[arcticcatfarmer]

I've just started harvesting wheat and I have one variety that is bearded. The bearded variety is giving me alot of trouble with unthrashed heads. I have a 1688 with an AFX rotor and small wire concaves. Yields are 80-90bu. Hope they continue. I have tried tightening the concaves and adjusting the sieves. My bottom sieve is not in the best of shape and doesn't close evenly. I know that's not good, but I have no trouble at all with my non-bearded varieties. I get a great sample. The straw isn't terrible ripe yet either, so I'm sure that's not helping. It isn't just a kernel of wheat with a hull on it can be 3 or 4 kernels still stuck to the head. Would getting my sieve in shape help me send those back to the rotor (obvious) or should the grain be separated better before it gets to the sieve? If that makes sense...?? I have no experience with cover plates or helical concaves. The problem variety is only about 100 of my 450 acres, but still. I will probably replace the sieve anyway, but will that do it? Thanks for any thoughts or advice!!!
What kind of sieve should I get. I harvest wheat, dry beans and corn? Loewen has one in the Sloan Express catalog for about $630. Air foil or standard? Sorry for the long post.

 

[amax]

Hi

What position are vanes in.

What do you have on the rotor? Spikes,rasp bars,do you have any straight bars?

I doubt the shoe sieve is the problem.

Maybe speed the rotor up,slow the vanes down so grain stays over concave , grate area longer?

Maxie

 

[arcticcatfarmer]

Rotor speed is 980 and vanes are in middle position. Probably should have tried slowing it down. I have rasp bars and 8 straight bars, is that the corn setup.....? I think.

 

[michfarmer]

We use cover plates over first 2 concave openings, keep grain in concave a little longer. Only run rear straight bars in wheat, remove the fronts, Sounds like you need to tighten concave and then try speeding up rotor. I run fan at 1100, rotor around 1050 and concave arond .6-.7 Works good

 

[doorknob]

I completely agree with michfarmer's comment of the cover plates. But, IMO, it sounds like you are breaking the heads up before they get to the concaves. Either that or you are, or are having to, cut too high. If you dont have the stem material to use as a threshing medium, you'll have to slow the rotor some instead of speeding it up. The machine needs to be pushed some to keep it full of material to "rub" the grain out. Think about when you go out to the field and pull a few heads by hand to see what the quality and moisture look like. If you snap the head off the stem and rub it between your palms, you get all the kernals out and have a full length stem sitting in your hand. That's how it should work in the machine. You should not have broken up heads being forced through the concave openings.

If you cant keep the machine full or lower your cut height, (though I dont know where you are at height wise now) you have to fool the machine a little, to make it think its full. If this were my situation, which it may be in a few weeks, I'd try slowing the rotor and installing cover plates. This is based solely on the small amount of info in the original post. I "think" you are mechanically breaking up the heads too soon for whatever reason.
That's IMO, JM2Cents, etc.

 

[arcticcatfarmer]

Thanks for the comments so far. Doorknob, I was cutting the wheat fairly low, but having some feeding issues due to the tough straw so the combine wasn't running super full. That may be part of it. I will probably invest in some cover plates.
Should I probably change the transport vanes from medium to the slow position? Shouldn't hurt if it doesn't help right....?

 

[doorknob]

You can change the transport vanes, but if you are forcing the broken heads through now before they are threshed, the vanes may even compound the problem. If it were me, I'd try the cover plates first before making any transport adjustments.

Having a feeding problem may also influence the issue quite a bit. IMO. Maybe look into the cause of the feeding problem while you are installing the covers. Like where is the problem located, header auger?, feeder chain?, rotor impellers? That may be a problem that will continue into your next crop if it is not solved now.

 

[arcticcatfarmer]

Thanks doorknob I will keep that in mind. My local dealer has some cover plates made up. There supposed to be about $18 each. We got some rain so I'll have time in the morning to sort it out. My feeding problem is bunching in front of the table auger. Still some rust from winter and the straw was green at the bottom. Probably work on that too tomorrow.

 

[al]

I had the same feeding problem your talking about on my wheat so I added Flighting extensions to the auger and that completely solved our feeding problems. by the way we were using a 1020 header . Al

 

[scott]

articfarmer, we have problems in north dakota with hard trashing wheat, case has filler bars that you can install in the first concave grate, i don't remember but I will let you know what positions to install and part # tomorrow night, what shape are bars in by concave, makes a differince, scott.

 

[arcticcatfarmer]

Scott, my local dealer has some cover plates made at a local metal shop. I was able to get some and they were only $20 each. Just took some time to mount them the way they devised. They unhook with one bolt. My concaves are in really good shape. We got rained out again, so it will be a while before I get in that bearded wheat again and try the cover plates on it. Every one hear is thrashing even though the wheat is about 18-19%. We already have heard of 8-12% sprouts. Yields seem to be good though.