Combining beans today and concave indicator went from 2 to 64 and stayed there - pressing concave adjustment button wouldn't change it. I've had the little linkage that goes from the concave cam to the potentiometer break before and thought that was the problem but it was not - the concave dropped all the way open. It was about dark so couldn't tell for sure what was wrong but reaching back and grabbing the actuator I could move the ram part up and down 3/8" or so. I'm guessing the actuator is toast and the screw broke or something internally went kaput.
I have taken this actuator apart before and will do so again to see if I can fix it. I'm 99% sure dealer will not have one and JD parts shows to replace the actuator a new style is required AH170291 and in addition a new left cam and another part to make the conversion. Close to a thousand bucks in all (that is why I took the old one apart a few years ago and fixed it instead of doing the update - maybe I should have done the update
).
Anyway, to get back in the field so I don't have to wait for parts I will first try to disassemble and fix the old actuator. Second alternative is to lift concave to "2" setting where we use most for beans and weld, pin, make a strap to replace or something that will get me back in the field by noon.
Are there any alternatives to JD parts? Seems like a lot of money for something that looks like it should go on a tv dish antenna.
Any other suggestions as a temporary fix/replacement to get me back in the filed till a rainy day and permanent fix? I think I can measure the proper length with the concave raised to proper position and make a strap with pin holes to replace it. A turnbuckle would be nice.
Any other updates/upgrades to this area of the machine I should be aware of?
John we have had shis happen before and if you take the thing apart and fine the problem you can get parts to fix it. JD does not offer a parts break down for the combine actuator but if you look at the dump actuator for a 6x4 gator it gives you a parts list for some of the internals of the actuator. If the barrel on the screw part of the actuator broke loose you can weld it an get by. This will be alot cheeper than the change over. I like the turn buckel idea but i think that would be a pain in the a**.
I hop this will help out.
We have had a problem for the last several years of the concave wanting to "creep" open after a while. We always watch it and just bump it back to where we were running occasionally. Seems to do it worst when cutting something that is causing it to grunt a little. Always figured the update with new actuator and cam would fix the problem but for $900+ I figured I could close it a touch a few times a day instead. I guess it's only money but some of these parts prices just make me balk. Especially when I see something similar in another consumer oriented application for a couple hundred bucks or less.
Took it apart and the pin that holds the thrust mechanism was broken and the key in the motor drive gear was sheared. The pin is a special drive in pin but I used a roll pin that was a little loose then drove in the next smaller roll pin in that and it held tight. Peened the ends a little for good measure. Had a woodruff key assortment in the shop but this key was a tiny one, one size smaller than the smallest I had. After a half hour of careful grinding and emery cloth and elbow grease the smallest size I had became the next smaller size and fit snug. After a couple hours labor it is working again.
A ? for you john, do you have the run the concave at 2 to get the beans to thresh? I'm near Liberal and the beans here are threshing well and I don't think I could even get my concave up to 2 without slugging it.
Our beans are running 11.5 to 12% with about a tenth of the beans swelled up or outright butter beans in very tough pods. These are yellow pubescence beans with green stems and we have to thresh them hard or leave about 10% of them in the pods for the straw chopper to thresh. The top beans are hard and thresh easy and we crack a few. In a week they would cut with the concave set at any setting and go through the machine like nothing but don't like to leave them in the field when they could be in the bin. If they were white colored stalks they would thresh easy but our experience is we loose a few bushel of yield so we go with the hard to thresh things. Comes a good frost and a rain and they thresh as easy as any.
Funny thing about slugging- if the beans are tough we slug a lot less with the concave tight than if it is open more. If it starts getting tough and making the "rrrump" sound we tighten things up till the cylinder feeds smooth.
I have a spare actuator I bought on ebay for my 9600 it is new and it was sold as the gator lift bed actuator, I see them from time to time for a good price. Kept loosing the screws on mine so I bought a spare.Theres a used one listed right now actually and a new kit with other gator parts but the price is as cheap as deere wants for the combine actuator. Good luck.
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