E3/Corn harvest update

[FordTractorMan]

Finished my corn Monday night. Ran about 17% moisture. Probably as dry as it would've gotten the way it's kept raining. Temporarily solved my head lifting problem - I ran the helper springs way out and I was able to raise and lower the head enough to get by. Luckily, my corn hadn't gone down much at all, so that wasn't a problem. Anyone have trouble w/the raddle clutch slipping for no apparent reason? Mine started slipping, so I stopped and turned the machine backward by hand (turned extremely easy) then jumped in & threw the thresher into gear. Picked right up & went on. Any suggestions on making it a little harder to slip without keeping it from slipping all together? I goofed up & greased it 3 yrs. ago when I bought it but haven't greased it since. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Warren Bult]

Finally tried the corn last night. Opend up the field and took in a test. 23%. First corn through the gleaner K with the 3 row 30 head. Worked real nice. Only left kernels on ears every so often, but majority where completly clean and whole cobs. Had to try it, calling for rain again tomorrow and friday, with west river getting several inches of snow. Glad I'm in Eastern SD.

 

[Brian in MI]

Hoping to get the "E" out in corn soon, ran some test corn thru and still way to wet. Wouldnt mind getting a 3 R 30" header for my "E" as well.
Soybeans are about half off now, hope the rain holds off enough to dry things a bit.

 

[DNW in MI]

When my raddle chain slip clutch slipped due to corn cobs or cob would get stuck in the front side. Turning the clutch backward frees up the raddle chain. That was my problem.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Where the heck are all of you located? I am at Rochester Mn. Be thankful for corn that is bone dry. My friend has over 3 thousand acres of corn. 2 days ago he tried picking at 5 different locations and the miosture varied from 30 to 36%. I have 300 acres and haven"t started yet. Last year I was done at this time and it was 17% out of the field. It just keeps Raining, 5 inches above normal for October I finished planting on May 10, my friend finished planting on May 3 95-102 day maturity.

 

[FordTractorMan]

I'm in extreme southern Illinois, 'bout 35 miles north of where the rivers meet. Will start raining again today w/possibility of 2-5 inches before it leaves sometime Saturday.

 

[FordTractorMan]

Have you found an easy way to turn the clutch backwards? I get on it on the rt. side of the throat right behind the sprocket that runs the cylinder, but I can barely get a pipe wrench in there and turn it because the wrench is right against the throat. I usually manage, but at the expense of some skin.

 

[Poor Farm Jim]

FordTractorMan, I cut my combine teeth on an E-3, there were a couple years when I spent as much time working on it as running it. Most of the time when that raddle slip clutch slips is when you have back-fed a cob. Do you have your raddle cob shield in place? That really helps. You may have gotten lucky and had the cob move to a different spot when you turned the mechanism backwards and got it up and running with no further adieu. Most of the time when you back-feed a cob you have to get under and pull off the raddle clean out door and remove the offending cob. Make sure to use that cylinder lock-up device when you're under there. If you still have the wooden raddle you may have a broken slat that bound it up. One side of your raddle chain may have jumped a cog. Is your raddle adjusted properly? For your own piece of mind you'd better remove that clean-out door and make sure the idlers are in good shape, that the bearing isn't going out in either one. If you don't have them, I'd put wing nuts on the raddle clean-out door, as you will be under there a lot and it's quicker than a wrench. Also, one of your draw bolts may be broken. Do not, and I mean DO NOT put spacers or washers in your slip clutch to make it slip harder. I had an F that kept slipping and did that only to find an idler bearing had been getting bad. This was after it tore up the inside of the combine; it took a week to get back in the field. Hope this helps.

Jim