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Post by garyfunk on Sept 20, 2021 7:50:53 GMT -6
I have no experience with the single auger hopper. Our ten inch westfield swing seems to have the capacity balanced pretty good with both the swing and main tube running full except in oats. In oats when the hopper is full it sometimes bridges going past the gearboxes and pops the cover.
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Post by kenmb on Sept 20, 2021 9:16:48 GMT -6
Looking at the hopper it looks like the upper auger picture is correct. Lower auger the flighting is leaning back as the grain is moved to the left. Will have to ask Meridian about it. Could also be a reason why grain seems to be spraying out of hopper.
I notice that Meridians wear edge is on the backside of all the flighting. Found that odd. I just assumed it would be on the face of the flighting as that is where I thought most of the wear is. Would also form a bit more of a cup if on face of flighting as grain moves upwards.
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Post by northernfarmer on Sept 20, 2021 9:20:20 GMT -6
Meridian has that super flight edge system I assume is being used on a variety of augers and I would think by that you would be able to tell if the flighting is welded on correctly as you compare the various augers in the hopper, the rest of the swing and the bottom of the main tube flighting. Also one could compare another auger to it visually and also taking note if for some reason they have screwed up and not put the flighting close enough to the ujoints in the elbow for example and causing an issue with feeding properly within the swing auger assembly.
I happened to post this just after you posted that photo. Yes that is certainly different in the side of the flighting they form that thicker edge and as to how much of a difference that makes in the over all performance is hard to say vs brands that form the thicker edge on the wear side. Probably with a hopper its more about the diameter of those augers then anything as I mentioned my older Westfield having smaller augers in the hopper then the Farm King.
Aside from whatever is going on with it, I know once I went from a 10" auger up to 13" augers there was no doubt about it that I had zero desire to be using a 10" auger for any volumes of grain again. If it wasn't for cost Ken, I would say absolutely to make the jump up to a 13" and depending on the tractor available if it still is the 4020, that still can move lots of grain in that size auger but just not pushing the auger to its limits as the tractor would probably not like the max load an auger of that size requires.
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Post by meskie on Sept 20, 2021 9:44:51 GMT -6
I thought the meridians had the flighting so they turned the grain towards the middle of the hopper. Was supposed to stop the spraying of grain and loaded the tube better.
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Post by kenmb on Sept 20, 2021 11:42:10 GMT -6
Meridian will send a service guy out to look at it.
Yes Meskie, the two flights are twisted in opposite direction to force grain to center. But I think the shape of the one flight is why it bounces grain out. I can't actually see it occurring, I have looked for it but it is not in-your face obvious. But looking at the shape of the flighting I think I see the answer I was looking for.
NF, the way I looked at it is when hauling with a tandem the difference in unload time between a 10 and 13" is about 3 minutes. My life is not that intense that 3 minutes really matters. I used to do a round trip from combine, road a couple miles to yard, dump and back to combine in 20 minutes. The truck travel and even backing up to auger are the biggest factors moving grain with a tandem, unload time not so much. 7 to 8 minutes isn't so bad. But if a guy is running an auger at 450 rpm rated speed and it is now taking 12 minutes for a tandem then I would think differently. The flighting on the hd10 46 and all flights on the swing have the wear edge on backside. Just a curious thing. I think the 8" Wheatheart is on the face and that is maybe where my assumption comes from. Have to look again.
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Post by meskie on Sept 20, 2021 12:26:50 GMT -6
When we went from a 10” auger to a 13” auger unloading went twice as fast. When using the tandem trucks you could open the chute wide open and not overfill the auger. We always ran it slower with them so it didn’t spray grain out everywhere. On our semi it went from a 25-30 minute unload to 12-15 minutes. We only run our augers around 450 PTO rpm. Any faster didn’t seem to make the grain unload any faster.
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Post by northernfarmer on Sept 20, 2021 16:17:58 GMT -6
I prefer to run the auger below the full pto/engine speed if I can as well, I typically have the JD 4430 running about 1900 or so under load and its not even all that loaded down given that westfields slower bushel rate and that is probably also in that 450 pto speed range. In fact I tried that tractor on the Farm King which is a fair bit shorter auger and to a low grain bin and maxed out the rpm and flow into it and boy does that auger take a lot more power if pushed and moves it markedly faster in the process. Its a while ago I had done an experiment by trying to get the maximum flow and time it with a trailer of 1300 bu of wheat where I could swing the auger to both hoppers without moving the truck and I thought it was around 8 minutes. I hate pushing a unit like that as I just think its hard on everything and of course dry canola is notably easier to auger vs wheat ( or the auger destroying peas that we have not handled in years now ).
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Post by kenmb on Sept 20, 2021 19:40:44 GMT -6
Part of my thinking was the 10" Westfield hopper I can kick around with one foot. Figured a new 10" hopper would be just as easy to move but going to a 13" would need a mover for sure. I ended up putting on a Auger Jogger on this new auger anyway so blew that reasoning out the window. No doubt the 4020 would run a 13" and I can hit those 19" bin lids fine with a 10" but when augers get bigger those small lids don't get any bigger. Kind of hoping the wife would move the auger sometimes and so 10" would be that much easier, but so far I am the auger mover. Oh well, can always trade in some day if I need more speed but would mean I failed somewhere because I hope to be less rushed as time goes by. Really appreciate now how dad slowed down as time went by. From always rushed to - it can wait another day.
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Post by northernfarmer on Sept 20, 2021 21:54:50 GMT -6
When we started using a trailer ( tridem with third hopper out the back, what a pain ) with the 10" that soon got old dragging/kicking that hopper around and when we got the 13" that was a no go as its a boat anchor in comparison and would break the average guys back to struggle with that so put on the rather micky mouse mover that Westfield had at the time, it works but its strapped on up the tube a ways vs powered wheels on the hopper. All along I've used the typical five bucket plastic type spouts on these augers and while it sure can be frustrating sometimes due to the ground slopes, for the most part its not that bad to drop that spout in as otherwise with no flex spout I could see all sorts of damage happening to the bin and auger. Most of the bins I use have the old yellow cap westeel openings as a size comparison and a couple of smaller diameter holes in wheatland bins but with the flex spout it works quite ok. I wired up the augers with a lower light and a light on the underside of the auger to shine up to the spout to see at night each on their own switch, that is a must to have lights unless your yard is lit up fantastically.
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Post by kevlar on Sept 20, 2021 22:06:13 GMT -6
Part of my thinking was the 10" Westfield hopper I can kick around with one foot. Figured a new 10" hopper would be just as easy to move but going to a 13" would need a mover for sure. I ended up putting on a Auger Jogger on this new auger anyway so blew that reasoning out the window. No doubt the 4020 would run a 13" and I can hit those 19" bin lids fine with a 10" but when augers get bigger those small lids don't get any bigger. Kind of hoping the wife would move the auger sometimes and so 10" would be that much easier, but so far I am the auger mover. Oh well, can always trade in some day if I need more speed but would mean I failed somewhere because I hope to be less rushed as time goes by. Really appreciate now how dad slowed down as time went by. From always rushed to - it can wait another day. I have actually found the opposite with getting the larger auger into the bins. Our 10 inch FarmKing is horrible, it sways back and forth, drops probably 10 inches or so from empty to full, and when you lower the swing it moves over 6-8 inches. I was worried a bit about the 13 inch Westfield we got and trying to get in the opening, it has a narrower wheel base than the FarmKing, but is way more stable, and the auger has almost zero movement when lowering the hopper and doesn't lower down when full. I can only guess the larger tube has less give making it more stable. Our 13 inch doesn't have a mover and it moves easier than the 10 inch does, it has a better wheel design that have the wheels angled a bit, I can push it around with one foot, but have a hook I use most of the time.
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Post by meskie on Sept 20, 2021 23:16:14 GMT -6
Part of my thinking was the 10" Westfield hopper I can kick around with one foot. Figured a new 10" hopper would be just as easy to move but going to a 13" would need a mover for sure. I ended up putting on a Auger Jogger on this new auger anyway so blew that reasoning out the window. No doubt the 4020 would run a 13" and I can hit those 19" bin lids fine with a 10" but when augers get bigger those small lids don't get any bigger. Kind of hoping the wife would move the auger sometimes and so 10" would be that much easier, but so far I am the auger mover. Oh well, can always trade in some day if I need more speed but would mean I failed somewhere because I hope to be less rushed as time goes by. Really appreciate now how dad slowed down as time went by. From always rushed to - it can wait another day. I have actually found the opposite with getting the larger auger into the bins. Our 10 inch FarmKing is horrible, it sways back and forth, drops probably 10 inches or so from empty to full, and when you lower the swing it moves over 6-8 inches. I was worried a bit about the 13 inch Westfield we got and trying to get in the opening, it has a narrower wheel base than the FarmKing, but is way more stable, and the auger has almost zero movement when lowering the hopper and doesn't lower down when full. I can only guess the larger tube has less give making it more stable. Our 13 inch doesn't have a mover and it moves easier than the 10 inch does, it has a better wheel design that have the wheels angled a bit, I can push it around with one foot, but have a hook I use most of the time. Give it a few years when it gets bumped and bent up a little bit and that hopper gets harder to move. The wheels don’t track so nice. We got a Brandt auger a couple years ago with the XTEND on it or whatever Brandt calls it. And it is far nicer to use then the Westfield with the electric mover on it. Especially unloading with the super B. It’s way smoother running also.
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Post by kenmb on Sept 21, 2021 8:51:31 GMT -6
Good to know Kevlar. Yes, I am a little ticked with the Meridian because it moves when the hopper is lowered and the end swings around like a wet noodle moving it compared to the old Westfield. As i have said previously, the Meridian is a far superior auger to look at, but in use the old Westfield works better.
Maybe I will move to a 13" some day. Won't rule it out. I figured a 10" served us well to this point and I have no intention of expanding. My #1 goal is to keep doing what I am doing but to make things easier. I just figured a bigger auger was going to have some negatives as mentioned that come with the gain in speed.
Live and learn.
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Post by kevlar on Sept 21, 2021 22:59:27 GMT -6
Oh well, can always trade in some day if I need more speed but would mean I failed somewhere because I hope to be less rushed as time goes by. Really appreciate now how dad slowed down as time went by. From always rushed to - it can wait another day. That’s actually the opposite way of thinking to my reasoning. We got the 13 inch swing and 10 inch loading auger to accomplish what you are wanting, to not be so rushed. Every minute you can save somewhere frees you up for something else, whether it be something else that needs done on the farm, or even better, to spend with the family. Until you begin to add up all the time spent doing something, you don’t realize just how much time you waste. If I can save myself 50-60 hours a year just from watching an auger, that’s money well spent.
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Post by kenmb on Sept 22, 2021 7:54:13 GMT -6
I will challenge that Kevlar. Call it one of life's lessons, and this is something to be very careful of and you don't notice it until you step back and really pay attention. When you are trying to maximize every minute of time you are stressing yourself. This is a fact. While it is believed the time you are saving is freeing yourself up to do something better later on you are basically tossing away living in the here and now for living in the future. Maybe not the best way to say it but if people understand what I mean, then they get it.
So it is a conscious decision to recognize that when I go and chase down an option to better maximize my minutes, I am putting myself in a thought process, even lifestyle, where I must carry that thinking onto every other task.
There are a few people out there to can maximize their minutes in one area during the day and coast along in other areas to enjoy their day more so. While I try doing that, and being mindful of it, I honestly find it hard to do. The littlest things can switch me into "go hard, get it done" mode. Really trying to avoid that mode.
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Post by garyfunk on Sept 22, 2021 12:56:40 GMT -6
This is turning into a whole other topic ... but if I had been using an eight inch auger instead of a ten inch last week I probably wouldn't have had time to get my elk. What one person might call over equipped another might call more efficient. I guess it depends how one wants to utilize the free time it can provide, ie more work or more leisure. 🤷♂️
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