Combine Threshing and Equipment Maintenance Tips

Apr 03, 2018

The threshing elements and concaves are some of the hardest working elements in your combine. That being said, it’s essential to perform routine maintenance on these parts and measure wear when possible to keep everything running smoothly. Doing so can ensure that the harvesting season is as fruitful and successful as you need it to be.

Let’s take a look at some tips for measuring wear on your combine threshing and separating parts.

Check the threshing element with the combine clearance gauge from John Deere. If the tool goes over the trailing edge, the element needs to be replaced.
Check the separator tines by placing the edge of the gauge against the rotor to measure the length of each tine.
Use the corn or grain end, depending on your concave type, to measure wear.
When replacing your elements or tine, replace them in quantities of three to keep the rotor balanced.
John Deere offers small wire concaves for items, such as wheat and barley. Round bar concaves are ideal for corn and soybeans. Large wire concaves are recommended for rice, sorghum, and confection sunflowers. However, you can install concave inserts for wheat if you want to avoid changing out the concaves.
If you’re replacing parts in an earlier model machine, your John Deere dealer may offer aftermarket alternatives for you to use instead.
Schedule an offseason inspection with a John Deere dealer to spot any underlying issues before harvesting season begins. This will ensure that your machinery is in working order.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.