Chain Slackener Helps Clean Cornhead
“Before I started using my homemade slackener it used to take me 15 to 20 min. per row to loosen the gathering chains on my cornhead, remove them, clean under the sprockets, then put the chains back on and tighten them,” says Hudson, Iowa, farmer Tom Pearson. “Now I can remove a chain without having to loosen the chain tightener and clean under the chain and sprockets in just a few minutes.”
Pearson’s slackener is made from a simple crank-operated steel bar clamp. He removed the crank handle and replaced it with a 3/4-in. bolt that he can turn with a socket wrench. Then he welded metal tabs about 1 in. wide onto each of the clamp squeeze brackets. The metal tabs fit over a sprocket between the cogs with the cornhead gathering chain still in place.
“When I put the tabs over each sprocket and wedge them between two cogs, I can use a socket wrench to turn the threaded shaft on the clamp and remove tension on the chain. Then I can take the chain off and clean the channel and under the sprockets,” Pearson says. “I don’t have to loosen the double nuts on the regular chain tightener, which takes a lot of time.”
Pearson came up with the idea a couple years ago when he had a lot of weeds in some of his corn after herbicide failure. “The foxtail took over, and when I was harvesting, the foxtail stems would wrap around the top and bottom sprockets of the gathering chains,” Pearson says. “I had to clean them out every day, sometimes twice a day. That was a big job because I’ve got an 11-row cornhead with 15-in. rows.”
Pearson says he’s hopeful he doesn’t need to use the slackener too much during future harvests because that means he’s got a lot of weeds in his corn. He’d prefer if the corn was weed free so harvest would go smoothly. “The slackener worked fine when I used it almost every day a couple years ago,” he says. “Now I just use it a couple times during the season and even then it saves me time.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tom Pearson, 11334 Hudson Rd., Hudson, Iowa 50643 (ph 319 988-4434).
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Chain Slackener Helps Clean Cornhead COMBINES Accessories “Before I started using my homemade slackener it used to take me 15 to 20 min per row to loosen the gathering chains on my cornhead remove them clean under the sprockets then put the chains back on and tighten them ” says Hudson Iowa farmer Tom Pearson “Now I can remove a chain without having to loosen the chain tightener and clean under the chain and sprockets in just a few minutes ” Pearson’s slackener is made from a simple crank-operated steel bar clamp He removed the crank handle and replaced it with a 3/4-in bolt that he can turn with a socket wrench Then he welded metal tabs about 1 in wide onto each of the clamp squeeze brackets The metal tabs fit over a sprocket between the cogs with the cornhead gathering chain still in place “When I put the tabs over each sprocket and wedge them between two cogs I can use a socket wrench to turn the threaded shaft on the clamp and remove tension on the chain Then I can take the chain off and clean the channel and under the sprockets ” Pearson says “I don’t have to loosen the double nuts on the regular chain tightener which takes a lot of time ” Pearson came up with the idea a couple years ago when he had a lot of weeds in some of his corn after herbicide failure “The foxtail took over and when I was harvesting the foxtail stems would wrap around the top and bottom sprockets of the gathering chains ” Pearson says “I had to clean them out every day sometimes twice a day That was a big job because I’ve got an 11-row cornhead with 15-in rows ” Pearson says he’s hopeful he doesn’t need to use the slackener too much during future harvests because that means he’s got a lot of weeds in his corn He’d prefer if the corn was weed free so harvest would go smoothly “The slackener worked fine when I used it almost every day a couple years ago ” he says “Now I just use it a couple times during the season and even then it saves me time ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Tom Pearson 11334 Hudson Rd Hudson Iowa 50643 ph 319 988-4434
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