JD R Manuer Spreader Chain

[redforlife]

I bought a JD R Manuer Spreader at a consignment auction that was in need of a little attention (tires and what not). I have not used it yet, but have gotten the tire issues resolved.

Anyways, the floor drag chain appeares to be installed backwards. After looking at another spreader, my assumption is right. Chain is on backwards. I only caught this because the chain was off of its carrier brackets on the underneath side. When I went to position the chain back up on those brackets, I could see where that wasn't going to work, given the travel direction that the chain is going. The lip edge on underneath side of the chain will catch on the brackets going in (what is now) a reversed direction with it flipped over.

Probably makes no difference that the chain is off of the carrier brackets. But it has to be ran that way, given the chain is flipped over.

Now for my question. Do I put the chain on the right way?? I'm wondering if previous owner purposely flipped it in an effort to reduce chain breakage. And if that effort could possibly work somehow. Or if they just simply put the chain on wrong in an idiot fashion. I don't really want to flip it back right, if previous owner was onto something that was working. All I know is, drag chain spreaders had issues with breaking chains. And its hard to say what anybody has ever tried to avoid it. Or whether anything ever worked when things began to wear out.

Your thought???

Not sure how much traffic this forum gets. I might make a post on the JD forum if I get no replies here.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Rest assured, we're mostly still alive & still frequent the place from time to time. :v)

Don't recall what the reason was, but it could be reversed. I'd just put it back to normal. Sounds like less of a headache.

Mike

 

[Leroy]

In all my years on the farm never broke a chain. If it is about wore out it will be stretched to much to stay in the guides and if that is the situation then the links are wore thin enough you are going to start breaking links. 40 years since ours left so I don't remember chain direction. The angle iron bars you ran with the angle side to push on the manure not pull on it. I still have the books someplace. Correct tire size is 7.50x20 and if a tractor tread they are run backwards to give traction. Is yours 2 levers, (older) or single lever (newer) version our was older version and had truck wheels and the hubs made for those wheels instead of the spoke wheels.

 

[redforlife]

Mine is series 1, the old style with 2 engagement levers. One for floor drag, the other for the beaters.

Mine is ground driven. Has the dog hubs on both sides. The original spoked wheels. Yes, mine has 7.5X20 truck tires on it now. Fixed one. The other was just put on, as the implement tire (tractor tread) on the one side was shot and needed replaced. So, I likewise went with a used truck tire on that side as well. Tire guy wasn't to thrilled about working with split rims, but he did it. Just the outer bead rim comes off on them. I'm just glad he did it.

If it weren't for needing the dogged hub center of the wheel, I'd of figured something else out for wheels.
If you put different rims on, what did you do about the dogged hub?? Weld the center part of old wheel onto a different wheel???

 

[DR. EVIL]

Dad had WAY too much grief from our Deere model R spreader, corn cobs would sneek between the slats in the conveyor chain and knock the chain off the sprockets and it would get crossways in the spreader. To fix, He'd park the spreader where it sat in the field, drive the spreader tractor back to the loader tractor, flip the spreader over 2-3 times till it was empty, straighten the chain and tighten it. Eventually he cut the ends of the wood floor boards off 3-4 inches and the cobs still got under the slats but fell out before they caused problems. I hauled a lot of manure for 10-12 years with it and NEVER had a single problem.
Only one of the 2 beaters worked, the wide spread didn't work, only the conveyor chain and the front lower beater ran, the only things necessary.
The neighbor I worked for fed 400 head of feeder cattle, so any time I couldn't do fieldwork I hauled manure. He had two Deere #44 PTO spreaders. One had the BIG drum beater that I liked best. It didn't toss the occasional chunk of manure at me like the two smaller beaters on the other spreader with 2 small beaters and the wide spread. Days the Boss didn't have anything else to do he'd load and I'd haul, a mid to late 1940's A on one spreader and a 60 on the other. I'd have paid for my own gas to use two FARMALLS on those spreaders! Especially to NOT have to run that worn-out A.

 

[showcrop]

Could you fab up brackets that will hold the chain up but not catch the lips?

 

[David from Kansas]

Reading this post reminded me of an incident I had almost 60 years ago while spreading manure for the neighbor I was working for. He had a small feedlot where he fed steers every winter. So....on one trip while spreading manure, I heard a pretty loud bang and a piece of a broken brick bounced off the fender of the tractor; open station of course. Well it was because in the past he had hauled a few truck loads of broken brick to fill some mud holes in the lot and of course a few of them got picked up by the tractor loader. I was a little gun shy after that but don't remember having another piece of brick chucked at me by the spreader.

 

[Muir hill 101]

I welded military truck wheels to the old manure spreader wheel center

 

[redforlife]

I probably could. Something could be rigged
up. Otherwise, I don't see any reason why
it couldn't be ran with chain not even on
the carrier brackets. It would just hang
down lower to the ground, and if clearance
isn't an issue?? I don't see that it would
be, unless driving with wheels in rutted
down tire tracks.

Unless there is some sort of reasoning for
having the chain on backwards, I was just
thinking of putting it on the right way
before doing any other additional changing
around.

 

[wore out]

Dunno what you may have going on, but the area on the original apron chain supports had quite a curve to it and the ''open'' side of the steel detachable chain links slid over them with no issues.

 

[Leroy]

My hubs were made by Deere just to use truck wheels you might have on hand and not have to buy new wheels. I think it was just 6 lug bolts to take loose if you had to do tire work. Possibly early Ford or Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck wheels. And the tractor type lugs are run backwards of a tractor wheel to give better traction. I had knobby tires on mine.

 

[Leroy]

The person putting the chain in possibly did not realize there was a correct way and a wrong way. Lot of chain ran backwards because did not know there was a correct way.

 

[Leroy]

When the chain gets loose enough it will slip sideways just enough for one
side to drop down and when that happens the second side will also drop down.
Chains were usually not retightened because of being covered with manure and
adjusters rusted in place.

 

[wore out]

''Chains were usually not retightened because of being covered with manure and adjusters rusted in place.

Growing up, my Dad did NOT subscribe to that train of thought!

 

[redforlife]

The chain supports do have a curve in them.
And chain does have kind of lip where the
links are slide together. The lip won't
catch if going one direction. Kind of drug
over the supports with lip going opposite
direction of chain travel. But if chain is
on backwards, lip runs the wrong direction,
and it does catch. Enough to damage the
support, or break the chain. Not sure which
would happen first. I just happen to catch
this, when I put the chain back up on the
brackets, and wondered if it would catch.
Jacked the left wheel up, and turned it by
hand to see. Yep, it catches. That's when I
realized why chain was off of the brackets.
It won't run on them with chain being
reversed. Otherwise, it don't really mater.
Those lips won't catch on anything else
anywhere. Just those carrier brackets.

 

[redforlife]

I don't think the chains ever needed
tightened. Spreader was designed for chain
slack and ran loose on the underneath side.
The only part of the chain that is ever
tight, is the stretch across the top above
the floor from the rear driver sprocket, to
the front sprocket. Floor drag keeps this
tight. The rest of the chain just dangles
underneath, and has no reason to be tight.

For what it's worth, this chain seems to be
extra long. As in, it may of had an extra
drag bar added, or extra links added. Why
somebody may have done that? Maybe to just
take a couple links out when it breaks,
instead of being broke down without having
a replacement link? I don't really know.
But I'm not really invisioning it being a
problem. Considering how it operates.

 

[wore out]

''this chain seems to be extra long''

There's a LOT of links, and a LITTLE wear in all of them adds up!

 

[Muir hill 101]

But the A was making 500 horsepower pulling

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

The chain is for sure meant to be tightened. Not so tight that you can play a tune on it but it should not be drooping under the spreader much. Too much droop and you start having problems with the chain breaking and/or falling off. There is a specification for how much deflection the chain should have when properly tightened in the owner's manual, I'm sure.

Take up the slack with the adjusters until you run out of adjuster. On your next adjustment, let the adjusters back out, remove a link from the same place on each side, and tighten back up. This is one advantage of detachable chain.

Your spreader doesn't have "excess chain" for some strategic reason. The chain is not backwards for some strategic reason. Put the chain on right. Adjust it properly. Enjoy your spreader.