What To Check On Your Combine To Combat Grain Loss.

October 2023 – A study from the University of Georgia in 2021 found that farmers lose approximately 1 bushel of corn per acre during harvest. The university figured this by seeing how many corn kernels lay in the ag residue of a 2.5 x 4 foot rectangle. Two kernels per square foot can add up to 1 bushel of loss.

While corn yields have steadily increased in the US since the late 1930’s, any amount of grain lost is still a loss to the farmer. Reasons for grain loss during harvest include header loss occurring during gathering, threshing losses which refers to the grain left behind by the combine head and cleaning loss in which the grains are simply blown out of the combine along with crop residue.  

To combat grain loss in your combine, it is important to do a thorough inspection of your combine, from front to back, starting with your feeder house floor and continuing to the transition cone. Things to look for include wear and tear, holes and cracks in any of the areas where grain initially passes through.

From there, inspect your rotor cage for any wear, then onto the shaker pan which should be free of visible holes and cracks. Next, inspect your trough pan and elevator boots for wear, followed by your grain tank. The final inspection should be your unload system, making sure to note any holes found along the extension tube.

If you have noticed wear or holes in any of these areas, one easy solution is to line those high abrasion areas with a wear part liner from Ihle Fabrications. Installing liner kits anywhere the grain touches can help preserve the quality of the combine and protect it from further crop loss. All Ihle wear parts are made with dent and abrasion resistant materials such as Hardox® 450, a high-grade steel that is stronger than the OEM.

The benefits of replacement liners are the ease of installation, the lower cost of the liner vs. replacing the entire OEM, the improved combine performance with reinforcement in areas that wear, and prevention of crop yield loss. For example, lining your auger tube with our bubble up liner is as simple as removing your auger, sliding our bubble up liner into place and installing the eight bolts to hold it in place. As a bonus, this will cost you a fraction of what you would pay to replace the entire auger tube.

By lining the high grain traffic areas with an extra layer of protection with an Ihle Fabrications liner, you can ensure your combine will be running to maximum efficiency with minimal grain loss due to wear and tear and holes in your threshing areas.

To learn more about Ihle Wear Parts, visit our parts page.