CIH 1660 general startup procedures

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has read a CIH operators manual from the 1980's that I would be asking this question. I have now read the entire manual thru to the maintenance portion and will continue reading so that I understand all the important aspects of keeping the thing running.

Here is the deal...I think I have the basics. Two big toggle switches right behind the propulsion control turn on the feeder and the other turns on the rotor and related functions behind the cab inside the combine. What it doesn't seem to say anywhere is if there is an order to things. For example, in my mind the rotor should be up to speed before you start the feeder. But then maybe it does not matter what order since you would have BOTH up to speed before harvesting a single stalk? The goal here is for me to go out to the combine and operate all the harvesting functions (except unloading) so I can see how it all works without breaking something.

If you remember back to when I was driving it home, some good souls warned me not to run the hydro propulsion without being at full throttle and also about the foot-n-inch pedal and the brakes issues. If there is a mistake I might make checking out all these feeder-cleaning operations I am hoping you will warn me now.

Why not run the ground drive at partial throttle? I do it all the time around the yard.
I start the main drive, and then the header drive, as slow as I possibly can.

I don't have one of those rotor machines. HOWEVER, my thinking would be rotor first so that if there is still wheat in the feeder house from a quick shutdown or something the machine is ready for it when it starts moving. I try to run it extra long at the end of the day so there isn't a bunch of junk sitting in the machine overnight, but things happen sometimes.

Bob, I am really not educated on hydrostatic systems. Give me a clutch and a gear shift and I will be happy 99% of the time. There are aspects of combining that make the hydro more appealing. Just the fact that you can keep the RPM's going to operate the threshing and cleaning but still adjust speed for conditions is reason enough for me to not go with a gear drive here. Same reason I wanted IPTO when I started doing hay many years ago. Keep the material moving. A novices point of view anyway.

What I was specifically told on the RPM's of the combine is that the hydro pump/motor/Idunno would overheat if it was not operated at full RPM. Can't speak to the accuracy of this, I have only driven two combines in my life. This 1660 that I own (and I did as instructed, ful RPMs) and a cute little 1420 (ran that at low RPM's because I did not know any better)...both worked, but the full RPM's seem to work better. Again, novice observation.

You or anyone else have info on this issue I am happy to learn!

Start the rotor then the feeder at idle then throttle up. The feeder will not run without the rotor running anyways. Starting them at full throttle would be like taking a car or truck with a manual transmission, putting the accelerator to the floor and dumping the clutch...not good for things.

If you are maneuvering around a yard or in a building idling the engine is fine as the hydro wont be so jumpy. If you are in the field or roading run the engine at full throttle.

I'll comment on the hydraulics. Anytime you run at idle your hydro will perform spongy and not be very responsive to the point of almost not being in control of your movements. Some inexperienced dealership truckers who load combines on trailers find this out pretty quick. They tend to want to idle the machine because they usually show up and start a cold engine and don't want to wait for it to warm up before they go full throttle.

As far as engaging your machine, just common sense to idle down before putting the rotor in gear. Takes a lot of torque on the belts to start all that mass moving from a dead stop. Not just the rotor but the sieves, elevators, chopper etc.

Your header you can engage at any speed and is designed to do so. Most people will engage while at an idle if the machine is already idling just to be easy on it whenever possible but its not necessary. The little hydraulic cylinder that moves the idler pulley to tighten the belt moves slow enough to slip the belt a bit to prevent damage. If it engages too hard and quick at full speed then ask your dealer about adding or adjusting a flow control orifice in the oil line leading to the cylinder. It should slow the speed of the cylinder to somewhat feather the engagement although you may still hear a squawk of the belt and feel the header jump a bit but you'll know if its working. I'd rather stress the header belt a bit at full speed engagement then stop the combine, slow the rpms of the whole machine, engage the head, and rev it back up again. It takes too much time and I think its hard on ALL the other belts on the combine as it adds stress and torque on them when you rev the engine back up to speed.

Good enough! Thanks all! I hadn't really gotten around to thinking about throttle position when engaging the rotor, etc but I think I would likely not have tried it at full throttle. That is the sort of feedback I was looking for though. I don't want to damage a nice machine because of an oversight reading the manual.

I prefer turning on the feeder first. As stated above the feeder will not come on unless the separator is engaged. However the feeder jack shaft belt is actually engaged. That way when you engage the separator, the engine bogs down a little and it gives the feeder and header a softer start. I believe this is easier on your header drive chains.

I see merit in that. I'll give it a try.