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grain loss in a 660 doing wheat

6K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  acrazyfarmer 
#1 ·
Has anyone experienced a change in grain loss when going from dropping the straw to spreading it in wheat. When I put the chopper up into place to spread the straw I seen an increase in 10 + bushel per acre. I have tried this twice and had the same results and that is without any other changes in settings. The only thing I can think of is that it changes the air flow inside the sieves and rotor allowing the grain to fall out sooner. I am making some modifications to the combine to allow more air flow up through the from of the sieves and grain pan into the rotor.


TIA
 
#4 · (Edited)
we are actually seeing more wheat on the ground in the windrow compared to the chopper plus the yeild monitor goes up. In the windrow there was such a mat of wheat that the cover crop did not take even after being worked in. Where we spread we did not have enought volunteer wheat to bother spraying. The yeild monitor was calibrated for vibration when the chopper was put on and when it was off.
The fan was running 1350-1400, as fast as I could get it to go.
 
#5 ·
Well, when you chop you are spreading the seeds out and when you windrow they all drop in the windrow. Are you sure you have more loss? Shouldn't make any difference on the 660 because of the way the chopper is fed, now the new machines may make more difference with the chopper setup they have.

Sounds like you are getting rotor loss, speed up the rotor to create more centrifugal force, or if your getting a lot of mog in the cleaning shoe either open the concave, or you may have to remove some of the rotor knives so the crop doesn't get chewed up in the rotor.
 
#6 ·
I totally understand what you are saying Harsh. i have spent hours counting and looking for kernals of wheat behind the combine. If I push the combine so that I am getting it all out of the straw and none out the rotor I have way too much MOG on the sieves and can not clean it. If I adjust so that I dont have all the MOG then it is going out the rotor. the only thing I can think of is that it has to do with air floe being pulled more at the from of the sieves and grain pan through the rotor allowing things to clean more at the front of the sieves and the air being pulled through the rotor keeping the straw looser allowing it to fall out. I am not running any reverse bars and only 6 knives in the back half of the rotor. I even went and put all the bars on the rotor possible and that also helped.
All the changes have helped but I am still not statisfied with the job in wheat. I am in the process o fmaking some changes and will sned some pictures of them and let you know what the results are once we get to the field with it.

TIA
 
#7 ·
Are you an A or B model?

Do you have the cascade pan update? If pre-05 look here: Viewing a thread - Cascade pan update for pre-05 Agco Axial

Are you thrashing it?

I better start by saying I don't buy 10 bushels. There would be no looking for kernels at that loss, you would scoop them up with a scoop shovel. I have been cutting 10 bushel wheat and that is a lot of wheat. May be something else but if you aren't scooping it up there isn't 10 bushels.

Harsh is thinking along the same lines I am. I would pull all the knives. You pulled the reverse bars, pull the front 2 sections of bars and put the less aggressive bars in, this in combinations with the knifeless set up will allow you to run more rotor speed, creating more centrifugal force while being less aggressive creating less MOG. Clamp the concave up nearly tight with this setup.

With that and the cascade pan update/fan speed update it should be a whole 'nother animal. I cannot gaurantee that I have dealt with your problem but over 2 machines and 8000 seperator hours I bet I have. Call me if you need help, I am no expert but I have seen a lot of different conditions and done a lot of different things with those machines.

Brad
620.353.8790

EDIT: I have not run any knives or reverse bars or aggressive bars in any conditions in 5 years. I have buckets of that stuff collecting dust. This is NOT a Gleaner and that is how the rotors leave the factory configured. Way too much crap on the shoe with that set up.
 
#8 ·
Here is some pictures of what we are doing to try and improve the air flow and thus the cleaning of the combine. We removed the grain pan material in front of the front mounting channel and replaced it with airfoil chaffer material to allow more air flow up and through the falling material and start cleaning sooner. We did not put the airfoil cascade pan in the machine yet but did add the fan speed up kit. We also cut two 6 inch holes at the back of the rotor where it discharges into the chopper to allow for more air to escape the machine. I have made covers so that I can close these openings off to see if it makes any difference both with and without the chopper. I will let you know if it makes any improvement in the thrashing and cleaning with the machine.

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#9 ·
Had the combine in the field yesterday to try the wheat to see if it was ready. Only done one bin full but what a difference in the combine. I dropped the straw and there was less than 10% of wheat on the ground compared to the last couple of years. The highest count I found was 6 kernels in a square foot when I moved the straw and blew the chaff out of the way under the straw windrow.
 
#10 ·
if wheat is dry, a chopper can pulverize the kernels and you won't find them (they are flour). I have never driven a 660, but can't believe 10 busl. either. that is way worse than my deere that people tease me about. get a weigh wagon. and check a few strips each way side by side and then compare.
 
#11 ·
Update

Got into the field finally and here is what I found. When we were dropping the straw to bale there was a great improvement with the changes made. When I put the chopper into place it also worked better but I ended up have to slow my fan down from 1500 to 1200 and close the holes that I cut in at the back as it seemed to take all the air up the front of the sieve and out over the grain pan thus not having enough air to keep the MOG floating at the back of the sieve even with the fan running full speed. I will be trying more things with it again today I hope.
 
#13 ·
carinya I think it was the package that made the job better when dropping the straw. The grain pan changes allowed the air to flow upwards better and the holes at the back allowed it to escape. With the chopper on I had 0 lights on when I had the grain loss on the rotor and would only get 3 or 4 lighted up on the sieves or both with the sensitivity set at 8 on the wheat setting. I know I was finding as much or more grain loss on the ground from the header than from the back of the machine when ever I done a comparison on the full cutting width before and after the rear of the combine.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Just an update on the job the changes made. I have never had a field so clean after wheat as this was. I did not have to spray for volunteer wheat once I had the combine set up. The first couple of rounds there was enough to spray for. The last day we ran I had a John Deere S680 helping me with a 35 foot head. It was not hard to tell where he ran and where we ran and he is the best that I have ever seen at setting up a Deere. Will be interesting to see how it works in beans and corn



Got out and ran one day in beans and it was the best sample and job that I have ever got out of this machine. Capacity has increased greatly. Now I am waiting on a different pulley for the knife drive so that I can speed up the knife speed and hopefully run a faster ground speed.
 
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