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A Comprehensive Guide to Combine Maintenance

Jul. 28 2021 Maintenance By PrairieLand Partners

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Your combine is an important piece of equipment on your farm. That’s why it’s important to make sure you stay on top of maintenance. Fortunately for you, we’ve created the following guide with tips for maintaining your combine. Keep reading to learn more, and call PrairieLand Partners at one of our locations in Kansas if you have any questions. 

The Importance of Combine Maintenance

Combines are complex machines. Maintenance is going to involve checking on multiple different parts.

Proper upkeep will:

  • Minimize harvest loss.
  • Generate a high-quality grain crop.
  • Reduce the frequency and intensity of repairs, thus saving you money.
  • Reduce lost work time since the machine won’t be at the mechanic.
  • Ensure a consistent flow of crop material through the combine.
  • Extend the equipment’s lifespan.

Preventative Maintenance

A little prevention can go a long way in keeping your machine running smoothly. The goal is to optimize operation so you keep wear and tear at a minimum.

The Header

The header on your combine is the first point of contact with the crop. It can be the biggest cause of grain loss, so it’s important to stay on top of maintenance. Proper upkeep will help maximize harvest yields.

Ensure that you:

  • Set stripping roll spacing based on the stalk thickness.
  • Set the deck plates as wide as you can.
  • Match the grain head gathering speed and feederhouse to the combine’s drive speed.

The Feederhouse

The feederhouse is where the grain first enters the combine. When it comes to maintenance, you’ll want to keep the feed accelerator at a low enough speed so the grain is less likely to break and be lost before the threshing process. Keep in mind that operating the feed accelerator at an unnecessarily high speed will create wear and tear, thus resulting in the need for repairs.

Threshing and Separating Parts

With these parts of a combine, you want to focus on getting a good balance of rotor speed. As a part of maintenance, you should aim for the slowest speed that still shells the grain. Too fast and you’ll end up with grain damage. Too slow and you won’t accomplish anything. 

Grain Cleaning Parts

One more important part of combine maintenance is checking on the grain cleaning mechanisms. You’ll want to check the settings on the chaffer, shoe sieves, and cleaning fan to ensure they are optimized. 

We hope this guide helps you with your combine maintenance. If you have any questions or you want to check out some farm equipment for sale, reach out to PrairieLand Partners. We have multiple locations in Kansas, and we can’t wait to help you with all of your agricultural machinery needs!