Anyone ever put a rocking hub on a Gleaner?

I like to know the pros and cons of JD and Gleaner combines, so I'm educated on both when I explain to people why Gleaner is better. I was reading over test results from a 8820 and a late L2, and I thought some things were funny- like how the 8820 used between 5.5 and 7.5 gallons of fuel/hour and the L2 only used 4.4! Lol!

Only plugged my F2 a few times and no rocking hub would have turned it.Raise cylinder and rock it with the chopper belt.The worst was green stem beans and weeds.Had to unbolt the concave door on that one.Never plugged the A2 because only ran 4 cyl bars in beans.It would eat anything you fed it.

IH and DEERE had "cylinder rocking wrenches" one STILL had to pull out the slug 90% of the time.  I had rather pop the door (probably popped anyway due to slug) and insert door tool in the cylinder bar and pry out the slug or chunk and relatch and go back to combining than gain access to the others hard to get to cylinder.  Ran them for over 40 years now and probably didn't  plug a cylinder 4 times...now the feeder beater - that's a different story... but it usually kept the cylinder from plugging.

no, the concave adjustment is not hard at all. loosen the two clamp bolts per side,  then level it with the drawbolt, one on each side. if bolts are anti-seized, it is only a few minutes.

To unplug the cylinder, I loosen the clamp bolts and just the nut on the bottom side of the drawbolt, leaving the top nuts alone so height goes back to the setting after the unplug, and loosen the bottom nuts an inch or so, and attempt to unplug with power.

Only the nastiest greenest crap will require more. Dropping the door and using the drawbolt top nuts to suck it up will almost allways get it.

I personally like leaving the feeder beater not clamped all the way down with all the springs so I stand a chance of plugging it instead, as unplugging it is better than unplugging the cylinder. :)

Other brands do have a little easier to adjust concave, but IMO there is alot more going for a Gleaner to make up for that one little negative.

Consider getting a PFP Enclosed cylinder, I hear they are darn near impossible to plug.

As far as comparing the two, keep in mind a L2 is supposed to be around a 7720 size, although I hear guys claim their L2 would hog with a 8820 and have less loss.

The secret of the Gleaner conventional is the down front cylinder, it minimizes rock damage, and starts the separation process very early. It also has a constant feed angle to the cylinder (header floor and feederhouse floor never change angle to cylinder, unlike ones with cylinder behind the feederhouse.

The walkers on a the L/M series are very long, and perfect for small grains, and walker loss is basically impossible. we hog 100-150 bushel barley through them cutting on the ground taking all of the 3-4 foot tall straw in, and never give a second thought to it.

The complete lack of gearboxes or other complex drive systems on the Gleaner conventional is another appeal, as is the centered chassis with the rear engine, which applies existing weight for counterweight as well as simplify the drives and make everything easier to work on.

They were years ahead of most of their competitors by bringing electro-hydraulics to the combine market, and the cabs were always as good or better than competitors with good ergonomics. Gleaner had seat suspension optional since about 68, and standard since 78, took JD till 1995 IIRC.

The rotaries share similar virtues such as simplicity, rear mounted engine, low center of gravity, and constant feed angle to the cylinder. What makes them special is the accelerator rolls, which do the pre-cleaning and also allow the cleaning system to defy gravity.

On both of them, they always have sported massive bins, robust undercarriage and drivetrain, and powerful engines, usually surpassing those of their competitors.
In fact, it was not till fall of 2011 that John Deere finally made a bigger factory grain bin than a 1979 Gleaner N7.

Basically the major downside to them is the dealer network. Gleaner had an excellent presence in the 70s and 80s, but thanks to parent company failures and mergers, dealers have dropped all over. Luckily Agco has done a great job for providing parts, even for the older models.

Thanks to the late Kevin Bien, the Gleaner brand has a promising future and has had a major revival over the past decade.

I remember how surprised I was when a friend was talking about changing sprockets on his red corn head (had a 1660 I think). I asked him if they were wearing out fast or why would you do that. He cocked his head and said "Don't you ever change the corn head speed?" I said sure do, I push a button!! Have since our 76 M. Maybe before then even

skateboarder68 wrote: Also one thing I loved about our L2 was the self-raising and lowering bin extension. Pretty ingenious I thought

JD 8820 combine (base machine, no headers) weighs 23,600lbs.
Gleaner L3 combine (base machine, no headers) weighs 14.300lbs.

changing the concave clearance is kind of inconvenient sometimes, but not too bad. just have to make sure the little steel measuring tapes are correct so the cylinder sits level.

I have probably only plugged the cylinder 4 or 5 times since I've owned my L2, but I can tell you about every single way you can unplug a feeder beater. especially after I got that 20 ft head this fall!