Jim Pollock
Member
A few weeks ago everybody around here was cutting their beans but unfortunately we didn't have the 55 quite ready to cut my sons beans. I don't think these were ready anyhow. We got some rain last Thursday but we finally got the 55 ready on Saturday. The beans were still really tough when I checked them Saturday morning but after drying all day, you could crack the pods by hand pretty easily. So I decided to give them a go. Now you have to remember this is the first time I ever ran a combine. I only went about 20 feet but when I looked out the window I noticed I forgot to close the inspection door on the tailings elevator where it meets the auger that goes into the cylinder. Beans were just pouring out this door and not pods, just beans. I got about 1/2 bushel in the tank but many are cracked and a lot of beans out the back and they are all cracked. I checked the beans and they are testing 19 percent. I know this is too wet and we are waiting for them to dry but why would I get so many beans coming up the tailings elevator? I think I need to open up the sieve more but maybe its just because they are so wet. What do you guys think I should change for when they get dry enough. I am running the cylinder 600 rpm , the concave is at 1/2" in the front 1/4" in the rear. I thought I had the sieve 1/2 open and the chaffer 2/3 open but it is really hard to tell. I think I will need to slow down the cylinder to keep from cracking the beans but maybe they were cracking because they were being thrashed twice.
For what little I ran it, the knife didn't seem to cut very well but this may also be from the stalks still being to wet. . We are changing a bunch guards. We had a bunch of not new but much better ones from my sons derby combine. Also the wear plates under the knife hold downs are really worn . The knife is actually starting to wear on the carriage bolt heads that hold the guards on. I think I'm just going to get all new wear plates tomorrow. They are only just over 3.00 each.
For what little I ran it, the knife didn't seem to cut very well but this may also be from the stalks still being to wet. . We are changing a bunch guards. We had a bunch of not new but much better ones from my sons derby combine. Also the wear plates under the knife hold downs are really worn . The knife is actually starting to wear on the carriage bolt heads that hold the guards on. I think I'm just going to get all new wear plates tomorrow. They are only just over 3.00 each.