[nbaier_513]

My family farm runs a 5400 spfh. The main gearcase went out in it three years ago and I rebuilt it. Put a new clutch in it the old one looked good but didn't feel like taking a chance. I also put new cutter knives in it they are just the old j-knife style is what I call them. I used the special height tool to set them went to set the shear bar or cutting bar and on both ends of the knives I have a large gap but in the middle I can get it to its .005 to .015 range. I took a straight edge and the new knives have a arch to them the old ones where straight across on the cutting edge. Has anybody seen this before and what have you done to fix it?

 

[jd7750]

did you sharpen before you went to set the shearbar?

 

[nbaier_513]

Yeah I ran it for about 5 minutes, right now I can set the middle of the knife to have .005 clearance with the bar and both ends of the knife will still have 1/16" gap or lil more. And the bar is new also. Do I just need to keep grinding?

 

[cptusa]

Yeah, you got to grind it into a true cylinder. Can be nasty with the old j knives!

 

[nbaier_513]

O ok, thank you guys for the help. Dad ran it yesterday and its still pulling the engine down so I'm hoping its just because the knives are to far away.

 

[cptusa]

Thought of this in the middle of the night. Did you replace or rotate your shearbar also? What kind of knives did you get JD oem knives or kooima? Rebuilt a 5830 once with kooima's crap and after 50 loads the shearbar was actually warped. Has approximately a 3/4 inch warp in it. I keep it in the shop as a reminder to never buy from kooima again. That's probably been 7-10 years ago and your post made me dig it out this morning. Not that I hold a grudge or anything...

 

[nbaier_513]

They are new JD knifes and new jd bar. That's good to know though!

 

[nbaier_513]

Do you think that the gap I have on both ends would cause it to pull the engine down a lot easier.

 

[jd7750]

yes... it is trying to tear the crop in stead of shear it

 

[junior]

yes... it is trying to tear the crop in stead of shear it

What he said. Grind them flat. It is like scissors that are a 1/16 of and inch apart trying to cut paper.

 

[nbaier_513]

O ok that makes sense. Thanks guys!! There's hardly anybody around that knows anything about spfh let alone ones this old

 

[jd7750]

I still have a field queen that we run once in a while in alfalfa