863 corn head...fooled me with that one!

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
For the couple guys been helping me with this...

The stalk roller with the "X" shaped drive coupler was a complete fraud. I took off one of the good rollers and it had a square drive. I was really suspicious because CIH has nothing in their parts for a coupler that was not square. Some yahoo has actually machined the end of this roller and the coupler to make it close to a large phillips head drive. It wore out fast and is now pretty much useless. On the up side, another $250 investment will completely replace the rollers and couplers for that particular row...(sigh)
 
I will bet that it just wore out the square drive to look like a phillips. I have found several worn like that. The square just wears off the corners.
 
nothing wrong with the rolls ---just the drivers! Go ahead and replace the rolls if your so inclined but better to replace the drivers and brass bushings.
 
You won't get an argument from me. It fooled me once and probably is fooling me again. It is very symmetrical, but that doesn't mean you are not right.
 
Ummm..OK. I am on board with that. So the rolls are pretty chewed up on the ends but I could easily have those repaired. When you say "drivers and bushings" could I ask for a little clarification. When you say driver, are you meaning the coupler with the male part of the drive? I can buy that at Shoup. I don't know where the brass bushing is either. Can you help me with that?

Neither the service or ops manual have this info and CIH parts lookup will not function on my computer the past two days so I cannot look up the parts diagram.
 
So, help me out on one other point. When you say there is nothing wrong with the roller, what do you mean? That is the female side of the drive and that hole is messed up but good. You can't really tell it was ever a square. I don't see how I can get that welded and ground back to shape. Without a parts diagram available I am working blind and cannot really tell what comes apart and what is a permanent part.

I can only tell you what I remember from the last time I was able to access CIH. There is a roller, and then a coupler on the drive side of the roller. I am having troubling figuring out if the coupler is part of the roller or attached to the gear box side. So I guess the question is...where is this coupler found? Is it attached to the end of the roller as part of the female half or is it attached to the frame/gearbox as part of the male half? Everything is stuck together with rust, mud and old chaff.

Would help if I wasn't working out in the open. There is a nasty crosswind out there. COLD!
 
OK...REALLY sorry to ramble on like this! I just got the CIH parts diagram to come up finally. The "coupler" is actually the female part of the connection and attached to the end of the stalk roll. The male part coming out of the gear box is a little rough also, but might work as is or be repairable. I am thinking the bushing you were referring to is on the cone at the other end of the roller. Am I right? I am done out there until tomorrow. It's just too darn raw with that wind.
 
Dave that female part is a slip fit on the roll. Once you remove the knives you will probably need to heat it and then it will come off. I just had to change four on an 844 head. Your roll is likely to be okay.
 
Outstanding, thanks! I can't see a pin or anything else holding it in place so I will put a little heat on it and try to get it off. Going to order a couple of those tomorrow. The gear box side is not nearly so bad as the couplers are.
 
If the spiral(cone) is loose on the shaft, update it to the new style roll with sealed bearings, then you won't have to grease the stalk rolls anymore, and the bearings will last a lot longer. It's more money in the beginning, but if you pencil it out it is cheaper in the long run. A worn drive shaft will work, but it will wear out couplers faster.
 
None are at the moment that I am aware of. Probably next season I will do some upgrading. It has to prove to me that it will actually pick corn first. ;)

Good news is that we actually managed, weather notwithstanding, to get the left half of the head completely done. On the right side only the far right row is a problem and it needs both the couplers replaced...and hopefully that is all. When it is done I will put it on the header cart and take it out to the field. Then one day next week..hopefully...I will make the 20 mile drive out to the field with the combine and see how it all works.

Such a simple piece of equipment, so much can go wrong with it! Sheesh!
 

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