This is Deeres textbook procedure
Timing of the straw walkers is performed as follows: NOTE: When bearings or crankshafts are serviced re-timing is required. If not timed correctly, straw walkers will fail in a very short time. 1. Disconnect the straw walker drive belt. 2. Tighten hardware on the front bearings to the recommended torque of 45 N·m (33 lb-ft). 3. Tighten the nuts on all the rear bearings and then back them off slightly. 4. For each rear bearing, rotate the crank one full revolution until the throw of the crank is at its bottom most position. Tighten the bearing. 5. Tighten the bearings in the following sequence: • Outside Left • Outside Right • Inside Left • Inside Right • Center (if applicable, on 9600) 6. If a tight area is noted during the revolution of the crank, loosen and re-tighten the previously set bearing. 7. With all hardware tight, rotate walkers by hand and check for any resistance. 8. If any resistance is detected, repeat the complete timing procedure. 9. Walkers should rotate freely. 10. Torque all hardware to 45 N·m (33 lb-ft). 1401,DV574 -19-17SEP96 Straw Walkers and Crankshafts/All Walkers - Timing Procedure TM1401 (28JUL97) 120-15-3 9400 Thru 9600 Combine Repair
280797 PN=876 120 15 3

 

I jacked round with it yesterday and this morning. I've always timed the walkers from left to right...so I tried the left right left right procedure RWT lists above. No good...left will time...right won't...the rest will time easily.

Yesterday I worked on it and checked to make for sure I had the spacer behind the bearing on the right front walker shaft...checked for clearance between the separator shell and right walker....checked the rear shaft for left/right clearance and shifted the shaft both directions to see if it helped....no good although I can make it harder to time the other walkers if the rear shaft is too far left

I tried old worn out alloy blocks on the right walker...front and rear...this helped to some degree...but the right walker still gets pretty tight on rotation and doesn't time properly. I double/triple checked to make sure the front and rear shafts were synchronized on the throws and it's fine...

I am going to stick another front walker shaft in it as I cannot determine anything else to be out of whack. I will report back...success or failure.

It has to be something I bolted on last year...which was new shafts bearings and alloy blocks...I replaced the already replaced rear shaft Sunday and no difference...swapped blocks around...about has to be an anomaly with the front shaft

 

I've never worked on those walkers, but is it possible either the front or rear shaft is installed flipped end to end, so the crank timing is not right?

I would tend to agree that it sounds like the front right crank is not made correctly. If the angles are not all the same on both shafts, it will never time.

 

When you installed the front crank did you torque the walker drive gearbox on before you installed the blocks. I say that because that centers the crankshaft in the machine.
I have also had to go back and loosen all the rear blocks and torque them again. I torqued then rotated the walkes many times by hand to see if there was a bind. If there was I loosened and torqued the block where the bind happened.

 

Just got back to the house...tired..dirty...have grease in my hair!. As far as Jeff's question....The front and rear shafts are specific part numbers. Front shaft is the front shaft....has a threaded hole and a key slot on the right side for the walker drive gearcase. The rear shaft has a place to put a straw spreader pully on the left side although both shafts appear rather similar.

Yeh...The bearing spacer bearing and gearcase were installed correctly and tight. I have the new front shaft and bearings and such...and have the front shaft out. This why I am tired dirty and have grease in my hair. Before I left the shop I laid the new shaft and the old shaft(last years shaft) side by side and there is noticeable difference between them on the #5 walker journal bends.

I have installed straw walker shafts before in 9000 series combines...I worked from 1997 to 2007 in a Deere dealer combine shop and have timed lots of straw walkers and changed quite a few shafts and piles of blocks both wood and metal....That don't make me any sort of expert tho

This is something weird....and this ain't the slickest 9610 on the planet...it is a pretty decent looking beast and has been a decent combine. I am going to fix it

 

Stephan I think you found the problem.
Even 20 years ago when I worked pulling wrenches the odd time new out of the box meant nothing.
If you can see theres a difference the pos is made wrong.
Could set that crank up on a stand and use a straight edge and see how much the throw is off.
It wouldn't need to be much off either to cause a lot of grief.

 

If you can visually see the difference in the journal angles, it will never time. Junk new part.

 

Maybe time to check the casting numbers against the part numbers and see if someone screwed up ... maybe it fits a 9600 or something?

 

No luck...new front crank made no real difference...I'm at a loss now as to what to do or try.

Pretty certain 9600/9610 cranks are the same at least the metal block style cranks are. Combine shell looks straight and not sprung.

I'm going to check just to make sure it's not hitting the beater grate...and see if I can get some measurements to see if the separator shell is sprung

 

Did you compare the original crank (which obviously worked) to the new ones before installing the second new one? I could see JD getting in a run of incorrectly made parts for these older combines. If both the new ones are made the same, and the old one is not.... It would almost be worth sticking the old crank back it to see if it works right.

I might be considering calling around to junkyards looking for a good used one!

Hope you get her figured out....what a PAIN!

 

It was the replacement straw walker I installed last Saturday. I took it back out and laid it upside down and took a level to it...the back block mount pad was noticeably not level with the rest of the walker. Some measuring shows it was about a 1/4" higher on the right than the left side of the flat with the block bolt holes. Another new walker and it came real close to timing up.

Still something not quite right with the geometry of the combine as I had to use a used/worn block on the rear of the replacement walker to get it timing smooth.....But it timed smooth and cuts wheat

 

Almost makes a guy wonder if this combine got stretched in the mud some time previous?

 

Stephan,
I'm painfully walking in your footsteps except on a 9500. We've been battling straw walker failures since 2017 when we changed out the front crank shaft. Lost one this July in wheat harvest. When repairing previously, we didn't drill down to the root cause. This time around, we've taken the time to find the root cause. The cranks do not match. I wish I new back in 2017 what I've learned to this point and could have prevented a lot of headache and cost. Another lesson from the university of hard knocks.

Our records from 2017 are not good enough to know where we purchased the front crank. Could have been Deere, Shoup, Abilene...who knows. Unfortunately, we cannot compare to the old original front crank shaft as we scrapped it last year after hanging onto it for 7 years. LOL.

Here's the progression this time around with 4 brand new A&I straw walkers (Why 4 new walkers?... that's another long story):
Front crank (2017 - vendor unknown)
Rear crank (original as far as we know)
---would not time

Front crank (2017 - vendor unknown)
Rear crank (new a few days ago - Deere)
---would not time

Instead of testing them after all the installation into the combine, these next tests were done out of the combine with a mock "straw walker" setup to check timing

Front crank (new today - Deere)
Rear crank (new a few days ago - Deere [same one as above])
---would not time with these two BRAND NEW DEERE cranks
---Walker 1, 4, 2 all timed fine according to the book procedure. When rotating shaft prior to
tightening down # 3, it slides 3/8"-1/2" in the rear slots and binds after tightening.

Front crank (new today - Deere [same one as above])
Rear crank (original as far as we know)
---Timed the way it was supposed to.

Not sure if I'm going to wait and order another rear to see if it is better or throw the old one back in. Getting down to crunch time for fall harvest. I need to have this machine back in one piece.

My dealership said they have a Deere representative in town tomorrow for something else but are hoping to be able to visit with him about this issue. Hopefully they'll stand behind their product and work to resolve the issue. I wonder how many walker machines are still running in the USA. They are probably leaning toward extinction which would give Deere less incentive to fix the issue. Maybe the cranks should only be sold in pairs after being verified at the factory. It would be an extra $1,200 if one of your shafts was in decent condition, but at least you'd have peace of mind that they matched from the factory.

Hopefully this helps someone out there (that might still be running a walker machine) learn from my mistakes.

 

There are still LOTS of those machines running. Will be for a long time as the newer ones are simply too expensive for small farmers.

As far as getting a new "JD" crank - its probably now made by the same overseas supplier for the aftermarket ones. Not at all surprised it wasn't correct.

One thing you still haven't tried - set up the bad 2017 front crank with the bad new rear crank - and see if they just happen to work together.....

Not everybody can set up a test stand, but this is certainly good info. At the very least, after replacing a crank, try rotating the walker assembly by hand before installing the drive belts. If it binds, its wrong!

 

I definitely don't have the acres to justify a larger combine. I'm hoping once this walker issue is resolved, it will run for quite a few more hours.

The sticker on the boxes said "Made in the USA", but who knows.

We scrapped the old 2017 front crank last year.

The new 2017 front crank is still in the combine and was tested against the new JD rear crank in the combine. The walkers wouldn't time. It was at that point that I ordered the new front crank.

JD is sending a new rear crank. It should be here Tuesday. They've supposedly weeded out the bad ones. Fingers crossed.

The test stand is relatively easy to set up and doesn't need to be complicated. I have access to a 3D printer and a CNC plasma, but that isn't necessary. I set the shafts parallel to each and spaced 6" apart on centers. Then make 4 (or 5) mock straw walkers. They could easily be made from a wood 1 x 6. You might be able to find conduit straps the right size to act as the "bearings". You could bolt the actual straw walker bearing blocks to the wood "walker". In my case, the walker "bearings" are also on 6" centers.

I'll include a picture of my test stand, but again it could be set up with more readily available materials. The left shaft is the new front crank. The right is the old rear crank.

 

Good luck timing them , I had a 9650 walker and enns bros could not time the walkers . Lucky I had warranty and didn’t need to pay for the next two sets of walkers and shafts . They thought the front and back shaft was bent but made no difference .
I traded the combine off because it seemed hopeless to time them .
It shouldn’t have been that hard !
The pillow blocks cracked every day . Gives me a headache thinking about all the time and money wasted !
I wish you luck ,

 

I'd have lost it on somebody in technical service by now. There is nothing special to time them. Either the parts are made to proper specs or they aren't.

 

Yeah, this is not hard - the shafts either have the same bends, or they don't. The center of each crank shaft section must be the same distance apart thru the entire rotation.

Walkers are not going to cause a binding during turning unless they are hitting each other. Even a twisted walker would just bind all the way around.

 

Well, the 2nd new rear JD crank arrived Tuesday and didn't match the front crank. I put the old rear crank in. After following the timing procedure while rotating the drive pulley, there were no tight spots like before. I believe my walker issue has finally been put to rest.

 

And warning to all JD 96x0 owners - any new cranks are probably not made right.....