John Deer 95 Settings

[Anonymous-0]

Hi:

I am new to JD combines and relatively new to combining. I have some questions on setting up the model 95 combine to harvest oats, barley, and wheat.

I have been reading the Op's manual and with a little trial and error I have setup the combine to harvest oats. The oats are coming in fairly clean and with some cracked kernels. Can I improve on my settings?

I am using these settings: Concave is set to the third notch from the top, sieve is about half open, chaffer is just over half open, fan air is fully up for upper windboard and about half for lower winboard, and fan opening completely open.

The oats are in windrows and I am using 3rd gear for speed of travel.

I noticed the opening below the platform collect a lot of chaf, dust, and some kernels. Should it and any changes I can make to recover the kernels from this area?

I plan to harvest barley next. What changes should I make for that crop?

Many thanks for your thoughts and help
PaMnd

 

[Mike Aylward]

When you say the combine is set up for oats, this tells me you are probably running a cylinder speed in the 700-800 range which will likely be too slow for wheat and the other crops. To be sure your combine is set correctly (whether you have a book handy or not) you must check several things. First, be sure the crop is being threshed at the cylinder and concave. If it isn't being completely threshed (or is overthreshed) you will be fighting a battle through the rest of the machine. In crops such as wheat and soybeans the residue SHOULD look like you just shelled out the seeds by hand unless conditions are extremely dry. This residue should have very, very little crop left in it. The walkers shouldn't have to do a lot of seperating. Once the grain falls down to the grain conveyor and back to the shoe the fan should hit it with enough blast of air to float the chaff. The chaff should not slough off the end of the chaffer because it will carry grain with it when it does. So many folks see this happening and think they have too much air when they actually don't have enough. To confirm your fan settings, check the return elevator, which will also confirm your sieve settings. There should be very little trash in the return elevator (if there is you have too much chaffer opening and/or sieve closing) or too little air. There should not be much grain in the return, either. If there is, you either have the chaffer or sieve closed too far or running WAY too much air, which is unlikely. When the combine is set correctly there will be little more than about 5 gallons per minute coming up the return elevator. If you have more than that there is a problem somewhere. Understand your combine and how the systems all work together, keep an eye on your return elevator, and you should be able to do a good job every time. Mike

 

[BANDITFARMER]

Mike has given you very good information and advice and I want to add to it. When you said you have the concave set in the 3rd notch did you check the axual distance between the cancave to the cylinder bars and the rear concave clearance through the inspection holes? Cylinder bars and the concave ware down over time so the settings need to be changed. There are several diffrent styles of cylinder bars used in combines, Orignal ones are diffrent than say Ausherman bars. The Ausherman bars are more agressive than OEM bars and will cause grain damage while the OEM bars are more gentle on the grain. I dont know if you have a spot tack to check the cylinder speed but its a good idea to have one to check with, Tacks can be off. As with any combine the settings are a good starting point and need to be tweeked in the field as conditions change. Heres a pic of JD 95 OEM (worn out) and Ausherman bars note the diffrence in the vains of the bars. Worn out bars will cause grain damage as much as the more agressive bars. Just a few things to check out before you harvest your next crop. Bandit

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi Mike:

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you, understanding how the combine works is way better than setting the combine because someone said that setting should work.

Two years ago (the last time I combined) I had a old time farmer helping me with the settings. While I respected his knowledge he could not explain why his settings were correct. Sad to say he is now immobile and cannot help. Back then I was using a White combine and although the principles are the same, the setting are different to the JD combine. So I am trying to transfer my knowledge from then to now.

The cylinder speed recommended (suggested by the books I have) is 1060 rpm for Barley, oats, and wheat, so I have not changed the cylinder speed. You are suggesting a speed of 7-800 for oats. What is the advantage of the slower speed?

Both the oats and barley are dry and thresh, with minimal effort, clean by hand. With the settings I currently have the oats threshed fairly clean. Only some short straw pieces and occasional sheathed head of oats and some cracked seeds. Now I need to refine my settings since I think I have room for improvement.

Prior to setting the fan and chaffer as I did there was straw, chaff, and seed on the rear tail housing. Now I have some dust and chaff. Can my settings be improved here? I have read and been told more air is better then too little air except when working with light seed.

The second area of concern I have is the opening under the pickup table. I believe I have to much seed showing up in the dust/chaff there but I do not know how or what to compensate in that area. Any ideas or suggestions?

How do I check the return elevator. I do not really see a place where I can observe what is coming from the return. Should I just open the return door and try to collect what is being returned?

I know I am on the right track because of the difference between the first threshed oats and the last. I also know I am not yet set completely correct. I just now need to understand more and then make changes accordingly. The oats are finished and now I only have barley to do. If the weather co-operates I will finish this weekend. What I learn this year will help me next year.

Many thanks for your thoughts

Hi Banditfarmer:

Love your handle. Who is that masked man riding that JD 95 into the night.

I did inadvertently check the distance when the concave was jammed. I opened the inspection holes to see if anything was moving. The distance looked correct for the setting and the bar, not new, seemed fairly good. I may have a spot tack so I will check to see if it works and then check the cylinder and fan speeds if it does.

Thanks for your support.

PaMnd

 

[Mike Aylward]

Normally, you don't need to run your cylinder speed as fast for oats as you do for wheat because oats thresh easier than wheat does. However, if you are in weedy oats the faster cylinder speed won't hurt you. If you are getting cracks AND unthreshed heads that tells me your concave is too wide or not proportioned properly to the cylinder. You are not threshing the crop mat in one pass but are "pawing" at it multiple times with the cylinder. This causes the symptoms you describe. Another thing to check is the proportion of the front of the cylinder to the back and side to side. When you move the concave adjustment on your 95 you are only moving the front of the concave. A good rule of thumb is to set the rear of the concave at approximately one half the clearance of the front. You ALWAYS want the rear to be closer than the front, never farther. As far as the chaffer and sieve go, another rule of thumb there as a starting point is to use your fingers. Set the chaffer opening with your index finger and set the sieve with your little finger. You can dead stop the combine to see how much material is coming up the return elevator or you can open the inspection door at the top of the elevator and see or hear what is coming up there. The return elevator is about as good a "barometer" of what the combine is doing as anything. As for the fan setting, you want to run a good VOLUME of air. If you have the chaffer closed too much you will get air PRESSURE, similar to holding your thumb over a garden hose. You will be much better served with a larger chaffer opening with a faster fan speed that gives you VOLUME rather than a slower speed and closed opening that gives you PRESSURE. When you are cutting and stop the combine you should see the chaff being blown out the rear of the combine. It should not fall off the chaffer. It actually should never touch the chaffer because the initial fan blast should suspend it immediately. One other, but extrememly important thing to remember on ANY combine is this: only make one adjustment at a time. Once you become familiar with how your combine works you will be better able to read it in various conditions. But what I told you will apply to almost any combine. Mike

 

[BANDITFARMER]

I am glad to hear you got the carb issue ironed out and you are up and running now. Just give us a shout and we will try to help you out because we have been there and done that. Bandit

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi Mike:

Tomorrow I will check the settings. If the weather cooperates then Friday I will try barley. Somehow, this year, I managed to get the oats and barley 90% weed free so that will not really affect my tests.

If I understand you correctly, a concave set wide will crack kernels and set narrow will crack kernels. The book suggest half inch front (oats were narrower) and quarter rear for barley. I will start there and see what happens. Can I expect 95% crack free if the settings are correct?

The book suggest the same sieve setting for barley and oats and a chaffer setting a tad larger. I will leave those where they are for my starting point and then adjust after wards.

The fan speed is listed as the same so I will see if I can determine what rpm I am at and leave it unchanged.

The only other area I have not adjusted is the fan side shutter. Currently it is open with no restrictions. How does this affect the delivery of air and should I consider changing it?

Once the barley is done I will be finished for the year and I will have to wait until next year to tryout my new found knowledge.

Thanks for the help
PaMnd

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi Bandit:

The carburetor is not yet fixed, but at least I know how to start the combine if it stalls. If I am careful and do not bounce the combine then it runs perfect and does not have a problem. When the harvest is over I will delve into the carburetor.

With the information you and Mike provided I feel I can make an educated guess on how to change the settings when I see the barley in the hopper.

Many thanks
PaMnd

 

[Mike Aylward]

Normally the only reason to shut the fan shutters are if you are doing extremely light grass seed and need practically no air. Also, set your windboards for full open. Once again, about the only time you ever shut them is in light crops.

In most crops you want the crop mat to move through the cylinder intact. The mat can be broken up with too wide OR too narrow cylinder to concave spacing. Experience will tell you where you need to be. Look at the crop on the walkers (or behind the combine if it doesn't have a chopper on it) and that will tell you if you are where you need to be on your spacing. Mike

 

[need help 60]

Wanted to thank everyone for their post, to be honest, my dad always set the combine an I cut the grain. Worked great for years that way, but now dads gone an I have no clue. I have a 1965 model 95 jd. I"ve adjusted about everything there is to adjust on this thing, my barley in the bin is clean as heck, I just can"t seem to stop the stream that"s blowing out the back onto the ground. It"s bad, real bad! ( its good seed). Is this all the better this machine gets? I"ve cut the air down, turned it up, adjusted the sheaves, can any one help

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi:

The weekend was the pits for combining. Strong winds would blow the swaths/windrows to the neighbors field and leave me little to work with or just enough rain to wet the surface and dampen the bottom.

I did check the settings with an RPM gauge. If I did it correctly then the fan speed is 540 and the cylinder is 1060 with combine at full speed.

Finally Monday was a good combine day and so I headed out. Essentially encountered three problem.

First, the pickup would roll the swaths. I believe this problem is due to the swaths being thin (14 foot swath)and the swaths were knocked into the stubble by wind and rain. I do not believe this to be a combine issue but it did cause problem with threshing (uneven feed, insufficient material to thresh properly, too slow a feed, etc). To pickup the swaths I need to slow to first gear and drop the pickup table until I was picking up earth (fortunately very few rocks in these fields) as well. Is my assumptions correct? Anything I could do to pickup better?

Second, when I did find some thick swaths the pickup was better and I was able to use second gear. The grain was threshing well, there was minimal loss out the back, and some straw in the clean grain. The question I have is in regard to the awns still on the kernel. Is this normal? Remember this is my first barley harvest. I would say 20 percent kernels still had awns attached of which some were short and many were long. What do I need to do to correct this?

Third, when the barley was thin I had seed loss over the chaffer. If I opened up the chaffer then I increased the straw in the grain tank. Is this simply due to the thin swaths or is there an adjustment I need to make?

The help here has been invaluable to me and I again say thanks and again thanks. The harvest for me is now finished (I worked late into the night Monday) and I feel much better prepared for next year.

Thanks
PaMnd

PS: Although there were cracked head in the grain tank, the seeds I looked at were more crushed than cracked. I think I have a sprocket or auger that needs attention. I have the winter to look for that.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi need help 60:

Welcome to the thread. I do not really have the knowledge to answer your question but if you read my other post you will see my results.

Having an experienced farmer help you is great. The trick is to try to understand why they are making changes when they do. Not a goal always easy to achieve.

PaMnd

 

[need help 60]

Thanks for the info, had a few green seeds in the tank yet so going to wait a week. ( great )
It's to be in the mid 80s all week so hope it drys things up.
I've noticed also that when I was cutting rye when the crop was thin or turning around I would get straw an small heads in my grain tank. Either we have the same problem or its the machine it self. I remember years ago my father saying, if I want my wheat to make more then 30 bushel to the ac. Guess it time to buy a new combine! (The silver seeder)

A friend down the road has a JD 6622H, going to try it this weekend, I'm hoping for the best!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi need help 60:

It is my understanding that in order for the crop (any crop) to thresh the heads have to rub against each other. This is what causes the seeds to fall out. Just to be clear, this understanding comes from reading and asking questions and not because I know. Hopefully a more knowledgeable person here will correct me if I am wrong.

At any rate if the material entering the combine is not thick enough than we need to close the spacing of the feed to retard the feeding so the combine can rub the thin material out. If there is too much rubbing (ie cylinder to fast) then the straw breaks and the small pieces can get past the sieves or chaffer and get into the hopper. One of the problems with most older (as in pre 1980) combines is that the only adjustment we can make on the fly is to the concave and to the ground speed.

In a different post "45 to 105 John Deere Combines
" BanditFarmer questioned the difference in the 05 and 00 series combines. Interesting to note that the 00 combines, smaller cylinder, yielded better harvest and speed then the 05 combine. So, I would be interested in hearing how your test with the 6622H (hillside?) works out.

I am curious. If you expect wheat to do 30 bu and acre does that mean you do not spray or fertilize?

Thanks for your thoughts
PaMnd

 

[need help 60]

PaMnd

My statement about the 30 bpa was that anything more then that the old gleaner would throw it out the back. That was the best it (the gleaner) would do. If his wheat made 60 bpa it wouldn't matter because the gleaner would blow anything over 30 bpa out the back.
As for the 6622, fan speed was 780, rotor speed was around 850 to 875. Cutting speed was 2 mph! Not impressed with the slow cutting speed but, things to take into account. The barley was planted at 105 lbs per acre, an was 44 inches high. Wanting to bale the straw, we cut about 3 inches off the ground with a 20 foot header. If we hadn't been pushing so much straw through the machine I think it would have done better. This was the speed it worked best, very little seed out the back, clean grain in the tank an not cracking to much. The good news is that we got done before the rain came. Just glad its over, I left out the broken steel oil line UP under the cab, and the almost fire behind the cab, she was a smoking!! ( you take the seat out an a panel off an there a great spot for dust an grain to accumulate) after that we blew the hole machine off every night. Thanks for all the help an input. Will I do it again..... Mmm ask me in the spring lol.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi need help 60:

Thanks for the added info. Glad to hear you finished before the rain. I have not been doing this for long but I hear you when you say "Just glad its over". Since I started planting and harvesting I look forward to the harvest part. Work like mad to get the equipment ready and head out with great anticipation. Then try to deal with the inconvenient problem that arise. Although, I cannot say I have had to deal with smoke yet. Even though problems arise and I say "Why am I doing this?" come spring time I am ready to try again. After all, practice makes perfect.

Thanks
PaMnd

 

[bigmike71]

Anyone have info for corn settings? Running a 95 that we put a 4 row 444 corn header on. It had a grain header and last used a few years ago for oats. I ordered a manual from john deere online which hasnt come in yet. Thanks for any help. Mike

 

[Jim.ME]

Anyone have info for corn settings? Running a 95 that we put a 4 row 444 corn header on. It had a grain header and last used a few years ago for oats. I ordered a manual from john deere online which hasnt come in yet. Thanks for any help. Mike

You will avoid getting your request over looked if you start a new thread of your own. Many may not bother to look at this thread from 2011 and others will read and reply to the first post, missing your post. Usually some will see the late post and reply to it. Making your own thread is best.