[tracks]

Wondering if anyone else is having trouble with the chopper knife engagement lever on the 71, 81, 9120 series machines. We have the standard chopper and last fall in tough beans the engagement lever wouldn't stay in place. We ended up bolting in some angle iron to keep the lever locked in place. The factory fix was a new lever, but same problem as nothing holds it in place. Am I the only seeing this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jmark71]

Wish I knew the answer to your question, but I haven't run my 7120 in beans yet and we generally do not run the knives in on soybeans. The stems will be rotten enough by spring for no-till corn, and I don't want them to break down any faster. I didn't have any problems in wheat, but the straw wasn't very sappy this year. From the lack of responses here, I am guessing that this isn't a huge problem, but I plan to follow the responses since this is my first Case combine.

 

[scott]

what do stationary knives and chopper knives look, if worn cause issues, i have never seen one unlock, have seen bolt come loose not keeping where you want to set knives, bet if you clime in machine, piece of plywood, have someone operate handle, look at knives, bet ya need new knives on chopper, and a herd of stationary knives, what speed ya running chopper at, yes on green beans straw need good knives, this is where close cut chopper shines, takes power, put new blades in chopper and stationary, scott.

 

[dap54]

Scott I have had the knives disengage on a 7010 with less than 150 hours. How long should the knives last? I don't remember having trouble the first year, but last year I had to wire the adjustment lever to stay in the adjustment notches, other wise the knives would be all the way out (disengaged). I forgot all about the problem until you brought it up tracks.

 

[farmertony]

never had a problem with it. wow how things have changed if this is a problem!! anyone say control pressure

 

[scott]

depends on conditions, gotta remember we have rocks, ever two years, dull as hell, changed many out, this has been a issue, folks don't want to go to fine chopper, takes about 15 hp, other than bolt issue never had a issue with lever not staying locked, yes control pressures what a pain in the a's, chopper bearings and shaft, hmmm, there are three zerks, right hand side outer brg pain, rotating brg, feeder chains are sh't, finally went to one piece feeder chain, one tight other is loose, p'ss poor desigh, engine issues, has been talked about, not alot of issues, ya got a heck of machine, put fd70 40 ft drapper on it life is good or 2162 same head, needs to be set up correctly, adjusted in a couple days, will shave ground, any questions, email in profile, scott.

 

[tracks]

Due to the lack of responses I hadn't looked at things for a couple of days, but here is some more info. Have 183 hours on the machine so the knives are fine. The lever kept jumping out and totally disengaging the knives as dap54 said. I had the entire engagment assembly replaced this winter. They hauled the 8120 back out a couple of weeks ago and the lever had shaken loose on the haul and will barely stay engaged sitting in the yard. I can fix it again with an angle iron, but pretty disappointing on a brand new machine. Other than that love the track ride and the 2162 front. Thanks for the responses. Doesn't look like enough of a problem to get any dealer help.

 

[scott]

i was just on chn web site looks like they are adjustable, worked on lots of these ladies, gotta pull lever, tension on it, can you shim stationary bracket out looked like shims, do agree dealer needs to look at another machine, can go look at one in morn, guess what i'm asking, no pressure on lever, theres hore problem, can't believe dealer didn't catch this, keep me posted, scott.

 

[iveco]

adjust the detent bar where the handle locks into outward so there is more torque on it when they are engaged

 

[clinton491]

Tracks, were you slugging the machine. Maybe in green material big slugs would hit chopper and bounce the chopper causing it to pop out of place.

 

[viper2bn]

i had same trouble with my 8120, what happened was lever was pulled on too hard and sprung out away from detents. I climbed in machine hold chopper up with a block of wood take out 2 pins that hold lever to adjusting arms and slide lever part way out of machine, the bend handle section towards combine frame 2 inches or so then re-install just remember to not pull out too much when adjusting next time and it will be fine.