jd 45 rattle chain plugging

Last year my 45 worked great. Started my corn today and plugged the rattle chain twice. I have not changed anything from last year. My corn is a lot better this year then last year so maybe I am giong to fast. It was dark by the time I unplugged it the second time so quit till tomorrow. Concave is opened all the way with new bars last year. I will post some pictures latter. Any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.
 
What do you mean by rattle chain? Do you have a quick tatch head? I thought the JD corn heads for that had augers where the throat is.
 
Has the nut backed off on the slip clutch? Don't know much about a 45 cause it's been 40 years+ since I was involved with one of them but for the 105 I had they offered an optional high speed sprocket for the raddle chain. Helped a bunch when corn yields started getting in the 150 bu/acre range. If the corn was real leafy and had been frosted there was more leaf trash going down through the concave along with the corn so the raddle chain had more material to move out of there. That alone would sometimes make the raddle slip clutch go off. Jim
 
The 'raddle'(its "raddle",not rattle) chain is under
the concave and conveys the threshed grian back to
the seives.Steve
 
Your right Delta I spelled it wrong. I checked the slip clutch tension and gave the the chain a little more slack. I will try again tomorrow. This is the best corn I have ever had yield and test weight are high. The 45 was not made for this kind of corn but it is all I have. I will have to take my time. My wife took some video maybe I can try and post some later. Thanks for the reply"s
 
For corn you definitely should have the smaller sprocket, (driven), to give more capacity. On my 95 I ended up welding the slip clutch solid.

When I bought this machine the owner said the only thing wrong was it was it needed the nut and spring for the slip clutch on the grain conveyor, (raddle) chain. I put those on from a donor machine, but could not get it tight enough as the threads were stripped on the shaft.

Figured my only options were to take the shaft out, and get it rebuilt; or do the welder fix. There is still a 5/16 bolt, (or maybe 1/4), don't remember now, that attaches the sprocket-slip clutch assembly. My thought is that is still protection against totally wrecking stuff.

Anyway, welded that solid and it worked great, also it does have the high speed sprocket.
 
Welded?You moron! those clutches are there a reason!The first time it hangs up it tear holy he!! out of everything!Then you will be buying another combine.
 
Dalet: The raddle chain does the same thing as the shoe augers on your JD 4400. The raddle carries the grain/trash up from under the cylinder. The straw walkers have a pan made in the bottom of them to shake the grain forward. If you go down a steep hill the raddle chain will plug and if you shell up a steep hill the straw walker pans can get full and walk all the grain out the back.

The augers where a big improvement over the raddle chain. I think this one thing really jumped JD ahead in the combine market around here.
 
Thanks for the information JDseller.
I am not familiar with the older X5 series combines, this 4400 is the oldest I have been familiar with and the 7700 dad had when he farmed.
 
You can say what you want, if you want to get into bashing other people's ideas; that's fine.

I don't know how long you have been running older equipment, but I would presume it is long enough to know that sometimes unconventional fixes need to be used.

In case you didn't read thoroughly enough let me reiterate the facts.

#1. The shaft would need to be removed and replaced or the end with the threads built up and rethreaded.

#2. The whole assembly is attached to the shaft with a bolt which will act as a shear bolt in the event the chain breaks or it is plugged. I was a little reserved about welding this solid, and wouldn't go recommending this for every slip clutch problem; but in this situation a backup situation does exist.

#3. This fix was done among others, I spent at least a week going over this machine. If I were to list all the repairs, improvements, etc; that were done before the machine went to the field it would take a page or so. This machine left the shop and harvested my 2012 corn crop without a single breakdown.

Thank you for your concern, but this was not a moronic farmer fix.

Bradley K
 
I been running old wornout equipment for my entire 'career'-over 35 years.So I am well adapt at some unconventional fixes.Welding slip clutches is not one of them.I just this spring bought a JD feeder house that was torn to holyhe!!.The conveyor chain is a wadded up mess(not repairable)The main shaft(1 1/2") is bent,the front drum shaft/bearing holder bent,as well as other damage.Dont know what happened-wheather the chain broke or they ran something through it.The slip clutch was rusted up and didnt slip,thus destroying the thing.So I 'm sorry for offending you when I read in horror of the welded clutch
 
Forgot to say..Started with an old 55RB in late 70s,ran a 45 sb for years.Currently own the old 55,a 95sb,a 105Corn speacial.I have just purchaced a 105R diesel.The intermidate feeder house that was destroyed is from a 95.
 
The feeder house would be a completely different story. There is no give after the slip clutch on that application.

I am just telling you what worked for me, I appreciate your input on the subject. What I am trying to explain is that in this situation there is a mild steel bolt that would easily shear before damage was done, totally different than in most applications.
 
Go back on this forum a page or two.There are several posts with pics of that feeder house,etc.Really glad your combine is 'protected' :)
a83529.jpg
 
Holy Moses Delta Red, when I seen your pictures it looked like right out of the book Johnny Tractor and his Friends with Farmer Fowler.
The rattle chain may be catching on some tin or something and noone has mentioned this yet. We found out the hard way after putting THREE aprons in our 105 starting in 2010. Last year the whole dam chain balled up, bent the shaft. Our slip clutch on the raddle chain was welded at one time, that didn't hold so my brother drilled 2 holes through the slip clutch jaws and put 1/4" grade 8's through only to destroy that, before finding out that the whole platform the chain rides on and carries the grain was disintegrated. So last fall we pulled the whole ball of wax out and had a machine shop build a solid platform which we slid in from the front. It was not an easy job and took my brother and I about 60 hours from start to finish. New sprockets, new bearings and one new shaft, and a new sidehill chain.

Our 95 is looking pretty thin as well, especially up near the drive sprockets, it was starting to crack so it got JB welded last weak. If I were you, I'd check that tin platform your apron rides on and see if a slat is catching somewhere. We pulled the sieves and I crawled up in there and it was way worse than what I could see looking in from the sides. After seeing what we have been through, I can just about guarantee everyone else will have the same set of problems considering their age.
 

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