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unloading auger chain jumping

4805 Views 15 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  hammer
Last fall the chain that runs the horz. augers in the grain tank started jumping every few seconds, the only way to keep it from jumping was to unload at full throttle. I figured that the vertical might be getting warn but it looks good as new, no sharp edges. The horz. auger I"m not so sure haven't really checked it yet. I had someone tell me that the augers in the grain tank are getting warn down to much........Now according to my thinking I don't see how that would make the chain jump, it seems to me that if I put new augers in there that the chain would jump even more. I have the covers set at about 2/3rds open and I'd hate to close them anymore as the unloading time is terribly slow right now.

what am I missing?

thanx
Brad
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What do the chain and sprockets looks like? That would be the first thing I'd check.

Ugh... must be terribly slow not unloading at full throttle.
forgot to mention that the sprockets are in good shape (at least to the naked eye) and I replace all chains every year....it's a 1680 too.
The boot that has the cleanout door on it may be rusted through allowing it to collapse some when torque is put on the chains this allowing slack in the chains. Either replace the boot or place a block of wood between the drive housing and the bottom of the grain tank to keep the boot from collapsing. Got me by for a few years. Amazing how temporary fixs can become permanent ones.
I had the same problem with my 2188. It was used when I bought it and doing the same thing from the beginning. I put new unloading augers in, but not in the grain tank and still had the problem. I agree with you that worn grain tank augers shouldn't be the problem. I did replace them anyway and it did fix the problem, hasn't acted up since. Hope this helps.
A worn auger will allow grain to pinch or wedge between the flighting and the housing. A new auger will move the grain without the pinching, using less power.

How did you determine that it is the cross auger chain? Did you physically watch it jump a couple times? Just asking is all.

Can you turn the whole unload system by hand quite easily? If not, may be a bearing out. ? Remove the cross auger chain and try again.

There are 2 pipe braces like the one in this picture. One on the front and one on the rear of the boot. I've found the bolts both sheared, and vibrated out on these braces which allows the whole boot to move around.
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if the unloader augers are in good shape, feel inside the back shield of the grain tank auger the one against the engine compartment that's usually the one to give trouble feel for worn or it might have started to lay back, good luck
I Had exactly what doorknob just explained happen this year. I also had the shaft in the gearbox snap in half thus tearing up my horizontal augers. had to empty the full combine by hand ,pull augers and put new shaft in. Of course this took several days because our local dealer is a colossal waste of time.next day to them is about 3 days. what a joke they are.
I"ll check them out.

Turning my hand is VERY easy so don't think it's a bearing.

I guess what you say about the grain pinching between the auger and houseing makes sense.......never thought about it that way. I hardly run the combine so I was looking to see which chain was jumping and it was quite obvious.
I"ll do some more looking over today and I"ll probably just tear out the old augers and start with new.

thanx
Hard to believe they didn't have the parts anywhere near us isn't Don? Actually They had the horizontal augers in Madras for $800 dollars each and wanted $400 to freight them here(the whole 135 miles.) I got mad and straightened my flighting best I could and put it back together. Got through the season with it. I'll put new flighting on them myself this winter and they can keep their augers. As for the shaft, I had a machinist friend weld and lathe it to get me through while I waited for a new one from Iowa. On a good note, My cx 8070 New holland is a beast I love that machine.
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An old friend in IA taught me to put a 1/4" or 5/16" road around the outside diameter of the flightings. I have been doing this to all augers I remove, as I remove them. It has been an awesome money saver. Next auger on my combine is the clean grain auger.

Over 3 times the auger life if you do it when new. I am salvaging augers that need replaced, but this method brings them back to new function.

This is the vertical unloader, but I have a better picture somewhere when I did the incline auger. I'll find it and post it later.

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In Doorknob's picture of the two chains and the sprokets that run the two horzontial augers , the out side chain tightner is pushing in, make sure that yourse is that way. My little cousin put new chains on a bine for me and he put the tightner pushing out. wont work chain jumps.
My 1480 and 1680 have both done this. It was the horizontal auger that was bad. I would suggest pulling the cover on the auger where the elbow is at and check to make sure this isn't binding there. Also do you have the oil gear box or the beveled gears. If you have a beveled gears, check and make sure they aren't binding.
On all the rotary combines that we have had over the years , from the old 1480 and up . There were adjustable covers for the cross augers which will limit the ammount of grain that they deliver to the horizontal auger . They have slotted holes in them so you can slide them up or down . If for some reason you don't have any it might be an easy option to control the torque on the cross auger chains . You can also set them so both augers empty out at the samt time ( hate it when you are running the combine at full throttle and you are waiting for a little pile to empty out of the back auger before going back at it ) . Had learned a little trick a while ago - when thrashing without a cart i would go till the hopper was full ( on a 1680 without a topper ) till i heard the grain " tinkle " on the cab then i would quickly pull the unloader lever twice and the auger would take out enough grain out of the hopper that you could empty the separator out while slowly stopping your forward speed slowly so as not to jerk the combine and you wuoldent loose any more grain . But you had to have an empty auger or you will pump out 10 bushels on the ground .
Marshall
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I have an idea to pass along. The "sliding tightener" that you see in the above picture, I have replaced with a small sprocket to reduce the wear on that chain. Works for me on a 1660 combine. H.
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