[davedan]

I have ran the Loewen concave in my walker machines for about the past 8 years and they are absolutley excellent. I would never even think of buying an OEM deere for my machines. The bars are thicker, wires are larger diameter, harder material is used, they stay straight longer and the leading edge on the first four bars, which are the critical ones for feeding,, stay with a sharper edge atleast four times longer than OEM. Ive seen also that sunnybrooke who makes solid cylinders and boronized rasp bars makes a concave with replacable front bars for small crain concaves. Makes good sense to me seeing how the only reason Ive replaced concaves in the past was that they wouldnt feed right and the edges of the cross bars are wore rounded. Also check out there feeder chains,,,, AWESOME. Chrome pins only in my opinion. The last feeder house chain I bought of theirs had over 3000 hrs on it, wore out three sets of sprockets before I send the entire rig to Mexico. And it only needed adjustment Once a season. As for my 50 Walker I will be putting in my sunnybrooke cylinder but am undecided on changing the concave yet. Good luck buddy.

 

[jdtech84]

We have found through our dealership granted i'm north midwest that for corn soybeans and wheat that aftermarket concaves don't compare. On your machine we would put a 10 series kit on it and pull every other wire out of the new concave and put in a set of black deere bars. In our area we don't recomend chrome bars at all because of alot of sandy soil in our area.

 

[hopalong]

Deere does not make the 9600/9610 concave anymore. It is made by a manufacture in Canada and sold across the parts desk as OEM. I believe it's a SunnyBrook but don't bet your life savings on that.

I run the St Johns and are happy with them, they have an option were they weld a plate over the first 4 grates and that is helpful in wheat. We ran a JD 9610 concave on one machine and the St John in the second, the St Johns ran less return and was easier to set. A 9610 concave is for corn and I don't think that it increases the capacity of combine in wheat like it does in corn.

my .02

 

[davedan]

Regarding your chrome bars, I would run them, I do and change them every season. In fact there isnt a set of bars that deere offers other than Chrome that will last the entire season here in California. Cant see how black bars will last in Wheat and milo. You need the wires all intact if your in milo and wheat as well. Sure for corn you might need to remove some wires but as stated you are not. No only are loewen parts better but they are less expensive as well. The money is put into the quality of the parts, deere has preengineered life in all of theirs and I am honestly tired of wasting my money on OEM junk.

 

[txfarmer]

I own a 9600 combine, and need to replace the concave. & cyl. bars. I recently purchased new, chromed Deere cyl. bars; and really do not want to go through the 'fight' of returning them, so unless it is going to make a huge difference, I would like to stick with the Deere cyl. bars.

I was wondering if I should purchase a Deere concave, or an aftermarket concave..?? Keep in mind that I will be harvesting hard red winter wheat and grain sorghum (milo). I read in an earlier thread that one of you liked the Loewen concave. At the farm show, I also looked at another brand of aftermarket concave (can't recall the name right now), and now I am confused.

Will the aftermarket concaves make that big of a difference in the crops that I cut? What is the price difference between OEM and aftermarket ($ball-park amount--doesn't have to be exact)?

I am sure that the aftermarket concaves make quite a difference in , say, corn; but do they also up efficiency in [dryland] wheat & milo? Please tell me all you can about them, and their differences. All the info. that you can provide would be excellent. !Please!, more than one reply so I can really get a feel for what is the best!
Thanks in advance for the help! This Forum is really good for info. and trouble shooting!

 

[txfarmer]

Thanks for the replies.
Whoa..I can't believe that you wear a set of chromed cyl. bars out every season! Mine last several years..I guess it depends on soil type, acres cut, type of crop, bu. per acre, etc etc...

St John, Loewen, SunnyBrooke & OEM..

Those 4 are basically my choices, right?

 

[jdtech84]

you might be wearing them out and not know it. on chrome bars will look good but if you can run your hand sideways on it and feel sharp edges on it the bars are wore out. and are doing grain damage. so your bars might appear to be good but in fact are not

 

[newibiner]

St John, Loewen, SunnyBrooke & OEM..

and Kuchar

 

[txfarmer]

Again, I can't thank y'all enough for the replies. It makes the decision-making process a lot more....er...informed, anyway!

I do not run worn-out cyl bars. Yes, you are right, jdtech, the cyl. bars can 'look' ok, but in fact be worn [out]...I am able to cut (2) wheat crops, and (2) milo crops, generally, before changing cyl. bars...I have learned that cyl. speed (or rather the excess of it) will wear the bars [prematurily], too.

When I take the cherry picker, remove the feeder house, and change the cyl. bars this time, though, I will also be replacing the concave...
Now that the different brands have been mentioned, I recognize the SunnyBrook brand. Those guys were at the Farm Show in Amarillo, TX ; I was really impressed w/ their concave! A lot of thinking was put into it. I REALLY like the way that the front edge of the concave can be replaced w/out having to do away with the whole concave.
In case some of you have not heard about this, here is the link:
http://www.sunnybrookwelding.com/cwestory.pdf

I am not trying to plug their product, or anything...I just think it is a great idea...I don't know if other companies are doing this or not..?? Great idea, though!

I agree with the person or persons who said that the OEM stuff is getting more and more "sub-par" with some of the aftermarket items. Seems like, sometimes, that the OEM guys just quit thinking...kinda like..."ok...here it is...it wont get any better than this (in fact, it may get worse) until we come out with a new model...take it or leave it"
When a machine gets a little age on it, or it is not the current model anymore, JD would like to forget about it...I think JDs attitude (around here, anyway) is something like "You ought to just trade that 9600 in on a 9760, and then you would have parts more readily available". I am always having hints thrown at me to trade my machine in...I DO NOT WANT TO (yet, anyway).
Arggg.. I have gotten off of the [main] topic...sorry, I will get down off of the soap box...

Long live the walker combines!! They, too, have a place in this world! (besides in Old Mexico)

 

[txfarmer]

isujakey:
was jdtech saying that none of the aftermarket brands compared to their JD OEM stuff, or was he saying the other way around?

 

[txfarmer]

Considering all of the help that I got here, I thought it only right to let you guys know what I settled on.

The Loewen was priced at about $1075 + [about] $90 freight.

The St. John was priced @ about $700 (exchange) + [about] $75 freight.

The Sunny Brook was priced @ about $1600 (USD) + [about] $300 freight.

All of the aftermarket concaves sounded really good. I spoke to each company; and each person that I spoke with was very accomodating, and took their time explaining their product.

The Loewen sounds good, heavy, and well thought-out. Their concave is 14 bar. I talked w/Grant @ Abilene Machine..very nice guy.

The St. John is great sounding, too, and is 14 bar, also. This company said that they have gotten away from the 9610 design..sorry, with all of the info., I can not recall why..I want to report this stuff accurately, as they were all very gracious. I visited w/ Terry..he really knows his stuff...

Sunny Brook 'makes' JD's concaves, now (go through Deere to get it). They also make a 'better' concave (that they will sell direct). The 'better' model has the replaceable front edge. It bolts in with stove bolts, and sounds really nice. The replaceable edges (306 stainless) costs about $300 (including shipping). This is a 15 bar. The concave they build for Deere 'stops following the circle' at bar 9. Their 'better' model stops following the circle at bar 14 & 15. I also think it is worth noting that their 'better' concave has about 100 pounds more material than the other brands...(per Sunny Brook). I visited w/ Gerald...wow, this guy can get just as technical as you desire..he is pictured in SBs article. http://www.sunnybrookwelding.com/cwestory.pdf

I sure do not want to misrepresent any of the info. that was told to me, so I will quit right there. If you have a question in particular, I will try to answer it...sure not trying to know it all..just eager to help if I can.. All three makers told me that they sometimes visit this Forum and other forums. They also said (and I think this is commendable) that they do not 'add' to the conversation, in fear of 'advertising without paying'.
I ultimately went with the St. John. I did not go with this just because it was cheaper. In fact, by the time I send my exchange back to them, it is gonna be about a wash with the Loewen. I do not think a person could go very wrong with any of these brands. These guys have really thought it out, and are trying their best to make us a long-life concave. The hard surfacing is [one of the most important] key ingredient(s), no doubt...

 

[davedan]

You know TX 2 years ago I bought a sunnybrooke solid cylinder with boronized bars for my 9650 walker and finally am getting a chance to put it in this season. I was actually holding off for a couple of seasons to get full use of my original concave so that I can try sunnys concave. The guys there told me they were working on one when I bought my cylinder that I will be able to change the front bars in the concave withought removal. I thought what a great Idea and hoped that they would continue research and development on that item. this is the year I think Im gonna go for it. They also told me after I bought my cylinder that JD has the market on their cylinder and bar sets BUT the crappy thing is all the JD dealers within a 300 mile radius of us have never even heard of sunnybrooke nor do they advertise or offer these parts. I explained to the guy from sunny about this once I started to rehash plans on thier concave in my 50 and he seemed a little shocked at first but I can imagine they have more business than they need anyway. As far as the cylinder and boronized bars, it looks very promising and I cant wait to run it this season. rotary deflector, or beater looks good too.

 

[greengiant]

I personally feel the method of haveing the pinch point of the concave at bar 9 works so well it is astounding compared to having it at the rear. You never have to adjust the rear this way any more once it is set.

Having replaceable front 2 bars is nice, but the rest get out of shape too, and will need replacement as well. This is not a good fix for a worn concave. Pinch point is also a wear spot. I believe the st. john idea of hard surfacing will give the greatest return/dollar spent. Mr. Welch has a wealth of real world experience in this matter, and I would trust his judgement. Good luck..

 

[davedan]

The front four bars are replaceable not the front two. Some points to bring up also are the fact that center feeding needs to be addressed with guys who pick up winrows. Im planning on putting in my sunny solid cylinder in conjunction with their concave and am not concerned with center wear with the non flexing solid cylinder and all my crops are standing.

 

[greentech]

I have to agree with the with the 9th bar pinch being better. Pinching in the rear is old school, 20 series. Davedan, there's something wrong with the Deere dealers in your area. When I was working at Deere we were made full aware of Sunnybrook's alliance with Deere and there were regular price breaks on these products to help promote them. I have always had good luck with the SB products. Wouldn't be scared of Loewen, either. But some aftermarket companies sell used Deere concaves rebuilt as their own and this is wrong. The way the bars get built up does not allow the concave to follow the cylinder correctly. I have tried to level these concaves in the combine and can never get them 100% true.

I prefer the black rasp bars for rocky conditions because they will bend but not crack or break like chrome and they are also cheaper. Sure, they don't last as long, but I have some customers that only put on 120 separator hours a year and they will last for many years.

Btw, the 9660WTS has a nice rasp bar. The rasps are about 50% deeper and more agressive. I'm going to do some research to see if they will fit a 9600/10/50

 

[davedan]

Greentech, Your absolutley right. Dealers here SUCK! Ive been harvesting for only 10 years buy I am third generation in my family to take on custom harvesting and have yet to have any local dealers who can help or even make a sale on grain equipment here. We have the Kern Machinery stores,, North South and West Kern here in our areas. None of the stores even carry so much as an air filter for either of my machines, but when it comes to hard parts,, forget it I have to stock all my own parts to keep from any downtime. Ive spent near half a mil on equipment the last 5 years and each time I needed a peice of equipment for my business I gave these dealerships a first shot and heads up on what I was looking for. I didnt even so much as get a phone call back from any salesman. SO I went out of state to purhase.

 

[harvester01]

Read with interest this discussion and need more advice on a problem installing my new Lowen concave into my JD9600. When I attempt to level it, everything works until you get to the top right hand side. Then I run out of adjustment and at that point my concave is digging into the right hand side of the machine. Has anyone else had this installation problem? Thanks for replies!

 

[greentech]

Holy old thread revived! Do you have the factory support plate behind your concave adjusting eyebolts? If so that's probably your issue. The tab on the top often prevents enough adjustment of concave. You can either grind the tab away or just use a large flat washer instead of the support plate. When I level a concave I set all 4 corners to 1/8 inch gap and then close with concave motor until it ticks, then open slightly and set the stop on the front right.

 

[harvester01]

Thanks for the information. What I did was take the tab out and throw it away, but I didn't put a washer in....I'll go back and put the washer in. Good to hear from somebody who knows what he's talking about! Thanks again.

 

[michaelshawn]

I recently had the opprtunity to visit with the great people at Sunnybrook Welding.
Gerald and Terry were good enough to listen to what I did to
increase the thresh on a Deere concave in a 7720, and yes this was a long time ago. I think I got their attention.
There is absolutely no reason to run filler plates in the newer low
wire concaves to do wheat in the Deere walker combines, all you
are doing is creating walker loss by blanking off, in some cases,
one third of the concave separating area.
In the 7720 with the Deere stock concave I welded in 1/4" flat
iron pieces vertically between the segments in the first three rows UNDER THE WIRES. This increased the thresh plus it let
the material through rather than running it back and up onto the walkers. As anyone who combines where there are mole hills can tell you, the dirt plugs filler plates which make them useless.
If I was running a walker combine with the newer low wire style
concaves I would have rod welded in across the full width of the concave in the first 3 rows, these have to be lower than the cross bars so the material is held there so the rub bars can do their job.
With this style concave in the 7720 it was hard to believe how I could do wheat at night. I realize this may not be suitable in all crops, it sure worked for me.
I'm no engineer but have been blessed with common sense.
Jim