[AT] IH 82 Combine question - (greasing)

[Francis Robinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene Waugh Elgin, Illinois USA" <gwaugh at wowway.com>


> "The good old days..."
>
> As a young teenager, I could have told you where every one of those
> zerks was on my grandfather's IH combine and baler.  And we filled the
> )(&*)&% grease gun from a 25 lb bucket, not the cartridges of today.
> After EVERY DAY of use, a thorough grease job was called for.  Today, I
> can appreciate the advantages in this, but I sure didn't then!!
>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


    I used to have a two row John Deere corn head on a Deere 45 Combine that 
had the built in greasing unit. I forget the exact name but "multi-lube" 
comes to mind. I'm sure the Deere guys know it. A tiny tube went to each 
critical unsealed bearing and you greased it with a few pumps of the plunger 
using the special grease which was sort of a soupy gel. I used it for many 
years and never replaced a bearing on that head. I would climb down and hit 
the plunger a few licks every few grain dumps. One of the sealed bearings 
did get dry so I started drilling the metal bearing shields on all of those 
and about 3 times a year I would stick a greasing needle in the tiny hole 
and pump it full of grease. I always filled them clear full after I was 
finished for the season since it had to sit outside.
    That Multi-lube grease suddenly became unavailable and I was told that 
it was discontinued. I finally bought some at a farm auction and when I ran 
out of that I started using straight STP which seemed to work great.
    Gathering chains got several applications of used motor oil a day 
applied from a safe location while running at an idle using a small garden 
sprayer with the nozzle drilled out. I also used it on the driving roller 
chains but about once a day they got an application of motorcycle chain lube 
or if I was out of that I used STP and oil mixed about one can of STP to tow 
quarts of oil.
    That combine used a roller chain drive for the cylinder and I kept it 
very well lubed. At one time I had a small hose mounted above it with a 
funnel on top of it so I could regularly apply about a tea spoon full of oil 
on it from inside of the cab while it was running. All other chains were 
lubed at least once a day.
    I used to have a John Deere 7 foot, 3 blade, Gyro-mower that had a 
roller chain drive from the gear box to the belt drive. After it got kind of 
worn I mounted a piece of old anhydrous hose above it and up across the 3 
point hitch and the top link to the tractor fender. I could squirt oil from 
a large old detergent bottle into the hose while I was mowing and it would 
dribble out on the running chain.
Oil is cheap, parts are expensive...   :-)

    BTW, that corn head was still in good shape when I got rid of the 
combine but the buyer only wanted the combine for soybeans. I wasn't even 
able to give that head away so I finally sold it to the scrap guy. I have a 
few other such things coming up but will talk about them in another post.



--
"farmer"

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net