[dodgeman01]

Bought a 4420 about a month ago. seems like a dicent combine we paid 6800 for it with a 4400 parts combine. The motor went out of the 4420 so we switched it for the one in the 4400. Ihe 4420 has around 3000 hours on it. The guy before me put all new clean grain augers in it along with some bearing and all new belts. the only problem I have had with it is the variable speed on the feeder house. The plats that rides on the fork broke about 50' into a corn field and the belt started slipping also the belt drive slips a lot when I have a full bin so I need to adjust that. what I would like to know is whats good about this combine and what do I need to watch for?
thanks guy
DM01

 

[Tom Turner]

The power shaft bearing under the seat, clutch, propulsion drive belt, loading auger gear box and unloading auger upper gear box.

 

[dodgeman01]

can you maybe tell me a few symptoms or how I can tell when I need to repair or replace those items before they just quit all together and I'm stuck in the field with a rain on the way?
thanks
DM01

 

[twopop]

The 4400/20 didn't have an unloading auger upper gearcase. The gearcase for the graintank loading auger can be lubed with cornhead grease. The powershaft bearing is kinda hard to check - it's either good or it's bad and you will know if its bad. The only thing you can do is replace it as a preventative maintenance item. It's possible for the propulsion drive belts to be worn to the point that replacing them is your only option. I've seen the V part worn strait, so that it won't grip the sheaves. No tightening will ever fix that. The 4400/20 is a simple machine so there is nothing huge to go wrong.

 

[phishstik]

dodge, I would just say know the manual in and out.

I ran the grain head too fast for years because I didn't read the manual properly. Between heads you need to slow down the feeder house and change a cog for grain head, speed it up for corn.

Keep the shaft/cob that adjusts concave clearance nice and clean, don't let garbage build up there. It is hard enough using that stupid wheel to adjust it in the cab without rust starting down there.

I have found the rear straw walkers sometimes fill up with corn stalks after a day in the field, keep an eye on them.

Other than that, every other problem I've ever had you hear it pretty quick with the engine right next to you

Water pump went, heard those bearing scream right away!

What do you think went wrong with the original 4420's engine by the way?

 

[dodgeman01]

The guy told me that he changed the oil and lubed the bine the day before. checked everything the next morning and it was fine. Fired it up and combined about a fully bin and is started knocking. He drove it about 100 yards and it locked up.
DM01

 

[teletech]

We have a 4420 too you need make sure you have good cylinder bars/concave. You'll know if you primary countershaft is bent cause you'll feel it in the seat. That's odd about the motor locking up like that.

 

[dodgeman01]

whats causes the primary shaft to bend?
how hard is it to put new rasp bars and concaves in a 4420? I know the concaves are stock and they have about 2800 hrs on them. combine was used mostly for corn. the only problems I see are: on the unloading auger that is under the grain tank there is some rust and some grain escapes when your unloading not much.
When I was running beans this year I had the concaves all the way crancked forn and there was not many broken beans. The guy swears up and down the combine has better concaves and rasp bars then the 4435 he just bought with 2200 hrs. I have never even looked at any of the insides of the combine. What is easy to replace and what is not? I take it by the owners manuel that the rasp bars are not very hard or at least not a major tear down. any dos and dont's?
thanks guys!
DM01

 

[teletech]

We bent the primary countershaft from either having the belt too tight or trying to restart with a slug in the cylinder. If you have much more than a few hundred hours on the cylinder bars the wear is to much pull soybeans in. In corn you won't notice it.

 

[dodgeman01]

well thats good. I'm not running any beand next year so I'm going to hold off and change them out next fall. I ran about 100 acres this year of beans and it did a really bad job the tank was full of pods. a lot of them still had beans in them. I closed down the combine as tight as I could front and back and ran the cylinder speed at 600 rpm and it was not cracking the beans at all and they ran 10.5 on moisture. The combine seemed under powered. I was running a 13' table and I have seen guys run 15' tables with a 4420 as fast as I could run with a 13'
DM01

 

[twopop]

Most of the time the primary countershaft is bent when the machine is slugged.
The rule of thumb for the bars is 9mm - new, 6mm-replace.
I would guess that the bars and concave have seen better days. The concave should be checked to see if it is still strait. If you have all of the wires in it, every other should be pulled and the holes plugged. The material can't get through the holes,clogs up the concave and causes power loss. Do you have a chopper? The 4420 will have power problems with worn chopper knives in beans.
I run a 454 row head on a 4400 with no chopper. I have 800 hrs on bars/concave and I can go 4 -5 mph in 50 bu beans. I run the concave 3/4 open, and the cylinder at @450 to 500rpm.
Also, if the combine has run mostly corn for 2800 hrs the chances are that it has run some substantial returns and worn the bars where the returns auger dumps into the cylinder.

 

[ibewwireman]

I have a 1985 4420 with 3800 hours and the same luck in beans as far as unthreshed pods. I did about 60 acres of corn this year with it and it did fine. My only complaint is that it needs alot of new metal around some augers, and I found a mystery piece of metal that came from inside the machine stuck in the return elevator.

 

[ebobby18]

how do you change the wire finger shaker that shakes the corn onto the screen of john deere 4420

 

[chance2]

I believe this is what you are refering to. The fingers at the front of the chaffer bolt to the chaffer frame.