[hammer]

To answer your question....what grains are you harvesting.
I have a 1660 and I believe one of the best upgrades was the AFX rotor...less hp required.

 

[jakeh]

Depends on what you consider "low-cost". The first thing is an open side-plate kit for the paddle fan, to get a little smoother airflow to the cleaning system. I also have a Harvest Services throat kit and cutouts in the front of the sieve, and think it's a pretty good improvement for not many $$. Then an AFX-style kit for the rotor - I've had excellent luck with Kile Impellers. Offside concave adjusters are a good thing to add, you can fine-tune your concaves with 'em. If you're doing barley-only or easy threshing crops-only, I've talked to several people that notched out the tunnel and put in 1680 concaves - I'm scared to, we cut a lot of wheat and I'm a little short on HP as it is..... I've also talked to people that swiped an aftercooler off a newer 466 and turned up the pump, I'm on the lookout for one of those. Unloading auger extensions are an absolute for a 30' header, at least if you've run a 1680 before (you get spoiled the first time you do!) Another quick/dirty/cheap thing that works really slick with a sickle header is to move the reel height switch up onto the hydro handle - I mounted mine on the front of the shaft, so the toggle is between my middle fingers when my hand is on the grip. Oh, and a mirror the size of a pickup camper-mirror mounted about a foot in front of the upper-right corner of the grain tank lets you look back towards the cab, down the inside of the front grain tank tip-top - cheaper than a switch and warning light, and works nicer, too!

Oh, and you might want to think about reinforcing your final drives if you've still got the tin covers on 'em.

 

[kthwht1680]

I would put an after market AFX head on them. St. John Welding, St. John, KS has one for around 1000 to 1300 apiece. I have seen after market heads as low as 900. I put one on a standard rotor on a 1990 1680 and it made a tremendous difference in how the machine fed. It takes less power, feeds more even and I think as a result of that gives you a better sample.

A long shoe in them would help them also. However it wouldn't probably be a cheap fix.

 

[gskoworodko]

We have a couple 1480's and I was wondering if there are some simple, low cost upgrades to enhance their performance? I was thinking about adding some plastic grain divertors under the the rotor from May Wes plastics to help distribute the threshings evenly over the auger bed. Are there any other suggestions out there? Also, where can a person source rims that would fit the rear of the combine? Our one 1480 has 16.9-26 rear tires and they lift the back end really well, we would like to find some rims to match for the second.

 

[doorknob]

Quote:The first thing is an open side-plate kit for the paddle fan, to get a little smoother airflow to the cleaning system.

Someone makes these now? Who? I had to cut mine out many, many years. I'd like to have a pair that are finished nicely if I can buy them from a place that makes them to clean up the uglyness of mine.

To go along with the side plates, the hillco kit that bolts between each fan blade to open the air flow to the center of the fan is a good one, and, if you can get by without the side wind shields that bolt on to the frame, take them off too. It will allow the air to come into the sides of the fan at a straighter angle.

There are tons of little detail goodies to make the 14xxs perform their best. But it would help to know what you are harvesting. Helical concaves will increase your thresh/seperation abilities.

 

[farminflyboy]

if you are looking for more power water/methanol injection would work good, plus you don't have to worry about putting on an intercooler. Also make sure you get the heavy duty rotor belts when you have to replace yours.

 

[gskoworodko]

To answer the question about what grains we are harvesting, we do wheat, barley, fescue and canola. We don't straight cut anything. Our best upgrades should probably be a bigger swather (we have 19 ft right now).