[AT] Good Combine Day

[Greg Hass]

What drives this straw-chopper?  Actually, this was the most intriguing 
part of the trip and the thing I was most anxious to find out.  I had 
looked my combine over several times and could never figure out where I 
could get the power from.  I had thought of putting a pulley on the 
cylinder drive shaft, however that is located low between the header and 
the right-hand tire and seemed impractical.  I had even considered a 
separate engine mounted near the back to run the straw-chopper, but that 
would bring a whole new set of problems all its own.  The combine itself is 
PTO-driven and I run it with a Farmall 574 (52 HP), which has both 540 RPM 
and 1000 RPM PTOs, one located a few inches above the other.  As stupid as 
this may seem, I had even contemplated running two PTO shafts, one above 
the other...the 540 for the combine and the 1000 to run the straw-chopper.

In actuality, this company powers the straw-chopper from the beater shaft 
located right behind the cylinder.  As the beater turns at about 400 RPM, 
by putting a 12-inch pulley on the end, they get the speed up high enough 
for the straw-chopper.  Two-thirds of the way back they have another 
stationary shaft bolted across the top of the combine with a double idler 
on the end.  One belt goes from the 12-inch pulley to the double idler, and 
a second belt from the double idler to the straw-chopper.  (Plus your 
associated belt-tighteners.)  I would have never thougyt of powering it in 
this way, but it must work.

Greg Hass