[coadman]

Did some research on here, asked many people questions, drove 300 miles to inspect a machine, bought the machine 3 days later, and had it delivered Saturday about 1:30 and was cutting about 2:30. I have never owned a CaseIH machine, but did lease a 2388 from a farmer friend of mine from Iowa several years ago, so I have ran one previously for our wheat harvest. Had a few problems from the get-go with this machine. Dealer had placed the rotor in neutral when we were inspecting the machine a few days ealier(we manually turned the rotor to check the wear), but the rotor did not get placed back in hi. Took me a while searching in the book, before I found out where to move the lever!(lol) Second problem, my rotor speed wouldnt move from 450! Big problem, as dealer delivering the combine had left, and his cell phone was in and out of reception area for about an hour. He "finally" called me back, told me sometimes while setting over the winter, he has seen the adjusting motor, "wheel" get stuck. I greased everything up I could find in that area, verified the adjusting drive motor was working(It would move the shaft about 1/4 turn both ways). I placed the rotor drive in low gear, had son keep hitting the switch in cab from low to high. After repeating this process in both hi and low range, it finally got freed up and worked properly! WHEW! Thought I had bought a real lemon for a while!

Cut all day Saturday with machine with no problems, also cut most of Sunday without any problems until about 8:00 that evening then the bearing on the engine fan went out! I just finished reading your sticky at the top of this page a little bit ago, and that little item was mentioned, now I know to watch it!) Fan was chewed a bit, and of course no dealers have it, as harvest is long gone from this rain drenched area! We took the old fan to a mechanic at a CaseIH dealership to inspect, and he straightened it out enough, and checked the balance, and he thought it would be ok to run, until we got a new one.(new one should be in today) Anyway, made the repairs, few belts, etc, and was ready to cut again, but rain showers sprouted up to go along with the sprouted wheat!(lol) Just rambling on here about the machine, telling my exploits with my first CaseIH purchase!

I do have one question, the person I had running the machine Sunday, mentioned that when he was into some soft ground(which there is plenty) the 4x4 wouldnt spin the tires. 4x4 is working, but apparantly he thought it should have enough power to spin the tires backing out? He mentioned the could here a "whine" of sorts when he really tried to give it full forward or reverse. He didnt know if there was a relief valve on the hydro or a belt that might be slipping or what? thought I would ask you guys of your opinion. Just dont tell me the hydrostat is about ready to go out?! This is a 1997 model 2188, with about 1900 sep hours on it. 4x4 with 2 speed, dual tires.
thanks,
Jim

 

[trakman]

Hey, it's good to hear from another 2188 owner. You will like the machine. I stepped up to a 95' 2188 this harvest and had real good luck with it, other than the return elevator drive chain came off and destroyed the inside of the hinged sheetmetal side that holds the latch ( see post: "Not real happy tonite!" Come to find out, I'm missing a protective chain shield there so will be one ordered for it.
This 2188 of mine replaced a aging 1480 so this is my "new to me" combine. Mines just 2 wheel drive so don't know anything about your rear wheel assist.
Curious, what were you running before this Axil-Flow?
Keep us posted.

 

[mx270a]

Coadman, If you get down into some real sticky mud, you won't have enough torque to spin the tires in 2nd gear, which is the gear most people run in when cutting. If that is an issue, you're probably already stopped. Pull the hydro back to neutral and shift into 1st gear. You should be able to spin tires in 1st.

The whine you hear is a relief valve, and you will hear it in 2wd or 4wd when telling the machine to do more than it can. If you are in 3rd gear at a slow speed and push the hydro all the way forward, it will whine for a while until it gets up to speed.

If you've got the 2 speed hydro switch, shut it off, which will get you more torque to the wheels too. I've noticed that with that on, the machines will travel 1-2 MPH faster down hill than up, which messes you up when going up and down hills when cutting. With that off, it should keep a pretty constant speed going up and down hills in a field.

-Lance

 

[mx270a]

Oh, and as a side note, these machines will do a lot in mud so long as there is a base. Of course if you get down to the point of setting on the frame, you're done. However, if you're still moving forward and not going down, keep on going. Stopping and backing up (and spinning the tires) can be worse.

 

[matt]

coadman this is our 97 2188 has 900 r2s on front an 23.1-26 r2s on rear had trouble with her when new she wouldn't pull in second just wine, finally found out on the 97models there's an internal bypass said they installed them on these machines so's if the case pressure wouldn't blow the pump up if it happen to get to high' asked them how many 96s had blown they said none they new of so they installed a few shims to raise pressures an upped the charge pump she'll spin them now mostly rear wheels in reverse sling mud over back of machine, one note this machine is a rice combine it has a lower gear ratio, an we have had spider gears go out twice on trans, six machines here locally last year had trans go out, all differential carriages gone out, a lot of mud an this year is going to be worse hasn't stopped raining an water is still running out of rice Fields, good luck with your machine they are good combines very simple except for electrical

 

[coadman]

Does anybody have a source for a used fan shroud? Mine was "extremely" damaged when the bearing went out, and a new one has been ordered(backordered(,but, man, the price is close to $700!) Heavy rain this morning, so I might just be getting this machine fixed up for fall harvest, as this wheat harvest is close to finished and dead!

 

[trakman]

coadman...I would try Mikes Equiptment in Buhler or Abilene Machine. Dealt with both of them and have been satisfied. Mikes, being closer to you would be my first choice.
In my other reply to you, am still curious as to what brand of machine this 2188 replaced? Sorry to hear of all the rain down your way and about the lost wheat crop. Ours was cuttable but very low yields...lots of weeds at the end. Cleaning up my 21' these last few days and am looking forward to fall harvest. Send some rain to the Salina area if you can. Whopping .36 yesterday.

 

[coadman]

The last combine I actually owned was a 1995 JD 9600, before that I had a JD 8820, never owned a CaseIH. I have been leasing my combines for wheat harvest the past 5-6 years. About 6 years ago I lease a CaseIH 2388 from a farmer friend of mine from Iowa, a New Holland from a farmer in Illinois, and JD 6620 from a farmer in NW Missouri. Used them all that one year, was WET(but not like this), had to park the New Holland, as it was too heavy for the conditions. 2388 went fairly well, but JD went better(it was 4x4). I would generally lease a combine for fall harvest from a neighbor who grew only wheat. This year I leased a JD 9760 from a custom cutter from Minnesota(I was going to cut about 1300 acres of my own), and hired him to cut another 800. Well, to shorten the story, it rained, and rained, and is continuing to rain. He took his combine I leased from him(I put 9 hours on the machine), and he wasnt able to harvest any of my 800 acres he committed to. So, I thought I could still could some wheat, and knew I had about 1000 acres of fall crops, so went looking for a combine. I liked the rotary aspect, but didnt like the newer John Deeres, so researched CaseIH a bit, and bought the 2188. Don't know much about them, but prinicpal is the same as other machines. I dumped 1.3" of rain out of the gauge this morning! Wish we could have a two week drought, to figure out what to do with all the unharvested wheat acres!
Jim