get chrome plating to bond well to hard material,so chrome chips off somewhat readily but you have tha advantage of the casehardening for wear, and the hardened bars are also stiffer. Several years ago, JD had a lot of complaints about chrome chipping so they went to a standard bar with chrome plating in order to provide for a better bond. Also pretty much eliminated cracking of the structure. However, as you've observed, these bars aren't as rigid. I will point out however, that the plating on these bars should have still been very good after only 200 hours. This appears to be a bad plating job -- if the wear is inconsistent from bar-to-bar, that's likely what it is. If all bars are worn about the same, it may be that you've been into some crops which have required you to carry thru a large amount of dirt, etc. -- in this stuff it's very hard to maintain thin chrome plating on the corners of bar teeth. Other possibility is that your concave is worn badly enough that you're required to close it up very tightly for thresh. This will also erode chrome plating quickly. Hope this is reasonably clear.

 

[erky]

Just a couple of questions. Was the change Deere made in the base bar from a hardened bar to a standard bar within the last four years as the original bars were installed four yrs agoIJ We always run our concave tightly closed to get maximum seperation so this should not have been a factor in the chrome failing early unless the soft underlying bar caused the chrome to failIJ The crop was similar to other yrs except for a lot of grasshoppers going thru the machine so there was no more dirt present. Yes the cracks were in the old bars into the bolt holes. I guess the mistake arises with no one telling me the new bars would not last as well as the old which was my reason for useing them. Thanks for the information.

 

[tj]

I can't tell you exactly when JD did this, it's something we observed a few years ago. Usually you would expect the chrome to bond better on your latter set of bars. By what you've described, I would deduce that the plating job on these was poor -- likely the bars may not have been acidized properly (cleaned)or maybe a polluted mixture in the solution tank.

 

[ace7868]

Did you replace the bars yourselfIJ If so they sould be parallel with the combine,if not installed right the cylinder will be out of round and vibrate and could crake, also are they worn more in the middle than on the edges. if so your fingers on the plateform are not matched to the feeder house. need more info email me.