Unloading On The Go ?

It wasn't made for that. Do what you want but I think you'll regret it. How much time are you saving?

I would not leave the auger full when you put it down. My uncle did that on his M2 two years a go and it couldnt get it back up. He broke something but i cant remember what at this point. That combine was never a very reliable machine the 3 years we used it. 

I'm not saying do it or don't do it.  But, I remember Dad having to fix one once out in the field as it was laying on the ground.  Had to drive the loader tractor from the shop out to the customer's farm.  Can't remember if it was an L or M combine.  Heck, the guy might have hit a pole... I just can't remember anything other than the unloading auger laying on the ground.

Brian F(IL) wrote: I'm not saying do it or don't do it.  But, I remember Dad having to fix one once out in the field as it was laying on the ground.  Had to drive the loader tractor from the shop out to the customer's farm.  Can't remember if it was an L or M combine.  Heck, the guy might have hit a pole... I just can't remember anything other than the unloading auger laying on the ground. But, I only remember having to do that once.  I think I'm with Michael.  If you do it, don't do it often loaded.

I’m not dismissing your theory, but after a lot of in/out cycles, the swivel wears, the ball bearings drop out, and the auger can fall off. I’ve never had it happen, but I know several people it’s happened to.

Unloading on the go is pretty much the norm around here, if the combine stopped to unload every time the bin is full, there is a lot of time spent, in 250+BPA corn, the combine bin is unloaded A LOT, and when it's full, its not always convenient to drive to the truck to dump.
The main thing is,to keep that combine moving,and harvesting, hence, unloading on the go...

PaulB wrote: CrestonM wrote: With all the custom operators that ran L’s, I’d think they’d be designed to unload on the go? I think if you did the math it would save you quite a bit of time in the end. They taught us in a farm management class how to calculate all that, but I’d have to sit down and think about the formulas. I’ve seen plenty of M/L machines unloading on the go over the years. I wouldn’t think it would be good to fold it back in while full, just empty the bin while you’re cutting, then fold back. I’m sure some others with more knowledge/experience than me will know. Creston: Ask you farm management teacher if that factors in the cost if the $100,000 big tractor and $50,000 + grain cart along with the extra operator, as opposed to just the truck setting at the edge of the field.

Tbone95 wrote: PaulB wrote: CrestonM wrote: With all the custom operators that ran L’s, I’d think they’d be designed to unload on the go? I think if you did the math it would save you quite a bit of time in the end. They taught us in a farm management class how to calculate all that, but I’d have to sit down and think about the formulas. I’ve seen plenty of M/L machines unloading on the go over the years. I wouldn’t think it would be good to fold it back in while full, just empty the bin while you’re cutting, then fold back. I’m sure some others with more knowledge/experience than me will know. Creston: Ask you farm management teacher if that factors in the cost if the $100,000 big tractor and $50,000 + grain cart along with the extra operator, as opposed to just the truck setting at the edge of the field. Actually, to think a college level farm management class would NOT think to include equipment costs in the calculation is.......

Oh yes...if you knew all the figures we had to run to arrive at those answers and many others like that, you’d be surprised. We’d take our “barn of equipment”, figure the year built/hours on each machine, depreciate it to the current year to get current values, do feasibility equations to determine what’s the most fitting operation choice/style, number of employees to have, etc. for a farm’s operating budget.
As far as unloading on the go, we’d figure the acres/hour combined, figure the average travel time to the truck, unloading time, then time deadheading back. Take that whole time frame, figure the amount of ground that could’ve been covered cutting. Then take the average bpa to figure how often you unload, and multiply that by the time deadheading and unloading. There’s a lot to it, but that’s the short and sweet.

Edited by CrestonM - 24 Oct 2019 at 7:14pm

SteveM C/IL wrote: It wasn't made for that. Do what you want but I think you'll regret it. How much time are you saving?

 

I think the material on F2's is marginal for strength that's why I say no
Later,bigger machines are built with unloading on the go in mind. Just my opinion.

Tho not an F or L or M, here’s some ballpark numbers for you to chew on from an R62.
6 row head in a corn field 1/4 mile rows( minus end rows) running 4mph in 190 bpa , it takes me right at 2 minutes to unload on the end of the field. To make one pass, takes me 2 min. 30 seconds. I unload on the go at 3.5 mph. Time saved adds up in a hurry. But I don’t think I would do it with a 30 plus year old machine.

Michael V (NM) wrote: Big al wrote: You would need two trucks, one setting at each end of the field. Then there is the issue of not being able to make it to the end, so now you have to back out, drive around the uncut rows, go dump, then come  back, and finish those rows, dump again, then start combining to the other end, and start the whole process over, not to mention the time spent dumping. Yes it pays.       this is another thing I forgot to mention,,,if ya cant make it to the end of the field,,, man,, this takes up LOTS of time, I've done it this way before I had a grain cart, harvesting by myself,,, seems like it took 2 weeks to do 120 acres, but I was doing it all, running combine, and taking the trucks to the elevator...

I deal with this all the time. Last couple weeks I have been struggling to get 20 acres a day with the L2 and run trucks. That includes leaving a full truck at the elevator that evening to dump first thing in the morning. I also work in town so 1/2 day puts me at 10:30.

The neighbor doesn’t like trucking so yesterday he was running the L2. I was trucking and running the F3 between loads and we cut 40 acres. From 1 to dark. Was a good day.

Nobody mentions all the extra wheel traffic you can keep off of your fields if you are able to make a round and unload on the ends. Seems unloading on the go becomes a bigger issue when we have high yielding corn and combines running bigger heads. Running 50 bushel beans it is not as big of a deal. I think the John Deere guys had to start unloading on the go when they put 6 row heads on 6600's because they couldn't get half way across a field.

No one mentions the obvious! Is the auger tall enough to unload on the go? I would want a little wiggle room unless your fields are perfectly flat and you are unloading into a hundred bushel barge box or 1959 tonner Chevy I wouldn’t attempt it with an F

Supposedly double the capacity of a combine when you unload on the go. A turret equipped would eliminate some of the stresses to folding up full.