L2 working perfectly. Thank you.

After reading some of the combine posts I realized I should probably post about my past struggles and the help from this forum. I have an 82 L2 with a 318 flex head.   It had new ausherman skip tooth cylinder bars and new concave bars when we bought it

I had been having typical head slugging issues which plugged the feeder beater in short beans. One day it was good dry running conditions. That night there was no dew but a front was coming in the next day. Beans were still dry but the stems had gotten tough. I couldn’t go 50’ without plugging the feeder beater. My neighbor and friend was helping with his 1620 and was running with no issues. I was so mad I threatened to go red.   Some of you may remember my rants.

It rained that night and I vowed to do every trick I had ever read on here. Per Dr Allis’ and Trban’s advice. I filled the spring holder on the feeder beater slip clutch with springs and raised it up all the way.

I moved the header cross auger all the way forward and hammered 5/8 lock washers on the flighting every 1/3 turn.

I bought a piece of 3” tanker hose which the salesman miss quoted the price. The guy in parts said $5.70 which we took to be per foot. They called the next day and said it was $570 total and acted like I cheated them. I told him it was the first time I ever bought tanker hose and how was I supposed to know. But I digress. I bought some 3” P clamps and clamped it behind the sickle.

I also bought reel paddles from Shoup and adjusted the reel forward to push the beans up and over the 3” pipe.

I can now count on one hand how many times I’ve plugged the feeder beater in the last 2 seasons. All those times were in green stem butter beans on the first round where I should have known better.

The neighbor now has a 1460 with 15’ head. we were in 70 bushel beans on an 8 acre patch. He was running 3.5 mph and I was running 4. Neither of us were leaving anything behind. I should also note that farm averaged 45 bpa which is above average this year.

My wife used to not let me near her during harvest because my hands were so rough from pulling beans from the L2. Now I can get in and run without fear of plugging. It is a beast now. I can now run 5 mpg in 12” 30 bpa beans with no separator loss.

The only down side I have noticed to this setup is in 6” beans at 25% population. There aren’t enough plants coming in to push them over the 3” hose and I have noticed they tend to sit on the sickle and vibrate off the front. But I will accept that loss in low yield situations for the added reliability in medium height and yield situations.

Sorry to be so long winded but hopefully someone else reads this and it helps them. I went from feeling like a basket case to being confident in what I have.

Thanks for all the help from everyone on this forum. Your a great bunch and I wish I could repay you for all the free advice

Edited by wekracer - 13 Nov 2019 at 8:29pm

Folks,