We got the beans cut with the john deere 55

We got the beans cut with the 55. This was my first time running a combine. We learned a lot.

1 We need to make the fields smoother(less ridges).
2 I see why they made flex heads and floating cutter bars.
3 What custom cutters charge is not enough(lol)
4 I see why they went to diesel(it used about 4 gals per acre.)


All in all it went pretty good but it is hard to keep the cutter bar out of the dirt. This combine has the springs under the feeder house but they are adjusted all the way up but they just don't seem to have enough lift on the head. The head has skid plates all the way across underneath but it just doesn't float like a head on a haybine does. If you get too low it will actually make the combine tires start to spin. I have to admit that I probably ran more dirt through the combine than I should have. I only got one rock on the guards that I saw and got it before it went through. We did get a root in the rotor and it didn't seem to cause any harm but the rotor wouldn't start after unloading a bin of beans. We had the tailings elevator slip clutch go off once and it was plugged right up where the elevator drops into the auger that goes into the rotor. Got it cleaned out and it worked ok after that. Seems like the variable speed belt needs tightened. It doesn't drive real well in high gear on the road.

I wonder why a guy couldn't make some small rollers with bearings to go right under the guards on the head to keep it out of the dirt. They would have to be small diameter but it seems like it would work. Maybe its just the machinist in me thinking too much.

It definitely sounds like you need to get your head to float better. I think it should be set so the head just skims the ground when it is lowered all the way, but don't know how to achieve that on a 55 since I don't own one. How big a head did you have? It helps a lot to have a head that matches the planter - 10 foot drill, 10 foot head; 15 foot planter, 15 foot head

As far as smoothing fields, did you run a roller of some type over the field after planting? That's pretty much a standard practice to push down clods, ridges, and rocks in a bean field. It can be done with a smooth roller, a single roller cultipacker, or a cultimulcher with the tines raised up. It can even be done with a bar harrow if that's all you got.

rollers would plug up fast. Poly skid shoes are the way to go.

I think it's great what you're doing. A couple seasons and you'll be the expert.

The bracket that holds the springs under the feeder house has 4 springs. There is a place for 1 more spring and we have more springs from my sons derby combine so I might try putting on another one.

The head is 13' but we planted with a 4 row corn planter and then went back and planted again between the first 4 rows.

This field used to be my grandpas peach orchard and over the years he plowed it a few times in between the trees to plant vegetables. We removed all the old trees but as you can imagine the field was far from smooth. My son chisel plowed it and disked it caddy cornered and it is much better but still needs work. The one end of the field is next to a woods with many black walnut trees. The beans don't grow well next to the trees. He is going to plant corn next year so we wont have to worry about beans for a few years now unless we find more ground to rent.

I use 2 Case packers in a hitch to take a 30' swath and roll the bean ground after planting. Smooths the clods and pushes the small rocks
down. Makes for easy combining. Neighbors have large rollers with 30" diameter pipe and 40' width to smooth fields.

Yes we will definitely have to come up with some kind of roller if we plant beans again. We have a john deere cultimulcher that we could use and just keep the tines up.

Old combines are more fun to do corn or wheat with... there is less of a technology gap (like floating sickles, flex heads, Dial a Matic, a cab that keeps bean dust out, etc) than there is with bean harvest
today.

A smooth field helps. A flex platform can be fitted to a 55 if a hydraulic system is built to power the reel. Newer platforms don't have the mechanical reel drive your 55 has, and your 55's hydraulic system
won't be enough to run a hydraulic reel.

Glad you got done. I was wondering how things were going.

Jim, use that cultimulcher with the teeth down and do it that cattycornered as well as both directions lengthwise and cross wise of the field and it will be smooth from all the trees dug out. Then after you use the planter take an old fashiond SPIKE tooth harrow over it to get rid of the roughness made by the planter packer wheels. And you will never get those float springs header controls to work right. I junked mine. Got a hydrolic header control from the junk yard and put on and unless field is realy rough no problems hiting the ground. Forget that disk except for first time to get soil loosened up enough for that cultimulcher And put that spike tooth harrow behind it and you can have a table top smooth field.

This feeder house has the shaft sticking out the right side also so I'm sure a guy could build a hydraulic system to run off of this shaft to drive the newer real. Ill have to keep a look out for flex head for this combine. I'm sure my wife will be real happy if I come home with one of those, LoL.

My cousin has some corn to take off so I think well put the corn head on this machine and see how it runs. We were starting to have fun and ran out of beans to cut. lol

Like the others said the field needs to be
real smooth like a parking lot or the head
will be taking in dirt. The most modern
flex heads will pick up dirt if the field
is unlevel. A disk is not the tool to use
for seed bed preparation because it does
not level the ground enough. In beans the
skid plates will not slide like in a hay
field. The bottom of the head should never
be contacting the ground or it will build
up trash and dirt real quick. I roll my
bean fields after planting to make harvest
easier.

Well thanks guys for all the help in getting this combine running and also for all suggestions on getting the field in better shape for the next time we plant soy beans.

Now we got to get the corn head on and see what fun we can have with it. I have never combined corn but I have run a mounted picker before and I also used to help my dad shell corn. He had an Oliver mounted picker with a sheller unit in place of the husking bed. I was pretty young. Mostly I just pulled wagons and rode in the wagon sometimes pushing the shelled corn back to make more room. Sometimes we would get some pretty good jags on those wagons and the oliver 88 just didn't have enough power to run the sheller unit and pull those heavy wagons. Especially if the ground was a little soft.

Here in western Ohio NO BODY would ever think of even using a roller like that. It would pack the ground so hard that even the slightest rain would make concrete of the ground that the crop could not break thru. That is why we used rotary hoes to break up the crust that forms natrually and do not want to make the problem worse.

Jim the header control I mentioned that worked good was not made by Deere but aftermarket. I dought they are made any more and what we had we got out of a parts combine yard. It was a control the mounted next to your steering wheel and hooked to the combines hydrolic supply, From that control and you used it with the normal platform lift there was a cable that went to the underside of the platforn and connected to a finger bar that was full width of platform. Those fingers roar on thr ground and when they would feel a change as in getting too close or to far off the ground would send a movement thru that cable to the control you put beside the steering wheel and by just turning a knob it would change cutting height. You just could not back up with that on and platform down. Had that on the 4 different 45's that I had. And there is a John Deere owners manual to tell you how to set those float springs but it did not work for us so went with the tried and true finger under head system that we had been using on the other machines.

(quoted from post at 11:03:20 10/16/17) Here in western Ohio NO BODY would ever think of even using a roller like that. It would pack the ground so hard that even the slightest rain would make concrete of the ground that the crop could not break thru. That is why we used rotary hoes to break up the crust that forms natrually and do not want to make the problem worse.

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I've never done it but the latest thing around here is to let the beans come up a few inches and then roll it. I guess it doesn't hurt them and some guys say it makes them grow better. This is in north eastern ohio

Do you have a floating cutter bar? If not I'd find one. A head with Love, Hart-Carter ect. cutter bar would be a huge improvement over a rigid head. One wouldn't cost you much and would pay for itself in saved beans.

They were not made at the time that 55 was made so would have to do modifications to put newer head on.

This combine has a quick tech feeder house so it will take a newer head. Just need a way to drive the newer hydraulic reel.

Leroy are you refering to a M&W robot header height control? I had one on the 55 I parted out and moved it over to my 95. My second 95 has one as well. I would like to switch to a newer flex head but hate the idea of giving my automatic header height up. I can not see how it would work on a 215 or newer head. I have a floating cutterbar but it is getting very worn. Tom

Jim do you have a copy of the manual for the float springs? Have one I could copy if you cannot find one. I junked my springs before I got the manual. Think it is only about at most 8 pages. If you do not better get one before you start messing with those springs as they can be dangerous.

I do not have a manual for the springs.

What the heck are you talking about? Every 55 around here had at least a floating cutter bar if not a flex head, with a qt throat he can run a 213 flex head

Around me there were no 55's, only 45's. 55 was too big. And I have never seen a 45 or 55 with the flex head.

I cannot remember the brand, and the finger bar underneeth can be made in a welding shop.

I have a 215 on my 55EB. Used a pump off a White bean head to run the reel.

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