Pre-Harvest Combine Checkup

Ensure your combine is ready to handle harvest demands

It’s crunch time. With fall harvest just around the corner, you’ll be counting on your combine to deliver a fast, efficient, and worry-free season in some of the most demanding conditions.

To ensure your combine is ready to handle the demands of the next few weeks, a thorough pre-season inspection and maintenance program will get you off on the right foot.

“Prepping the combine for the season is going to translate into more days of harvest without unnecessary downtime,” explains Tony Steinke, harvest specialist with Case IH. “It’s your opportunity to make adjustments, replace worn parts, and get your combine ready to hit the field.”

Follow the flow

Combines are incredible machines, with a lot of moving parts. When performing pre-season maintenance and inspection, Steinke says a good rule is to follow the flow of the crop.

“I like to start from front to back, following the crop flow,” he says. “That ensures you are following a plan and not jumping back and forth. Pay close attention to everything that touches the crop as it moves through the combine, and that includes when it is unloaded.”

• Inspect the feeder chain for wear and replace if necessary. Ensuring your feeder chain is ready for the season takes time, but it can head off some stressful downtime during harvest. “Take the chain off, push it together, and then pull it apart. If there’s more than 5 percent play or stretch in it, it’s time for replacement,” Steinke says. While that may not seem like a lot of wear, Steinke cautions that chain wear accelerates as it wears down.
• Follow the owner’s manual. When it comes to engine components and gear boxes, follow recommended inspection and fluid change intervals. And ensure all fluids are at recommended levels.
• Check bearings. If it spins on the combine, there are bearings, and those bearings can wear down over time. “Remove the belt or chain, shake the shaft, and give it a spin,” Steinke says. “You can easily tell if a bearing is failing, it’s just a matter of getting in and inspecting each part.”
• Check the rotor. Give all rasp bars a careful inspection. “A good way to determine if a rasp bar is ready to be replaced is to look at the mounting bolt. Case IH mounting bolts have a grade 7 marked on them. If the rasp bar is worn down that marking will be worn down as well,” Steinke says.
• Chopper knives. Inspect spinning chopper knives to ensure they have a sharp edge. And make sure knives are in place. “If one is broken or missing, it’s going to cause the rotor to be out of balance, which will cause vibration in the combine,” Steinke says.
• Calibrate your machine. Harvest Command is a tremendous tool that helps automate your combine settings for optimal performance. Before hitting the field, ensure that all the sensors are properly calibrated. “These calibrations can be done in the combine, but it’s a good idea to make sure that it’s done before you are heading to the field,” Steinke says.
• Check those augers. Inspect all augers to ensure they have spare edges. “Once augers start getting sharp edges, the auger becomes inefficient and can’t convey grain like it should, which means your harvest will slow down,” Steinke says. “And you will start seeing more crop damage.”
• Backup data and start clean. If you haven’t done so already, ensure last year’s data is saved somewhere else, whether it’s wireless or through a data stick. Then, delete all crop data files from the previous year that reside on the machine. That will ensure you have plenty of free space to collect this year’s crop data, and you are starting with a clean slate.
• Transfer all field names to the combine. Programs like Case IH FieldOps can make collecting data easy and efficient. But it’s a good idea to make sure all your field names reside on your combine’s monitor, so data is being recorded and saved to the proper field.
• Header works? Attach your header and check the header height. “If you have a problem, let the dealer know and you can get it fixed before you are in the field.
• A cool harvest. Check that air conditioning system to ensure it’s ready to go.
• Safety first. Steinke says any time you are working under the feeder house or header, make sure the safety stand is engaged. It’s a simple procedure, but one that can get overlooked. And any time service is needed, make sure the machine is shut down. “Any time you open a shield, make sure the machine is off, and nothing is spinning,” Steinke says. Also, check that fire extinguisher.

If you have any questions, contact your local Case IH dealer.

Happy Harvest!