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Smart Modifications To A Deere STS Combine
“I recently went through my 9760 STS Deere combine in my shop. These newer series combines are never going to make it to 5,000 hrs. like their predecessors, the 8820 and 9600. The combine junkyards will soon be full of these 50, 60 and 70 series machines. The sheet metal inside them is made way too light to last very long. I’m sure the engineers designed them this way so there would be more breakage, which means more service and parts,” says Roger Gutschmidt, Gackle, N. Dak.
  “I recently went through the sieve area on this combine. I took out the top and bottom sieves only to find all kinds of problems in this shaking area. All the damage pretty much starts in the same area on every combine because there’s a support ledge that holds the bottom sieve. The sieve lays on a piece of formed 14-ga. angle iron that’s spot-welded to the outside frame which is attached to the shaking mechanism arms. The sieve puts a lot of fatigue on this poorly welded ledge. The support ledge is welded along the bottom with no welds on the top. Because there are no welds across the top, it ‘peels’ away from the surface it is attached to, from the weight of the sieve and the shaking. Once it does that, the sieve drops to where it doesn’t belong and causes destruction to the whole back end of the combine. This repair typically costs about $10,000 to $15,000 in just parts, without labor. The solution to the problem is to weld along the top ledge. It’s easy to do and will save owners thousands of dollars in repairs.
  “I also have a way to prolong the life of sieves. I add silicone rubber with a caulking tube to the sides where the louver wires come through the frame. Over time these louver wires wear thin due to the shaking action of the sieves. A little dab of silicone on each wire cushions the wear point area. Because this silicone rubber is soft and pliable, it still allows the operator to adjust the sieves. My sieves are adjustable from inside the cab with an electric actuator. The rubber gives enough to allow for the sieve to open and close all the way to adjust for any crop being harvested.”
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roger Gutschmidt, Gutschmidt Mfg., LLC, 6651 Hwy. 56, Gackle, N. Dak. 58442 (ph 701 698-2310; shopdoc@drtel.net).


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2016 - Volume #40, Issue #4