[bharper]

Hello, I am new to the combine forum but not new to Gleaner Combines. My grandpa and his brothers started farming in the 40's with pull type Allis's. Then dad and grandpa continued farming buying Gleaner E's in the 60's and a 69' model F (which we still have and use). We have ran F2's and are currently running an 83' F3, 98' R52 and the 69' F.

So here's my question. We started picking corn today with the F3 and a 4 row FL430 head. The corn was running about 20% moisture. The F3 is not a corn plus, or a corn soybean special and this is our first year to run this machine. I am running a half round concave in the number two spot and a gleaner concave in the number 4 spot with about 3/8 cylinder concave clearance. We have the large corn sheive on the cylinders to get the speed down to 450-500. The combine is doing a good job cleaning the corn off of the cob, and putting clean grain in the bin but I am cracking a lot of corn and throwing it over the back. Any suggestions? I've been told to lower the cylinder and slow it down, but I was wondering if i should change the concave bars around? We don't pick a lot of corn but we would like to get the combine set right, and I know that the high moisture effects the shelling too. Last year we picked with the F and noticed that it was cracking some too and throwing it over, and that corn was dry.

 

[barry429]

I run our F3 with channel iron concave bars at 1,3,and 5 positions. Have the hard surfaced wide spaced bars in it. The clearance is set just wide enough to keep from breaking the cobs up, I think 1/2 or so. Depending on the moisture I run the cylinder 520-630. It does a real nice job for us. Like you say the higher the moisture the harder it is to get off the cob, grinds it up a bit more too. If you are throwing corn out the back open the chaffer a little more. I had to install the clean grain speed up kit last year so I wouldn't clog up the auger. The F3 will run like a striped monkey if it is set correctly. Hope this helps you sort it out.

 

[gregorym]

Back when I had an G's and a M2 we ran about 3/8" in soybeans and 1/2 to 5/8" in corn. We usually had corn under 17% with these settings. I would open the chaffer up a little also. My thought would be run it the same as you did your F2. Every couple years, I'd lower the cylinder all the way down until it touched to see if the setting zeroed out. If I remember right, the inch guage was adjustable.

 

[jstewart]

The best luck that I've had is to open up the cylinder until I'm running whole (or mostly) cobs through the machine. Speed cracks they always tell me, so start the cylinder out as slow as she will go, and speed it up until you start cracking and back it off a bit. My F2 really likes the corn, once you get it setup about right. Also if you're throwing corn out the back (and you're getting a clean sample) open the chaffer more like the others suggested.