O/T Changing chopper heads.

[Dairy Farmer in WI]

well changed heads on my IH 720 Chopper today. man is that not fun. went from the corn head to the hay. but now i can't get the bracket/ stand that the shoes are attached to, to line up right to set the shoes at the right height. it's like i have to move the head over a bit to get them to slide into place. now i have the chains all straight and everything and i think i need to move the head over. but then wouldn't the chain run crooked and bust it eventually? i will take pictures to show what i mean tomorrow but the head is fit in there tight! but i tested it out tonight and everything works fine.. and to think i have another head i have to change but next time it's gonna be opposite. can anyone help?
if you could...thanks much.
DF in WI

 

[Don-Wi]

I've only grew up around Fox choppers so I'm not familiar with any other make, but can the sprockets be slid over any? I would try that and if they can, then that'd be the way to go.

Chains do have some slop and can run a little off course, but what happens is they stretch out and then they wear the sprockets funny if you don't change it soon enough, so even if/when you change the chain the worn sprockets will make the chain ride up and will stretch out the new chain within the 1st season. I used to replace lots of sprockets like that for farmers over the 4 years I worked at a sprocket & gear shop in Freedom. Even did a couple for myself and now I drop one off once in a great while for our farm when one is bad. If it's a standard bore, we would either make an entire new one or cut the old one off the hub if it was good yet, and if it was a splined or otherwise special hub we could always find a way to save it for the new sprocket.

Much cheaper than buying new fomr the dealer most times as well, and we made them OEM for AGCO, (hesston, New Idea, Tye, etc...) Brillion, Miller, and Meyer's plus many others.

We did repair on any color that came in the door.

Donovan from Wisconsin