Combine setting/troubles per video request

This video is about the setting on the 4400 and the trouble's I am having with the 213 flex head.

[@mattreinker8445]

I have a 3300 with a 213 head. I could not run wheat and had slugging when I ran soybeans. I put the John Deere extensions on the augur and that fixed the problem. I know the 4400 has a wider feeder house but the extensions might help there also.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

I bought a a rigid 213 head for rye and oats, no issues. I only use the 213F head for pea's and beans now

[@SoybeanFarmer3300]

thank you very much for sharing your RPM numbers for the engine and the rasp bar cylinder. I got the same issue with setting fan speed, it is a best guess setting. ideally hunt for very few beans blown out the back of the combine without massive chaff build up.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

No problem and thats pretty much how I adjusted the fan speed!

[@jerrylansbury9558]

So.......the combine doesnt come with the 4ft pipe wrench ?

[@warrenmmutsigwa617]

Any help with jd7720 rpms, speed and corresct adjustments for wheat harvest

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

I will look in my operators manual tomorrow if I remember. a 7720 is a lot bigger machine, but the settings should be fairly similar!

[@michaelprice344]

My 4400 has the adjustable feeder housing speed as well. Look under the cab and there should be 2 small hydraulic hoses with couplings. You disconnect one of those and plug in you line to raise the reel.

[@TAHDAHFarm]

I have a 1974 6600 but that feeder house all works the same way. You have to slow your head speed down all the way with your variable speed lever. That'll help you when you put the new ball joint on the end of your sickle bar. They're not designed to run above your slow speed on your variable speed. The variable speed is used for corn. You have to disconnect both hoses, not just one. Do not connect them together wrap a rag or something to keep the ends cleaned. Then you hook your real height up and you can control it that way.

[@mathman1923]

our 6602's had a stop at 2200 or so RPM's. I almost forgot what the fan speed adjuster looked like. we had a setup with a pendulum so that when you went up hill the pendulum would swing back and slow the fan down so you weren't blowing grain out the back and when going down hill it would tilt that way and speed up the fan. It was a pretty cool setup Barley would make a good cover crop too and be great for feed. not a great market to sell it for but can't have everything, we fed it cows and hogs all the time out here as not any corn to speak of

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

I'm thinking winter wheat so I can plant it in the fall and it will already be growing when the snow melts. Do they have a winter variety of barley?

[@mathman1923]

yes, they do. The only thing we had to worry about is the fact that barley would come up volunteer in the wheat so we had to summer fallow that land or go back with a garbanzo or canola after the barley. No problem for you though with the roundup corn. Barley is a better feed than wheat is the only reason I mention it. we would grind our own, add a little protein supplement for the hogs. cows just got ground barley the last month or so before slaughter

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Ok, I will look into Barley. Thanks Jay

[@christinamoneyhan5688]

Cannot give any advice Brad, however I find these machines interesting . Their temperament seems to keep trying everyone's knowledge as to what my cause the incountered problems and the likely adjustments to correct it. I have noticed that it really seems to depend on the crop trying to be harvested and weather its big, tall, bushy, wind blown,all sorts of conditions. You really have to know your machine that you are operating from the sounds of things,and the way the machine is designed. Keeps a operated on their toes from what I have read. Anyway, just thought the comments very interesting. Thanks for the information. Later.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Christina, I made those adjustments and replaced some worn parts and today we are flying through the beans!!! I need to adjust the drive belts as they slip while climbing the hills, but other than that things wen great today! Thanks for the comments and thank you for watching

[@powerram92]

thanks for making this video, I'm pretty sure your the only one on youtube that has done a video like this.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

No problem

[@sethhoffman3027]

Same are bean head this harvest kept breaking the bolts. We used titanium bolts, aluminum and steel bolts.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

After I slowed the feeder house down they never broke again

[@shortytari]

To be clear the person writing this is this fine ladies husband. I have been running these machines for over 25 years so I have several thousand acres of life experience and a lot of acquired knowledge from John Deere trained mechanics. The basic setup for soybeans is as follows. This is all done with head off of machine. 1. run the machine and set variable feeder house to its slowest speed. Shut off machine and disconnect hose for this which is located under cab. 2. Set your feeder house front drum to the low position. It should be low for beans and small grains and up for corn. If you don’t know what this is refer to operators manual it’s in there. 3. Feeder house drive chain needs to be on the small sprocket. You only use big one in corn if you are using a 3 row head. 4 row use small one. 4. If using straw chopper slide the extra knives in. They should be out for corn if chopper is used. 5. Set concave,Chafer and seive, and cylinder speed , and cleaning fan to desired setting. 6. Put head on and attach drive shafts, hoses for reel and reel height If you have it and it works attach wires for automatic header height control. Settings you said in video are fairly close for beans. Generally speaking the drier beans and stems get the slower you can run cylinder and wider you can open concave. If everything is bone dry they thrash pretty easy. you can get cylinder down to 500-550. High cylinder speed cracks and splits beans run as slow as you can and still thrash them out of pods. if you are running you fan as fast as you say there’s a good chance you are blowing splits on the ground. If thats what you wish that’s your choice . I’d rather put them in the tank as long as I can meet the grade at the elevator. As for feeding issue commenters are right. Put a pc. Of about 2 1/2 inch plastic pipe behind sickle .It helps a lot. Move reel foreword and raise it weather that’s fixing your hose or putting stops on cylinders. It needs to come up and go foreword a little. you may try cutting at an angle to the rows. This helps feeding a lot . Your cylinder and fan speeds on corn is quite a bit higher than what we run. It depends on moisture, but we run 400-500 on cylinder. Remember the drier it is the easier it cracks and if you fan is that high you are blowing it out the back. Again if that’s your wish then ok. I’d rather put it in the tank as long as I meet elevator grade. It’s kind of a guessing game, but you have to stop in the field and look on ground behind machine. If you are happy with the job you are doing keep going. Manual gives info on acceptable harvest loss and how to calculate yours. Each day and each hybrid of a crop is a little different. Basic rule of thumb is excessive speeds=excessive losses. And the drier your crop gets the easier it is to have and create harvest loss. Your loads look pretty clean so you are doing a good job. just make sure you are not losing too much out the back . My experience is the 4400 does the best job out of all the 00 series and I have run all but the 7700. If you want more info reply and I’ll try to answer your questions. I have run a lot of acres thru a 4400 with a 213 and a 444 head . Basically wore the machine out. Hope this helps.

[@ntromzek]

Variable speed is only used to adjust the feeder house from small grain to corn. Fast on Corn Head, slow on Grain Head. Then connect the Variable speed hose to the reel when the grain head is on. Get an Owners Manual.

[@Ron52G]

You adjust the feeder house speed then unplug the hose from it and use it to raise the reel up and down. When switch to the corn head you have to plug the 2 unused hose that run the reel into each other on the combine or you can damage the pump. Our 4420 has a short hose with male and female ends to make it easier to do. You should be able to down load manuals from the internet. I haven't done that because we have all the books for the all the heads and both the 4400 and 4420. There are hydraulic couplings under the cab that have to used for this. The hydraulic pumps for these aren't cheap by any means. Take care of them. We bought the 4420 as a back up for the 4400 in case it went down. The 4420 has been a money pit. New clutch, hydralic pump, water pump, sealing in the unloading auger swing valve. The 4400 just keeps plugging along. One of the assist spring for the unloading auger broke on the 4400 broke this fall. Obsolete part. Have to figure out a cure for that before using it nest year.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Ron52G yeah, I figured that out after I made this video! Thank you

[@ntromzek]

Small Grains you need to pin up the cutter bar. Bolts go thru the floating arms. Look up a manual and read it.

[@cesmith4566]

put quick disconnects on the vs feederhouse hose , so you can couple and uncouple the real height , the feederhouse should be set slow before it's disconnected

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Thats what I think I am going to do

[@banditfarmer1900]

On the 4400 we has the variable speed feeder house on it and if I remember right you use the hose for the reel lift to change the speed on the feeder house then unplug it and plug the hose back into the reel lift. If you got a book I know its in there about how to do it. When we sold the 4400 the guy took the books for it and now I have no books but still have the combine. On the engine speed you need to open it up and run it, The combine is designed to run at that engine speed and running the engine slower than it's made to slows everything else down too. You can change the cylinder speed and the fan speed to have it ware you want it but its the rest of the machine is running slower too. The guards on the header are busted and bent by the hume reel being to low and that's why your braking bolts on the drive head and causing that bearing to go bad too. So you need to get the reel hight up, Also you may need to speed the reel up some and you can change the pitch of the reel fingers so they push the crop back farther back to the auger. As for the slugs coming in and plugging the cylinder it might be a good time to look at the cylinder bar and see how wore they are. If there wore down a lot (rounded off) it wont grab it and pull it threw and will cause it to plug. Just a few ideas that come to mind about combines that might help you out. I hope this helps you out. Bandit

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Thanks Bandit. Yes the teeth on the reel are a lot of the issue, I need to do some adjusting. The sickle head was getting bad when I bought the combine and I have a new head ordered from shoup. The rasp bars look like new. The problem is with the head. I will be doing some work on it the next couple of days because I just picked up a custom job, one of the neighbors has 20 or 30 acres of beans he wants me to combine for him. He also has 40 acres of corn ( 40" rows so I'm bidding on a 444 head). Nice little side job!

[@banditfarmer1900]

I used to do a good bit of custom work in the fall but not anymore, No small farms left around anymore so no more custom work for me. Before you go moving the reel around try speeding it up some first. In your video cutting beans the reel looked like it was running very slow witch will cause the beans to bunch and makes a slug that goes threw it. Reel speed and finger pitch can make a huge difference in how it feeds threw the header . They designed a combine to run at a set speed (engine) and they run better when run at full capacity . I hope you get the 444 bought cheep ! Bandit

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

I hear ya on the no small farms left anymore. There are very few small farms. Mostly large farms and some hobby guys. I did move the reel back a bit, but now that I figured out those 1/2 jam bolts on the bottom have a nipple on them that keep them in place it easy to adjust! But i will try what you mentioned above and see if that helps. I spent some time of the phone with Jake Z and we discussed a few things to try. So hopefully things go better on this next round of beans. Yes, the 444 would have to be cheap because if I cant make any money above buying the corn head just for one far, its really not worth putting the hours on the machine. Thanks Bandit for you advice and help, I really do appreciate it. Brad

[@banditfarmer1900]

Anytime Brad , It been awhile sense I ran the old 4400 but I do remember a few things about it. Over the years you pick up things about combines , They can be the biggest pains in the butt is # 1 ! LOL But the more you run them and get to know them you get to ware you can feel what's going on with them, A funny sound really makes the you perk up and try to figure out what it is ! My old 95 I can tell what's going on by the sing of the belts the rumble of the floor plate and the roar of the engine. You will get there the more you run it. You cant make money buying equipment to do custom work unless you can buy it cheep ! BTDT to many times but it does give you options on what you can do on your own farm too ! Keep up the great work and videos. Bandit

[@Northeastohio]

informative video. thanks

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Thank you

[@SilverGleaner]

Tip from a Gleaner guy, buy a Gleaner........ just kidding. First slow down you sickle speed via the variable speed as others described. A friend of mine had an M2 where he didn't know about the variable speed header drive for corn and didn't slow down the speed and he didn't then disconnect the hose to keep it slow. He destroyed the sickle drive. Check you cylinder bars and the concave for wear. Not too familiar with a 4400 but on a Gleaner it is a must to keep good bars and concave for soybeans. Especially green stemmed. Make sure the concave is level with the cylinder and that you know exactly what spacing you are at with your clearance. Run that cylinder/concave spacing at about 1/4". Check to be sure it's at that clearance using 1/4" key stock as a gauge. That is another must. It seems backwards but that will reduce your slugging problem by a bunch if your bars are good. Too much clearance actually reduces the grab you need at the cylinder. Let that cutbar float on the ground and make sure your sickle and guards are both sharp. Makes a big difference. I used to have an E Gleaner with a floating bar and it was pretty good at feeding unless the beans were real short. My L2 has a flex head and I don't know if this would work on a floating head but on the flex head I mounted a 3" drain tile just behind the cutbar using 3" conduit clamps bolted to the guard bolts. I also cut at an angle across the field. That greatly improved feeding for me. I also put 1/2" lock washers hammered over the edge of the auger flighting to assist feeding and added 12" wide baler belting about 3" longer than the real teeth to help sweep in bunches before they got too big. I staggered them on the reel so that if you are combining with the rows there would be two flaps per row. Lastly raise you header auger to3/4" off the header floor and if your auger can be moved forward move it as far forward as you can but remember to adjust the stripping bar behind the auger accordingly. Good luck next harvest.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Thanks for the info! Yes, I slowed down the sickle as slow as it would go, that cured the issue! I put about 110 acres o thru it last year and another 50 so far this year. I think I have it all figured out (think being the key word! ) I'm having a problem with sickle chatter, not sure if I need a new sickle and all new guards or if its just the year! Thanks for the helpful comments and for watching

[@jasonmushersee]

I think your blower belt is worn. When it's new it's flush with the pulley. We had a 4400 and i know what your saying about the slugs on the head especially if there's weeds. I used to work the reel up/down as soon as possible to prevent another slug making it to the auger. I wonder what the condition of your rasp bars are? There should'nt be any leaves, pods or anything in the hopper if your rasp bars are new and i used to keep the sieves almost closed for beans and drove about 2 -3 mph bcuz we have rocks like a gravel pit here. 1997 i wrecked the jd4400 transmission when i put duals on it that had rice patty tires. It was the only way i could get the bean out that november before the deep snow came and the beans were still 17%! When i was down to the last 20 acres strip there was a "loud knock" coming from the transmission". Drove home reeeeeeaaaally slow. November 26 day before thanksgiving all alone here "i removed the transmission", heavy as all hell it fell on me and broke my right leg! I did look it over and saw that every ball bearing inside blew apart so don't put duals on a jd4400. I was combining soybeans in 1 foot deep water with duals on but the sickle/rock guards would pull the weeds root & all out of the water and plug thing up. PAIN IN THE BUTT. Then we bought the massey 850.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

I hear ya! I think if I get that header set right it will make a hug difference with not sending slugs into the feeder house

[@SilverGleaner]

Oh get a digital photo tach to check speeds. Works great. I got mine at NAPA. Also in green stem beans run the cylinder speed at upper rpm range. I also replaced all my reel teeth with plastic and I put an SCH cut system on my flex and have not broken a guard or section in 3 years and I live in a township named Rock Dell lol. Looking at your video again, is that a flex head or floating head? If it is a flex, you have a head worth sticking some money into. Deere makes a good flex head.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Thanks, thats exactly what I need, and I had no clue NAPA sold them! Thanks! Yes, its a 213F flex head. I had to pin it up last year to cut rye, this year I bought a rigid 113 head for small grains, that way I can leave the flex head set for beans.

[@SilverGleaner]

One more thing. Always run the engine at the correct speed as per your manual. Combine won't work quite right unless at correct speed.

[@billsmith2906]

We have the same 4400/213 setup. When we put the bean head on, we slow down the variable speed to as slow as it will go and then disconnect the two lines that control that mechanism. Then one of those lines connects to the hose on the head to allow you to run the reel up and down. Somewhere in the manual I remember reading that slowing the feederhouse down is necessary to keep the sickle from hammering as you describe and is much easier on the bearings and everything. It is sped up for corn and slowed down for beans and wheat. So maybe this will help you with that problem. We have been having trouble with shatter this year, and everything I have read says to make sure the reel is ahead of the cutter bar by 6+" to help with this. I see you have been trying to move it back. What is the reasoning for doing this?

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

I am trying to get it to feed more evenly. It bunches up then sends a slug of crop thru the machine. I am running the feeder house as slow as it will go, in both beans and corn, thats why I thought about just unhooking the variable speed to the feeder house.

[@billsmith2906]

I have noticed ours slugging more when we have shorter beans. I have had luck with actually going faster to keep the crop feeding harder and it has helped flow better. But with our shatter problem and the internet saying to slow down to help prevent that it will be harder to do for me this year. I set the opening on ours to about 4-5 for beans, but I think our rasp bars are worn, so why is smaller than what you have done. I run in 2nd up a bit from slowest normally and it has never been a problem with plugging for me. I am going to slow down to 1st when I try it again tomorrow.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

So many variables! lol and each year has a new set of problems! Good luck with your harvest

[@rmursch-ro5lp]

as far as the sickle braking I have a 220 header breaking and it was the pins in the knife drive box came out and had play in in it was banging back and forth I took it apart and the pins were wearing into the case caught it in time only had to buy bushings and some brgs

[@stevehetzer1]

Hey brother farmer. I have a 4420 John Deere combine with a 213 flex head. The problem I have with mine is the floating head. I have the same trouble with slug feeding when doing beans and sometime with wheat. The problem with the head is I need to lift the floating cutter bar up and lock it in place . I have found that with the cutter bar pointing towards the ground that wheat and beans don't feed in properly unless you increase your ground speed. When I lower the head to the ground and the cuter bar is pushed up a bit, the beans feed better without slug feeding, but this means running the head on the ground. Do you know how I could lift the cutter bar up and bolt it in place so it won't hang down on such a bad angle while I'm cutting. Thanks . BTW, Great videos.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

+stevehetzer1 there are holes you can put bolts through that go to the frames underneath. I used threaded rod. Worked good!

[@stevehetzer1]

Thanks for that. Up here in Canada the winter wheat will be ready in August. Hard Red Winter Wheat. Good crop this year so I've been finishing the servicing on my 4420. If you have the time, send a video of where those bolts go through. Thanks again and keep the videos coming.

[@SilverGleaner]

A floating cutbar is made to float on the ground for beans. Do not lock it up in beans. Yes, for wheat you would lock the bar up.

[@michaeljp86]

whats the red light for behind the steering wheel? mine has the same light and it started to go on and off. i dont have a clue what its for and havent found it in the manual.

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

You know, I really dont know. I'm not sure if that light works on mine!

[@michaeljp86]

larsonvalleyfarm i was working on my beans and was down to the last few acres and it came on. would go on and off and today i moved the combine and it came on and was one for most of the 5 min i drove it. i know its kinda low on fuel. maybe its a low fuel light

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

I just paged all the way thru my operators manual and it doesn't show that in it at all. So you could be right.

[@suds9522]

I have a John Deere 6600 and the red light will flash when the machine is engaged and stuff isn't up speed or the straw walker is plugged. Over on the counsel on the right, kind of behind your right should are 5-6 Amber warning lights. If one of those goes off, then the red light will start to flash

[@stevefisher9595]

You have to run the reel up just a little cuz you can really destroy that reel

[@eltremendo4799]

good , the combine

[@eltremendo4799]

i want purchase a combine 4400

[@mrnate4280]

You'll get it figured out

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Thanks Nate, I'm gonna have to get it figured out because a neighbor stopped tonight and asked me do combine his beans and also said if I get a 4 row wide corn head he would hire me to do his corn also

[@farmingforfunandprofit940]

Google Mcmaster carr.....Industrial supply... Where i got mine

[@LVFFarmVlogs]

Thanks, I'll check it out

[@batndogu5818]

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