I have had that happen 3 times this year as well.

 

Yes, frustrating! Same end result for an L2 Gleaner back in the day!
This summer we had the rotors out of my 08 590 and I noticed a foot long piece of rotor vane mounted almost crossways to the flow, right at the top and rear of the cage. It seemed to be counter productive to good flow and the only reason I could see for having it there might be to change the trajectory of the discharge from the rotors into the chopper. Any thoughts??? I have trouble on that machine with the pattern of straw discharge out of the chopper- too much at both outer edges. I made 2 deflectors that are adjustable with linear actuators to be able to have some control of straw pattern into the chopper. They have no effect on the straw pattern so I have to think there is a link between that piece of vane that is making the straw go in a totally unpredictable direction. That may be the answer to your problem. I told the techs to cut out that short vane but they had the rotors back in by the time I got back, vane still in

 

I either romove the deflectors at the rear rotor discharge or bend them out of the way. Always fixes the problem for me.

 

Just move to the belt to the slow speed. The Rotor of the chopper is creating kind of a air cushion so that the material doesn`t fall into the chopper! Sounds a bit strange but it will help!!

 

Did that.
After the 4th time.
It's simple to do.
Good so far. Thanks lexpower.

At one time New Holland run feeder chain slats at 4 chain pin spacing, eventually going to 6, feeder chains are 6 or 8 pin slat spacing now.
Generally as spacing increased it fed better. Slowing a chopper rotor from 3300 to 1700 is kinda the same thing.
New Holland also spent 16 years installing the feeder chain backwards in TR's as well, but that's an entirely different thread!

In '09 I went through the entire harvest not realizing my chopper was on slow drive. On the last day of harvest on start up the monitor stated "Chopper in slow position".
Hey, how to be right on top of things monitor!

With Radial spreaders chopper speed doesn't affect straw spread anyway.

 

Good grief! Never had the chopper bridge or plug on a 480 or either 590'r's ever. Say it ain't so.

 

Trade it in on a Deere

 

Had the same prob on a Deere. I even have the same problem on my 1480's, not all of it gets thrown as far as it should, and it dont take much since its wet and sticky, on my IH's it lands on the tailboard, wont slide down till its got a pile and bam, plugged chaff spreader

Just the nature of canola man!

 

One of our combines was doing that all year.
1: do as tigercat said and bend the straw deflectors as far out of the way as possible.

2: flip chopper knives, already done. I'm not sure if this helps or not. But we did it just in case.

3: and most important make sure your rotory spreaders are running as fast as they are supposed too. On the combine that had the issue they were running 100 rpm slower than the other two. Had to put a new hydraulic pump on.

Never plugged again after doing all three.

 

That is one problem we have not had on our 590r and we have been in very heavy straw. This must not be a problem with the MAV chopper.

 

We had the same issue. The first time it bridged, the sensor caught it in time, and no damage was done. Just had to dig it out. The second time we blew the back door out.

Flipped the knives, pulled the stationary knives out to half way, and then adjust the shear bar out. This shear bar, which I have no idea what the purpose of it is, was sticking in about 3/8" It is set flush now.

We were combing beans in a field that was previously RR alfalfa. First time it plugged I hit a small patch of alfalfa. So I excused the problem because of the alfalfa, but the second time it plugged I was in clean running.

Our door is wrecked, hate to know what its going to cost. The chopper engagement sensor got wrecked, we replaced that. Then the door wouldn't make contact with the sensor since it is bent. So that is zip tied on. The door has to be pulled up in the right position or our straw blockage sensor gets pushed. Pretty poor design overall

 

This shear bar, which I have no idea what the purpose of it is

Basically it creates turbulence to help cut the straw even finer.
I always run the shear bar flush as well as stationary knives right out.
When evenly spread that's fine enough for me.
Don't want to waste any power!
Not sure how that would work in barley or wheat straw with the chopper in low speed though.

 

yes put the belt in low speed. Never had this issue but a friend told that this is it what guys in Europe do when straight cut Canola .

 

Don when you have problems like this it just kills your harvest efficiency. You need a big machine to make up the lost time of what a smaller combine like a 9770 sts would do in a day because it keeps running all day long.

 

Will I ever be completely happy? Nah! Never improve stuff that way!

Don when you have problems like this it just kills your harvest efficiency. You need a big machine to make up the lost time of what a smaller combine like a 9770 sts would do in a day because it keeps running all day long.

It's bridged 4 times.
The first time we should not have been there at all.
The next two times happened at night. Check my profile. 60. Ready to quit for the night anyway.
Really lost no "important" time in those 3 cases, just the PITA of clearing it out.

But yesterday afternoon, that was counter productive.
A couple of young fellas, thanks Greg Kester and Mark Ferguson, both New Holland owners btw, helping me harvest (friends and neighbors, bet ya didn't think I had any friends )
had it cleared and belt switched to slow speed chopper drive in about 20 minutes.

LOL, you always learn something from virtually every event, this yesterday was no exception.
Due to the instant way you shut the machine down when you hear that blood curdling "Rotor Blockage" alarm you have an unintentional kill stall.
I guess because it was daylight for the first time bridging I happen to look in at the shoe.
It just happen to bridge on level ground.
The front 1/4 was almost clear of material, gradually increasing to, maybe, 20 mm depth at the very rear. Even side to side. Never seen so little material on a canola shoe.
Hydraulic rotor covers closed, 4 sections of manual covers also in place, 80% rotor separation grates covered.
Losses virtually zero, either rotor or shoe. In fact, I grabbed a handful of chaff from rear of shoe, virtually no canola seed in it.
CEMOS Automatic handling settings as usual.
Cruise Pilot running combine to engine power limit.

Show me all those things and low losses on your 9770 sts will ya?
Waiting...

So...expect for bridging which looks like it might be fixed now, and that rattlely feeder chain, I'm pretty .

 

When you guys run the chopper on low speed in soybeans, do you keep the stationary knives all the way in?

 

Has anyone run a MAV chopper on slow speed in cereals to know what it would do to spread quality and width of spread?

 

Yes, in '09.
Not really much difference, I didn't notice it was in slow speed at all.
Doesn't make sense though.

 

No worries, always good if issues can be fixed that easy

 

I would hate to see that happen again. It's very hard on machines and can be even harder on tired people.

The same kind of things were going on down here on STS's, but in their case they plug the beater between the rotor and the chopper.

Just close up the concave until the problem goes away. Late canola stalks won't decompose much and can end up in the tail end of a combine like finger size willows. It will likely give the machine a lot more feel for the crop and be more enjoyable to operate. You will have a heavier shoe load though, but that big bugg** can likely take it.
.

 

I would hate to see that happen again. It's very hard on machines and can be even harder on tired people.
Just close up the concave until the problem goes away.

It is frustrating, but it's not the worst issue I ever dealt with a combine.

I thought of and tried that yet still bridged once with the concave as tight as it would go, also known as my wheat setting.
What's interesting is that takes very little more power than any other setting.
I find the combine actually runs smoother at 20 than 30 mm concave spacing.

 

Your still combining Don?

 

Down to the nitty-gritty.
Plot work sites.
Couple of days only because the days are so short.
Weather looks like it will be doable!

 

I don't know how the chopper setup is that your referring to. How about a deflecter/funnel that guides the material into the chopper. It would only let material enter the knives as they go down and out, instead of hitting all of the rotating knives on the entire upper half. (I am picturing a MAV setup)

Maybe it is an air thing. I have been beside the MAV running and in the middle it appears to have a vacuum, as seen by the straw that hovers around as it spreads residue.

Maybe adjust the top back shield forward toward the rotors. This would give the chopper more air.

 

I don't know how the chopper setup is that your referring to. How about a deflecter/funnel that guides the material into the chopper. It would only let material enter the knives as they go down and out, instead of hitting all of the rotating knives on the entire upper half. (I am picturing a MAV setup)

Maybe it is an air thing. I have been beside the MAV running and in the middle it appears to have a vacuum, as seen by the straw that hovers around as it spreads residue.

Maybe adjust the top back shield forward toward the rotors. This would give the chopper more air.

I think that's exactly what's happening.
Unfortunately, any panel to direct straw well forward of chopper centerline would be restrictive itself and lead to blockage I suspect.
If the chopper was further back or rotors shorter it would work better.
The other thing that could be done is some sort of beater to aid direction and feeding.

Ironically, I don't care for any of these ideas and I'm a 5 time champion unplugger guy!

 

Which chopper is causing this problem?

 

Turbo chop

 

ProChop

 

I always run the chopper in low, if it's green ropey material like canola, mungbeans or even in stay green sorghum (milo) varieties they can give you **** in high speed even our STS combines use to suffer the same drama low speed fixes it, use to hate it in the Johnny first induction was a shudder then a stalled discharge beater. I like the Lexions plugged chopper alarm ��

 

Same was true with 9870's In my opinion. Concave settings at 30 would rumble and thud, 25 was much smoother. Although I did encourage everyone to dial back the ground speed a bit to hold that nice steady sound. I think fuel useage was reduced quite a bit too.

It's too bad those stalks won't fall into the chopper for you even with a tight concave setting. We never had any trouble with hang ups behind the beater and above the chopper, but these choppers have very few blades in them and only need to move enough air to get it to the Powercast Tailboards. The other reason for so few knives might be to let the green steel from the grates out if the concave is to far open.

 

Had to bump this old thread, as the solution to my problem seems to be on here.

Was having trouble with straw bridging in the chopper last night. Plugged it up a few times. Popped the door out, had to readjust linkage to get it back under the door alarm ledge properly. Doing high yielding irrigated durum. Straw was real damp. The knives are what you call very dull, like the handle end of a butter knife. I flipped them at the beginning of the season and I'm sure that is not helping. I have the pro chop.

What I gather from this thread is bending those defector arms back behind the rotor. This makes a lot of sense as when you drop straw it comes out like a pyramid, with most of it in the middle.

Next step I will slow the chopper down. Currently running on high speed.

Have 20 acres left to go.

 

Hopes it's better!

The 2015's have a completely revamped chopper/spreader setup but I haven't heard how they perform in canola.

 

Had this issue in very green alfalfa seed this year, ended up being the chopped knives. Once I turned the knives over I didn't have a problem. Just have to keep them in good shape

 

But already?
How many hours?
I think only the 780 got the new chopper.

 

Oh man
I wish I had read this thread before we did our red lentils this year.

We bought a new 2013 Claas 750 this year. I plugged the back end up four times because of the bridging over the chopper.

So after that I retracted the stationary knives, flipped the chopper knives and put the chopper on slow speed. I have not plugged again.

Sounds like this works from others' experience as well.

It is not fun unplugging that back end.

At least I was wearing a hoodie. Kept some of the green weeds and straw out of my shirt anyway.