Replacement Raddle Chain Woes

wilamayb

Well-known Member
We spent another day working on the 55 combine. We finally gave in
and used the blue tipped wrench on the old concave. I purchased a
new Raddle chain from A&I and we decided that we would install it
while the concave was out. When I got the chain I noticed that
drags were square tubing rather than the flat bars like the original. I
wasn't happy but they were the only supplier that I could find for the
part so I just shrugged and carried on. We rolled it in by piggy
backing on the old chain. We got ready to connect it in the front and
it wouldn't fit the sprockets. The chain was too wide!!! I peeked in
the back to see that it didn't fit the rear sprockets either. It was riding
on top of them.

The A&I chain is 1/2 wider than my original and will not fit. Obviously
we were thrilled since I had torched a portion of my original..

Does anyone have a lead on a better source for the chain?
 
just a thought from a massey man ,, never workt on a green combine because I have always heard ,, You Don't have To ,,. LOL ,,.what I am thinking , and you probably are ahead of me ?, is it possible to slide the gear over on the shaft and put a set screw to hold it in place ??? ,, can you get to the back gear easy enuf or not?
 
Thanks Delta, I was able to find them online. I guess I'll give em a call on Monday to see if they can fix me up.
 
I can't really change the spacing of the sprockets. They have two roll pins retaining them to the shaft.
 
exactly!!,,. what is wrong with punching out the roll pin , andredrilling anther hole 90 degrees from the others ? that is if you can get to the rear one easily enuf ,,and for that matter the front..
 
First of all, A&I is owned by DEERE, so one would expect they'd get it right.

That being said, the original DEERE parts catalogs show two different conveyor chains, with the change occurring after #69,000.

Perhaps you have a mis-match between chain and machine serial number?
 
I wish that was the case.. The Raddle is only available for the late 55 which is what I have. Mine is above 89000. A&I just messed up. I wish they hadn't but that seems to be the way it is..
 
Bauman Manufacturing Limited -Elmira Ontario Canada will make any chain you need. www.baumanmfg.com
 
welcome to the world of a&i, pretty much everything they sell is junk, especially their clutches, I keep hearing this "but they are owned by jd" crap to that I say bfd
 
Send the chain back. I would not move any sprockets for a couple reasons. Drilling an extra hole and moving the sprocket means the old hole will be in a stress area not supported by the hub and the shaft WILL break. Also, if you drill a new hole and don't get it in the exact right orientation one side will be pulling more than the other and the shaft will break even quicker. What will happen to the new chain if a shaft breaks and only one sprocket is pulling from one side? If that happens it will be during the busy harvest season and you will be pulling and replacing a shaft and maybe even replacing a twisted raddle chain. There is a good reason why the engineers designed the chain to that exact width. I don't know what that reason is but they obviously tested it out before the final design was made. I might sound overly determined about this but I have spent many hours laying inside or on top of a combine in 100+ degree temps replacing broken parts so I tend to play it on the safe side anymore.
 
Ha yes, I didn't need any convincing about moving the sprockets.
That didn't seem like a good option at all. I would have altered the
chain before I altered the shaft/sprockets.

At this point I'm going to send it back to A&I and either build my own
or get Manchester mfg to build me one if I can ever get them to
respond to an email or answer the phone.
 
You might give Mike's Eqt in Buhler, KS a call. They have a website. They have many used combines and would probably have it.
 

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