[veitchy]

Just a short post to let you all know that the 8820 is now well and truly up and running. In the last two weeks it has taken off about 1000 acres of assorted crops including 100 acres of Canola, 250 of barley and so far about 800 of wheat. We have about 250 of wheat to go as well as 100 of Lupins and another 40 of barley out in the back block, so we hope to finnish (barring bad weather or breakdowns) towards the end of next week.
We did a bit of maintenance on it before the start of harvest including resectioning the knife, replacing the top shaft sprocket and bearings in the clean grain elevator, overhauling one of the straw spreaders and replaced one of the walkers that was cracked. Aparrently the walker block worked loose 2 years ago and the former owner just replaced the block even though the mounting to the walker itself was breaking up, cost us $100 for a second hand walker and no worrys at all to put it in. While we were doing that we also replaced all the walker blocks and the grain pan auger blocks. "Oh" and nearly forgot the most important pre season repair, GOT THE AIR CONDITIONER WORKING. (needed a new hose and re gassing). It gets to well over a hundred degrees over here during harvest and when you are sitting right next to the engine you realy must have that going.
The only thing we have had to do to it so far during harvest is replace the bearings in the front drive varispeed unit, and with a bit of advice from jd9600guru (thanks jd for the advice) we got that repaired just after the canola was done. Since then it has been going well and we are very happy with our purchase.

Here are a couple of photos of number 8820 X 625 837 (according to 8820 Titan2s serial number list making it a 1988 model) working harvesting wheat at "Balkuling" in the Quairading shire, Western Australia, several days ago.

Unloading into the dog trailer. The truck is an Australian made "Leader" and between the truck and single axle trailer we cart about 22 ton to the recieval point per load.

Harvesting on a block of about 150 acres we lease off one of our neighbours.

This is up behind where my brother lives, the padock is about 180 acres.

Anyway fellers, thanks for the advice and encouragement when we were thinking about getting this machine, it's turning out to be as good as we had hoped.

Merry Christmas to you all and may next year be better than this one

Graham

 

[markat425]

veitchy, What is the air stack on the rear body for? I've never seen a setup like that.

Looks like you have a good machine. Same year as mine, only my machine is 2 clicks smaller.

 

[veitchy]

The "air stack" is connected to a fan and the hose you can see going down and towards the rear of the machine goes from the fan to a manifold with a lot of ports pointing to both sides and distributes the chalf and small seeds coming out the back of the machine. I don't know why but you see them on a lot of John Deeres out here but not on a lot of other makes. They were supplyed by our main aftermarket harvester supply company "Harvestair" and I am thinking that one of the larger Johnny dealers must have promoted them when they were new because they seem to be fitted to about 50% of 7720 & 8820s
I will take a close up of the system and post it here in the next couple of days.


I remember reading in your postings on one of my earlyer threads that you had a 6620. I was talking to a friend of mine that works as a harvester mechanic (not for Deere) and he told me his dad had bought a second hand 6620 several years ago for the family farm and they were very pleased with its performance, so much so that he talked his own father in law into getting one for his inlaws operation. Their country is a lot more hilly than it is around here and the smaller machine seems suited to it. He recons we did the right thing getting the 8820.

Graham

 

[greeniron]

Great pics, and the chaff distributor is a very interesting device. Thanks for posting these.

 

[veitchy]

These might give you a better idea about how the blower system is set up.

This is the belt driven fan and ducting going to the rear manifold.

The manifold itself directing the air out to the side.
The manifold is stationary but the tray moves with the shaker box assembly (sorry oz speak)

One of my mates that I go fishing with who runs an 80-10 axial flow tells me that green headers (oz speak again) need these on them so the operator cant find all the grain on the ground. CHEEKY SOD !!!

 

[jd9600guru]

Good pics, glad you're rolling along and you're welcome for the help.

jd

 

[combiness]

I also find the chaff/waste seed blower interesting. I'll bet it was more in the line of what the larger headers, such as the 9000 Series [Maximizers] had to have, in order to spread their chaff. Until then, just chaff was no big deal, but enter more and more no-till and the really bigger combines/increased chaff output, and there needs to be some way of dispersing that mass.

Now all your fine 8820 needs, is a good wash and wax and it will look like new again.

 

[mike52ar]

those photos make me a bit envious right now. i much rather would be harvesting wheat in the heat right now instead of corn in the cold!!!
glad to hear harvest is going well and the machine is working for you.

 

[fjlip]

Graham, we had 2 - 6600 from 1977- 81 and 2-7720's till 1995. How many hours on the 8820? Any reason for the front tire treads in reverse? I see a tree all by itself in the middle of fields quite often. Out here we clear every thing out of the way. Are there big rocks by these trees? Merry Christmas, I guess yours won't be white! It's -47C with wind chill this morning! Enjoy your AC!

 

[veitchy]

I recon 45 would be real nice about now ! Its been 105 F today and I was on the header until about 2 PM then the shire shut us all down declaring it too dangerous and putting a harvest ban on. I don't know if they do that in the US or Canada, but if its very hot and windy after a certain level the local government (shire) ban harvesting or vehicle movement in the padocks. We had just decided it was too dangerous anyway and were about to pull the pin when we got official notice to stop.

Fjlip, the tree is on the neighbours block and there are quite a few left on it in various places. It is relatively newly cleared ground and some of the trees were left for stock shelter. Our own place has areas of natural timber in a few places that were left for windbreaks and sheep to shelter under. When it gets to 115 degrees in the heat of summer they need something to shelter under or they will die of heatstroke. Two years ago we had a particularly hot spell and all the local birds were sheltering under the grating in our shearing shed and some that didn't just fell out of the trees dead from the heat, so its quite normal to leave a bit of timber for stock shelter. "Oh" and the header (Oz speak for combine) has just over 5000 engine hours, and the reason why the tyres are put on that way is that you get better drive in sandy conditions with them on with the treads that way. It used to be common once on tractors too but very few do it now but harvesters that work on sandplane country usualy have them on like this.
Graham

 

[markat425]

Interesting ! Thanks for sharing this veitchy....

 

[veitchy]

Out here a "wet spot" at harvest is rarer than an honest politician, normally for "wet work" with the tractor we would have the treads the other way, but I always set up a machine to do what we want, and every one else should do what works for them.

I may as well tell you blokes, harvest is finnished as of last Friday 18th, and the 8820 never put a foot wrong. Except for replacing the bearings in that vary speed unit mentioned previously we never had a harvester break down during harvest, (the truck did a head gasket for a couple of days but thats another story) We do have a vibration in the knife drive that looks like it may be the chain coupler in the drive shaft, its a bit loose and the chain is worn. We made up a temporary chain out of 2 lengths of normal chain welded together to test the theory and that reduced the vibration quite a lot but it is still there, so is there anything else that can cause a vibration in the knife drive. If you have the machine running it goes away instantly when you hit the electric clutch button so we disconected the chain couplers one at a time, the spiral drive didn't make any difference at all even though it is "baddly" worn and looks like it should give trouble, but when we disconnected the knife drive it dissapeared completely. Anyone know of a common cause for this that we arn't aware of ?
Anyway, we have another 11 months to sort it out now so it should be good as gold by next harvest. Just got to clean him down and find somewhere to put him away now, and thats easier said than done, we havn't tried yet but it may not fit in the shed !!

I gotta say though "JOHN DEERE 8820 HARVESTERS ARE AWSOME", this thing is so much better than we were expecting.

Happy harvesting and "MERRY CHRISTMAS" ho ho ho
Graham

 

[sscheep]

I find that with rear facing tread if you drive into a wet spot the machine backs off easier.Works for me.

 

[bighp6030]

Beautiful pics and an even better looking combine.I bought an 8820 almost two years ago.I've put many $$$ in it,but as far as the threshing goes,it does a fantastic job.Despite what the jealous red and yellow boys say

,8820s are still one of the best combines a man can buy.

 

[combiness]

8820's and 7720's, Bighp6030.

 

[veitchy]

It's like a fellow "JD" owner told me a couple of days ago when we were talking about the number of serious breakdowns in the "big modern" harvesters around, GREEN is for GO, RED is for STOP, and YELLOW is PROCEDE WITH CAUTION.
"WORKS FOR ME"
See ya,
And a happy rest of Christmas and new year.

 

[markat425]

Lol

 

[jbharvest]

NICE pic of your farm I would like to come visit one year and help harvest in another country.

 

[beavis]

Hello veitchy!

Happy New Year and congratulations on your 8820. We ran a 7720T2 for 16 years and it was an excellent machine. The only weaknesses were the front axles breaking with 66X43-25 flotation tires over stressing them. We used these tires in muddy conditions, so I don't think you'll be using this size tire anytime soon where you live. I noticed your question regarding vibration in the knife drive. We had the same trouble with a JD 930F header. The vibration was coming from the "wobble box" itself. It was worn enough internally that it was causing the vibration. We were told that this is common and that the fix was to replace it with a re-built box. We were told that the parts to repair along with the labor would be as much as a re-built box. We replaced it and the vibration is gone. I hear that the elliptical drives are more dependable and run smoother than the OEM wobble box, but the expense is at least double. Thanks for the great pictures and have a great new year!

 

[kittensniffles]

u said u had 5000 on ur 8820...isnt that quite a bit? ....just wondering looking to replace our 6620... its just not able to handle our crops ...cause when u have 95 bu acre beans on a 216 head u got to go real low...and i want a 7720 or 8820 because all the 9400 9500 and 9600 are 2 expensive