Gehl Mixer grinder #65

[MARK ROBKE]

My neighbor has a Gehl grinder mixer that clogged up in the fan. The upright pipe is in 2 sections, and the lower pipe clogged as did the fan section. It bogged his tractor down when it clogged. He took it apart yesterday and cleared it out, found no obstructions, no loose belts, was not feeding too fast, and the corn was not wet. He put it together and it clogged again. I went over this AM and looked at it with him, looking for a cause, but neither of us found anything wrong. We reassembled it, leaving the lower pipe section from the discharge off, and ran 2 bucketfuls of cob corn thru it. The corn did not come out of the fan outlet at first, but all of a sudden, a big amount of ground corn blew out. We put the pipe back on and he was going to try it again. I came home for lunch and posted this. I will check with him after while and see if it worked ok or not. So.... any ideas why it clogged in the first place? Anyone ever have this problem before? Thanks for any help, Mark.

 

[rrlund]

I think the bulk of the grain drops directly down in to the auger, only the light dusty stuff comes out through the dust collector. You might not have been grinding wet corn, or bogged down the day it plugged, but I've got a hunch it was almost plugged and something tipped the scale and was the last straw. If something popped loose, I think you might have it.

 

[used red MN]

My neighbor has a Gehl grinder mixer that clogged up in the fan. The upright pipe is in 2 sections, and the lower pipe clogged as did the fan section. It bogged his tractor down when it clogged. He took it apart yesterday and cleared it out, found no obstructions, no loose belts, was not feeding too fast, and the corn was not wet. He put it together and it clogged again. I went over this AM and looked at it with him, looking for a cause, but neither of us found anything wrong. We reassembled it, leaving the lower pipe section from the discharge off, and ran 2 bucketfuls of cob corn thru it. The corn did not come out of the fan outlet at first, but all of a sudden, a big amount of ground corn blew out. We put the pipe back on and he was going to try it again. I came home for lunch and posted this. I will check with him after while and see if it worked ok or not. So.... any ideas why it clogged in the first place? Anyone ever have this problem before? Thanks for any help, Mark.

Hopefully this is not his first rodeo and he has a screen in the hammer mill? What is the condition of the hammers? If very rounded off the probably need turned, hopefully there is still a square corner left. What size screen is he using?
To add to rrlunds comment, it’s been to long I am not sure what you can see looking down into the dust cyclone, I don’t think it is very much. Does it blow air out? Was he previously grinding wet corn? I don’t have any experience with that so I don’t know if the dust stream off the mill has a lot of moisture in it when you do that? To me it stands to reason it may. Empty the mixer, if the transfer auger to the mixer has a clean out after the drop pipe out of the cyclone open that. Run the mixer at an idle. Use a rubber mallet or a 2x4 and a hammer and pound around the outside of the dust cyclone see if any kind of build up is knocked loose and comes out.

 

[moresmoke]

My vote is the auger is not pulling the processed grain into the mixer tub.

 

[MMDan]

On a Gehl 65 there IS NO auger that takes the ground grain from the mill to the mixer. It all goes through the fan and dust collector. That is why the dust collector is very large compared to a newer grinder mixer. I would guess that the problem is in the fan if the tubes to and from the dust collector are not restricted. I ground 1000's of tons of feed with a 65. Not the fastest as the mill is only 16 inches wide with 66 hammers. It worked really well coarse grinding corn for the sheep my brother had without a screen because of the close spaced hammers. Won't work with a newer 105 that also has 66 hammers with a 21 inch mill. The Gehl 105 and newer do have the auger from the mill to the mixer.

 

[used red MN]

On a Gehl 65 there IS NO auger that takes the ground grain from the mill to the mixer.

My apologies, I only have experience with New Holland G/Ms, they have transfer augers.

 

[MMDan]

No need to apologize. It's an early Gehl thing. I found one advantage it had was in grinding hay. The big blower would pull the ground hay through the mill very well. I never ground wet ear corn with it but the tube coming out of the blower was dented up pretty good (bought it used) as the tube would plug if the ear corn was wet.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

My neighbor has a Gehl grinder mixer that clogged up in the fan. The upright pipe is in 2 sections, and the lower pipe clogged as did the fan section. It bogged his tractor down when it clogged. He took it apart yesterday and cleared it out, found no obstructions, no loose belts, was not feeding too fast, and the corn was not wet. He put it together and it clogged again. I went over this AM and looked at it with him, looking for a cause, but neither of us found anything wrong. We reassembled it, leaving the lower pipe section from the discharge off, and ran 2 bucketfuls of cob corn thru it. The corn did not come out of the fan outlet at first, but all of a sudden, a big amount of ground corn blew out. We put the pipe back on and he was going to try it again. I came home for lunch and posted this. I will check with him after while and see if it worked ok or not. So.... any ideas why it clogged in the first place? Anyone ever have this problem before? Thanks for any help, Mark.

Are the blower paddles worn down? It may not have enough oomph to throw the corn if that's the case. Check the blower, cone, pipe & elbow for air leaks & holes, too.

Mike

 

[rrlund]

My apologies, I only have experience with New Holland G/Ms, they have transfer augers.

Same here. I had a 65, my first grinder mixer, but it's been a lot of years.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

To answer everyone so far, the fan blades/paddles had slightly worn edges, as did the hammers. Nothing was close to severely worn, no holes in any ductwork/piping. The screen looks good. I think rrlund had it right, and MMDAN also explained the layout of the machine correctly. I called my neighbor, and he did get a load of corn ground. It worked as it should.
A little history- his Dad bought it new, always kept it shedded, and his Dad and he have ground a lot of corn with it over the years. Apparently, there was some clog starting in the lower auger under the hammers because after we ground those 2 bucketfuls with the middle section pipe off of the discharge and that wad blew out of the fan discharge, it seemed to blow more air out, and it ground a load properly. Thanks for ALL the answers, I was just looking for further insight on causes of the fan clogging, Mark.