Self-Leveling System For Massey 760

Self-Leveling System For Massey 760 COMBINES Headers 20-6-26 "It's the only Massey 760 I know of that's ever been equipped with a self-leveling system and it cost only a fraction of the $40,000 to $50,000 that a commercial leveling kit costs," says Steve Bughi, Walla Walla, Wash., about the one-of-a-kind self-leveling system he built for his combine three years ago. Bughi started with a used 1979 Massey 760 with 1,000 hours on it. He equipped it with a Peterson sieve to help reduce grain loss in his fields, some with as much as 30 percent slope. He removed stops from the rear axle to increase oscillation from 15 to 25?. He built a leveling frame for the front out of two 40-in. lengths of 18 by 8, 1/2-in. thick steel tubing. The tubes bolt to the axle flange on each side of the combine and extend out from its frame. A 9-in. dia. steel pin connects each piece of tubing to the axle flanges so they pivot horizontally. He beefed up the frame to handle the increased stress of the system, which adds 5 ft. to the combine's overall width. He mounted special-order hydraulic cylinders - 5 1/2-in. dia. with 3 1/2-in. dia. ram and 20-in. stroke - on brackets on each side of the combine to get drive wheels to extend and retract. They permit front wheels to move up and down 24 in. so the combine remains perfectly level on slopes of up to 23 percent and level enough on steeper slopes to prevent virtually any grain loss. Bughi also built a self-leveling system for his 24-ft. Massey header. He used a Massey elevator extension used in rice harvesting, and cut it in half lengthwise. He welded two 6 1/2-ft. dia., 3/8-in. thick semi circles to the front and back halves of the extension to keep material feeding evenly through the feederhouse's 5-ft. throat as it pivots on a 3 in. dia. pin, double-nutted on top of the feederhouse. The system operates with two 2-in. dia. hydraulic cylinders plumbed together. The drive cylinder mounts on the swing frame on the left side of the combine, while the slave cylinder mounts on the right side of the feederhouse. " To keep the header rotating as it pivots a maximum of 24 in., same as the header, he made a telescoping driveline from a 1-in. sq. solid shaft inside a 1 1/4-in. sq. hollow shaft. It runs from the feederhouse out to the header. For safety, all hydraulic cylinders are equipped with load check locks to hold them in place in case a hose breaks, Bughi notes. Bughi says his system can be used on 750, 760, 850 and 860 Masseys as well as new ones, which use the same final drives. Out-of-pocket expense was $19,000, including $9,000 for the combine. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Steve Bughi, Rt. 2, Box 252, Walla Walla, Wash. 99362 (ph 509 525-6827).

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