Another road trip!

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
OK...well I have made a few but didn't want to clutter up the place with all my fruitless travels. This time, however, I bought a corn head. Looked at about a zillion, seen prices that would make you ill on some REAL junk. Finally found a good solid unit for a good price. It is an IH 863 with all the of the problems you would expect of a unit of that age. Start with the auger bed...needs a poly kit. A couple of the gathering chains are at the end of their adjustment and need to be replaced. Some of the roller knives need to go but not all. A couple of the idler sprockets need new bushings. Sprockets are mostly good...maybe a a worn one or two could use a bit of dressing to clean up the ends. The unit is overall pretty solid with good snoots and not a lot of damage. I budget about $1000 in parts but I get to do the work so if any problems come up at harvest it won't be a mystery how it works. The seller worked with me on the price to allow me cash for repairs. He is replacing a missing shield and going all thru it to make sure all the adjustments are loose and working as part of the deal. Looks like we will be picking the corn. I will get video when the time comes. Try to get some pictures of the combine and head when I can. Just thought all my mentors would like an update. I think I found a good combination of honest unit and ethical seller. Thanks!
 
Just a heads up......

You are probably right about the gathering chains needing replaced, but those are spring loaded (on the 900 and 1000 series anyway). The adjusting bolt/spring always looks like it's extended all the way.
 
Funny...every time someone starts a post with "just a heads up" it seems to save me half a day's work and some money...so feel free!

I recall, and I am still learning, the ends of those having a spring so getting what looked like a little slack was normal (?). These have a bar on the threaded rod. I am not going to try to put it into words, but there was a way to tell by looking at the threaded rod and the bar and, basically, see that there was no more room to adjust the chain. If this was the case and it had a lot of slack in the chain...time to replace the chain. This is my take on it. I found a service manual and an ops manual. They should get here about the same time as the head. I pick it up next week. Not too many things left to buy. I found kits for making a running gear into a header wagon. Should be fine on a 6 row corn head. What's another project...more or less?
 
Make sure the castings at the ends of the gathering chain adjusters are not wore too bad. On a 1000 series or 900 series if your gathering chains are at the end of the adjustment and are there for a long time will allow the gathering chains to wear into the stripper plates eventually wearing out both.
 
I've dealt with May Wes for poly liners and have been VERY impressed. Get online and look them up. Their catalog makes me want to line everything on the farm. And you could.
 
I'll take a look at that but can tell you I visited this head twice before I bought it. I went over it pretty carefully and both times I had SWMBO on hand. Invaluable! She helps me with a lot of equipment repairs and can spot trouble better than I can. A word of advice for young men! Find a girl who likes her dad and works with him on projects and you will have a life partner in the fullest sense of the phrase.
 
I just bookmarked the site. They are a little higher than others but I haven't compared what you get yet so there may be a reason. Are these all pre-cut kits or is there some fitting/cutting involved? Getting late in the season and I want the easiest project I can get.
 

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