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Any way to keep the chopper from bridging?

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#21 · (Edited)
Don Boles said:
I'm afraid the short answer is no.;):(
Other than don't do that type of material!

Reminds me of a joke.
Doctor, I broke my arm in three places.
Thing for you to do is stay out of them places!;)

Anyway, chopper doesn't plug, material bridges over top of the chopper rotor.
Always very tough straw and/or green second growth material.
Canola.

Yes, knives just turned, edges sharp and square.
Not running stationary knife bar in at all, completely out.

By the time blood curdling "Rotor Blockage" alarm sounds chopper door is bent back, have to unbolt to unplug and straighten, a big PITA.:mad:

I got rid of a TX 68 for always doing this!:(
Click to expand...

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. ;)
.
 
#24 ·
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.
 
Discussion starter · #25 ·
seedcleaner said:
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.
Click to expand...
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!;)
 
#29 ·
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 ��
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
Haystack said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
#31 · (Edited)
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.
 
#32 ·
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.
 
#33 ·
Jay Dee Green said:
Trade it in on a Deere:)
Click to expand...
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!
 
#38 ·
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.
 
#40 ·
Ya that might work.

With all the knives in there turning at the fast speed turned the straw etc. into mulch, like a lawn mower.

It seemed that slowing the chopper down allowed the knives to grab the straw and weeds instead of mulching them and packing them in above the chopper drum.
 
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Don Boles
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