Low-Cost Way To Convert Combine Reels, Heads To Hydraulic Drive

Low-Cost Way To Convert Combine Reels, Heads to Hydraulic Drive COMBINES Headers 12-2-10 To harvest lodged corn, Iowa fanner Tom Miller, of Burlington, equipped his model 715 IH combine with a long-fingered gathering reel. When the local dealer told him an add-on kit to drive the reel hydraulically would cost about $1,200, Miller turned to his farm shop and came up with a $75 "do it yourself' solution to the problem. "This same low-cost hookup, which has worked without hitch for two years, could also be used to convert a mechanical drive soybean head to variable speed drive," says Tom. His system catches or "hijacks" oil from the combine's original hydraulic system and diverts it into a variable speed hydraulic drive motor that runs the gathering reel. "I'm catching the oil and using it before it goes into the main control valve," says Miller. A variable flow control valve allows speed of the reel's hydraulic motor to be varied from 1/2 to 30 rpm's. "Everything that goes into the extra flow control valve goes back into the main control valve," explains Miller. "All I did was to insert a variable flow control valve into the hydraulic plumbing system that was already on the combine. The add-on plumbing change doesn't add any strain to the system because maximum relief valve settings aren't changed," says Miller. Contact FARM SHOW Follow-up, Tom Miller, Rt. 1, Box 88, Burlington, Iowa (ph 319 752-5074).

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