Thresher Project

I finally got my thresher home. It's a Huber Roto-Rack 32-54 needs a belt or two but pretty straight. I want to restore it to show and maybe demonstrate but everyone around here that knew about these are gone now so I'm looking for all the info I can get so the project can go forward. I'm going to run it with my 1936 JD D and my McCormick Deering W30. Some pics if I did everything right.

That looks like a pretty fair thresher. The W30 will look better on it than a d

It will run smoother with the W-30 also.

Just don't run it to fast if showing/demo. I see it many times at shows the tractor is at full throttle and the thresher is over speeded. Over speeding leads to not getting as much grain knocked out or it blows back out with the straw. The machine is designed for the slower steam engine power vs. fast gas/diesel tractors. Threshers are usually (varies slightly with type, model) about right when the feeder chain is just moving. through the different size pulleys the machine speeds itself for blowers, shakers, and the cylinder.

""About right when the feeder chain is just moving"". That's not very helpful, rather specify RPM of a main machine shaft. The speed of the cylinder is a good place to measure and run tractor speed to provide the recommended cylinder speed.

I own a threshing a machine and have been around several of them.
First, that's a big threshing machine...made to run off a steam engine. You'll need to look at the diameter of the drive pulley. The smaller pulleys are for Steam Engines. A larger diameter pulley is for a gas tractor. The reason - speed. A Steam engine has a large flywheel, thus the smaller pulley on the thresher. Gas tractors run a small pulley. So, if you have the smaller pulley on the thresher you'll run it way too fast. Your W30 will need to be at 1/2 throttle.
A thresher speed is determined by the strokes of the pan. Mine runs 214 strokes per minute. What I do is divide that by 4 and count it in 15 seconds.
look at the belts and how they are belted. Take pictures and take the belts off and roll them up. Weather does them no favors.

I have a 30-50 Huber roto rack. it needs at least fifty horsepower to run it properly. it should run at 168 shakes per minute on the rack.

I'm not familiar with the Huber , but will over what general advice I can. I maintain and run the Historic Charlton Park 28" X 48" "Belle City Thresher" Its cylinder speed is listed on the sheet metal, as 1080 RPM, which We measure, with a shaft tachometer (Spike tooth cyclinder). At that speed, the thresher, has a distinguishable "Hum" which I listen too, when running, to determine overloading and heath. I keep spray cans of "Belt Dressing", for start of each year. We also collect belts and have a "clip-on" belt lacer.
Here is a video of the thresher powered by a steam engine this year, with me as moderator.
In 1950, our local thresher (me at 16), ran his "Red River 28", with a W-30.
Good Luck
Charlws Krammin SW MI
Belle City Thresher, power by steam engine

that is just a place to start. that is pretty close on ours but yes an "official" speed would be best using rpm of main shaft/ cylinder. But again all machines are different.

My brother and I have a 28X46 all steel Avery thresher with a Hart feeder and bagger/weigher we rebuilt and now thresh with at 3-4 shows every summer. We set the operating speed by measuring the cylinder shaft RPM with a hand held tachometer and usually run it at 1050-1060 RPM for wheat and a little slower 1020-1030 RPM for oats. I open the seives a little more for for oats but cut down the wind. So far all the grain we have run has been pretty dry and free of green material so it seems to thresh pretty easily and our machine does a good, clean job. We have run it with a John Deere G, a Farmall M, and a Minneaplis-Moline U, it doesn't seem to make any difference which tractor does the job, they all do it without any trouble. Sometimes the guys pitchin' in the bundles get a little feisty and try to bog down the machine but they can't do it with the grain in good shape...the Avery eats it right up and asks for more. The tractor might bark a little but none of them have ever pulled down a bit. Threshing this way is fun....,but I can remember when I was young 60-70 years ago threshin' was pretty hard work for all the guys involved, but we usually had a little fun even then.,,,and Man, did we eat good!

Good video I liked it. Thank you

It has a 11.5" drive pulley and I don't have any book or info on how to set anything on it. It'll just be trial and error and I do appreciate all you guys have said to help me. Both the tractors run strong so we'll see what happens. Thanks John