Rather than hijack another thread where this is being discussed I thought it would make sense to start a new one. What procedure do you follow when the cylinder on these Lexions plugs? What happens? Does the engine stall? Belt slip? Shaft monitor alarm go off? How do you determine where the wad is? Does it only happen when picking up canola swaths and you pick up a big pile the swather left? Someone said he spent 4 hrs unplugging his impeller.....I think we should find the phone number for a Lexion engineer and all phone him every time someone plugs a machine and had to waste more than 5 minutes getting going again. We don't need a high priced fancy hydrastatic reverser but give us a concave linkage that allows us to open things up so it's just a matter of re-engaging the machine.
Unplugging the APS
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Feederhouse plugs, alarm goes off, reverse it.
APS plugs, belt slips, alarm goes off, stop thresher. Open concave, try again..Might work, usually doesn't for soybeans. Several options
Remove cylinder speed reduction bolts, clear machine out except for APS, cylinder and impeller, reinstall bolts, try again. And/or turn variable speed cylinder belt backwards and clear APS out from rocktrap. I have once plugged aps, opened concave, turned belt backwards, restarted and wad went through like warm butter.
Never had cylinder plug unless impeller behind it plugged. To clear impeller, it can be done by removing cover on top of feederhouse and loosening impeller belt. Engage thresher and cylinder and material will rotate impeller backwards and throw the wad out on the feederhouse.
There is no concave or moveable floor under the impeller...won't help. Impeller wear strips and rotor flow kit both reduce plugging significantly. Slow cylinder speeds increase risk of plugging.
The belt drives, especially for the APS, cylinder and impeller have their short comings...but you have to admit they are quite simple, efficient, effective, and offer very good protection for not ingesting things that don't belong.
Newer 700 series has more sensors for these components to better identify what is slipping or plugged. If you can't figure it out, just look for the burnt,hot, smoking belt. Blame the engineer if you want, but many plugs are operator error or a blessing things didn't go in farther and do damage . From a new 740 in 2011, I have plugged APS much less lately than year 1.
APS plugs, belt slips, alarm goes off, stop thresher. Open concave, try again..Might work, usually doesn't for soybeans. Several options
Remove cylinder speed reduction bolts, clear machine out except for APS, cylinder and impeller, reinstall bolts, try again. And/or turn variable speed cylinder belt backwards and clear APS out from rocktrap. I have once plugged aps, opened concave, turned belt backwards, restarted and wad went through like warm butter.
Never had cylinder plug unless impeller behind it plugged. To clear impeller, it can be done by removing cover on top of feederhouse and loosening impeller belt. Engage thresher and cylinder and material will rotate impeller backwards and throw the wad out on the feederhouse.
There is no concave or moveable floor under the impeller...won't help. Impeller wear strips and rotor flow kit both reduce plugging significantly. Slow cylinder speeds increase risk of plugging.
The belt drives, especially for the APS, cylinder and impeller have their short comings...but you have to admit they are quite simple, efficient, effective, and offer very good protection for not ingesting things that don't belong.
Newer 700 series has more sensors for these components to better identify what is slipping or plugged. If you can't figure it out, just look for the burnt,hot, smoking belt. Blame the engineer if you want, but many plugs are operator error or a blessing things didn't go in farther and do damage . From a new 740 in 2011, I have plugged APS much less lately than year 1.
I agree 100% that designing a combine that never plugs might not be a great idea but having no simple provision in the design for unplugging is unacceptable in my view of things. It was almost 20 years ago we had a TX 66 that would plug in canola but to unplug was a matter of seconds and you didn't have to get out of the combine seat. The funny thing about it was it was not purposely even designed that way. To unplug the thing you would drop the concave and reverse the feederhouse. Then you would engage the feederhouse clutch while continuing to reverse the feeder house and the feederhouse reverser would transfer enough torque through the engaged clutch to back up the cylinder. It worked every time but New Holland claimed the TX 66 did not have a cylinder reverser. When we got our CX combines we were back to pulling on a five foot wrench.
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4x4ord unfortunately there is no wrench to pull on with a Lexion. For the guys that use saws all what type of blades are you using?
These impeller wear strips- are they something that need to be maintained? I take it the rotor flow kit is optional equipment?
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Is there no way to build a tool/bar so you could reverse the aps by hand?
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If I remember correctly I am using the wood blade ones as they have more aggressive teeth than the metal blades. Bought a few longer blades and some short blade ones as well. Really works well. The cordless tools nowadays have lots of tourque and power.
Many makes and models of cordless tools, but I picked up the Ryobi brand, simply because the same battery fits in all their tools. Its called the Ryobi One system or something like that. Bought a cordless impact as well for changing APS grates, real fast and handy. Using the Ni-Mh battery's.
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Not sure if anyone has plugged the main cylinder bad, and i'm talking real bad, where the indicator is at like 37mm.
Did this on swathed canola this year. Was going late around midnight, dew was out a bit and I was going to make one last pass or 2 as rain was coming. Found the massive beaver hut that I knew was there and instead of stepping out of the combine to spread it around by hand, I tried the brilliant idea of taking small bites out of it with the pickup header. Well it all came in one big pile of "oh sh*t". Not sure how it all made it through the APS and feederhouse, but it stopped the main cylinder dead in it's tracks.
Heard a trick about using a comealong on the main cylinder shiv on the right hand side (the variable speed one with the 2" holes going around) Hooked a comealong in one of the holes and another to the pickup header and just ratched the cylinder backwards. Took about 20 min and we were able to clear it all out.
Come along now part of the arsenal as well as sawsall on the tool truck.
Did this on swathed canola this year. Was going late around midnight, dew was out a bit and I was going to make one last pass or 2 as rain was coming. Found the massive beaver hut that I knew was there and instead of stepping out of the combine to spread it around by hand, I tried the brilliant idea of taking small bites out of it with the pickup header. Well it all came in one big pile of "oh sh*t". Not sure how it all made it through the APS and feederhouse, but it stopped the main cylinder dead in it's tracks.
Heard a trick about using a comealong on the main cylinder shiv on the right hand side (the variable speed one with the 2" holes going around) Hooked a comealong in one of the holes and another to the pickup header and just ratched the cylinder backwards. Took about 20 min and we were able to clear it all out.
Come along now part of the arsenal as well as sawsall on the tool truck.
So did you just keep on pulling the cylinder backwards while pulling material out from the rock trap until it started turning free? Or do you pull the cylinder back half of turn and try engaging the machine with the concave wide open and hope it doesn't plug even worse?Not sure if anyone has plugged the main cylinder bad, and i'm talking real bad, where the indicator is at like 37mm.
Did this on swathed canola this year. Was going late around midnight, dew was out a bit and I was going to make one last pass or 2 as rain was coming. Found the massive beaver hut that I knew was there and instead of stepping out of the combine to spread it around by hand, I tried the brilliant idea of taking small bites out of it with the pickup header. Well it all came in one big pile of "oh sh*t". Not sure how it all made it through the APS and feederhouse, but it stopped the main cylinder dead in it's tracks.
Heard a trick from John Kaupp about using a comealong on the main cylinder shiv on the right hand side (the variable speed one with the 2" holes going around) Hooked a comealong in one of the holes and another to the pickup header and just ratched the cylinder backwards. Took about 20 min and we were able to clear it all out.
Come along now part of the arsenal as well as sawsall on the tool truck.
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Yes, the comealong trick is the best for cylinder plugging.Heard a trick from John Kaupp about using a comealong on the main cylinder shiv on the right hand side (the variable speed one with the 2" holes going around) Hooked a comealong in one of the holes and another to the pickup header and just ratched the cylinder backwards. Took about 20 min and we were able to clear it all out.
Not to get technical on you but that's actually the gearbox fixed drive pulley, the variable drive is just upstream from it.
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What crop(s) are you threshing that require 51mm, or even 37mm, on the concave?
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Actually just hooking a chain/cable to the pulley and then under axle and to header.....then lifting, is easiest way to unplug cylinder I was told. Probably not supposed to repeat that though...
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None.
But if you pick up a swathed wad and everything happens just wrong the wad can push against the accumulator where a severe plug can open it right to the 51mm max.
As I state above I never run over 20mm, just makes it that much less likely to get jammed WFO.
It also feeds through better at 20 vs 30 interesting enough especially in canola.
The Lexions have a hydraulic accumulator that allow the concave to be cushioned. When the thing plugs the 37 or 51 mm is an indication of how much material there is in there pushing the concave open.
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You COULD do that.Actually just hooking a chain/cable to the pulley and then under axle and to header.....then lifting, is easiest way to unplug cylinder I was told. Probably not supposed to repeat that though...
But no feel to that. Some real damage could happen!
I wouldn't.
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A person has to be careful on how much force you put on the pulley when pulling it. Unfortunately it is easy to bend the cylinder shaft which is not fun to fix. If you pull to hard you will have much bigger problems to deal with. The best solution is to put on a Sunnybrook cylinder which almost never plugs or bends do to the heavy weight and inertia.
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I would want somebody watching, wouldn't want to go too far for sure.You COULD do that.
But no feel to that. Some real damage could happen!
I wouldn't.
I am not endorsing this technique but was told it saves a ton of time.
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Turn and clean, turn and clean till free. Once you get it moving it does not take that long.
Usually you can open up the concave to max then hit it and it will clear out on its own. This time it would not and just killed the engine.
First year on these machines are a steep learning curve. Some of my plugs I had this year won't happen next year I'm sure. I like Don's tip to keep the concave to 20mm max on canola, that makes a lot of sense.
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