jf fct1050

[jhorr30]

we are having a hell of a time with our jf forage harvester.
the metal detector appears to be detecting metal, dropping the pawl tostop the feed rollers. that would be all good but it does it with the machine running empty. if you disconnect the wires in the box on the machine for the metal detector it will run for ages no problem. connect them back up it will maybe trip after 10 seconds or might last a couple of mins or more.
problem we have is there are no jf service guys in Scotland, England and wales these days and the dealers south of Edinburgh where we are based have no more clue than us.
Through a contact from the supplying dealer we have been in contact with a guy in Ireland who is doing his best to help. I am unsure if he works for jf or works for a dealer.

on his advice we dismantled the feed rollers yesterday expecting to find a knackered bearing in the metal detecting roller. the bearings where all ok and nothing metal was inside or outside the roller.
we also was advised to demagnetise the smooth feed roller by running a 40amp current from a dc welder through it for 30 seconds. this has had no effect on it either.
short of spending £1200 on a new metal detecting tub for inside the feed roller or changing the card in the control box at around £800 does anyone have any ideas of things to look at?
the machine had a lot of non detecting problems when new in 2010 which saw the detector in the roller being changed and in 2011 when the card was overheating due to too much protective lacquer on it. has worked virtually faultless since until now. lifted the first 30 acre field of the season with no problem. the next 15 acres took 2 days to chop. got another 200 acres of grass to chop as soon as its dry so am tearing my hair out!

 

[KB6930]

Our contractor had issues with his a few years back he disconnected/ bypassed it somehow and worked for years like that.

 

[jhorr30]

can do that by taking out 2 wires in the box. got the detector on the machine as we have a fair bit of bother with metal being hidden in swaths, old car parts bring thrown into the fields etc. wrote the last machine a kv 10x off when it found a hydraulic coupling in the grass and couldn't quite cut it in half. buckled a brand new flywheel and bent the chassis of the chopper.

 

[KB6930]

Aye that's not handy I can't remember who he gets his parts/ advice from it's no one local someone in Lancashire rings a bell David Cowking rings a bell but I think he's the chopper breaker whoever he speaks to knows their stuff anyway.

 

[Beef farmer]

@Martin Holden

 

[Martin Holden]

Just to put you in the picture - I am no longer connected to the JF, now Kongskilde brand anymore since Jan this year when CNHI bought out Kongskilde Agriculture. That said, it sounds to me like the circuit board is the issue! Jut check that there is a ground Earth wire coming out of the box to the chassis. If not, I think I have an old drawing which shows how to do this. The original ones didn't have enough ground earth to work reliably. The new 60' series uses a completely different system which overcame the shortcomings of the 1050 series. Hope this helps.

 

[jhorr30]

Hi Martin. We checked the earth to the chassis as one of the first things we did. was bare metal between the terminal on the wire and the chassis. voltage down supply wire from battery was 12.9v with the engine off.

 

[Big_D]

David cowking certainly worth a try, can pm his number if you like. Knows his stuff. The only thing I can think of checking is the metal guide plates either side of pick up where grass feeds from pick up into rollers, through time the grass bends these down so that the detector can pick them up, had to brace ours to stop it happening. Can put a pic up if that doesn't make sense

 

[YELROM]

Our metal detector has been playing up this time.
I have figured that every time i bring the spout round to the right to its stop, that if you move the control joystick to try and move it further round to the right (it wont move as it is right round) it trips the metal detector.
Hope that makes sense

 

[Martin Holden]

Our metal detector has been playing up this time.
I have figured that every time i bring the spout round to the right to its stop, that if you move the control joystick to try and move it further round to the right (it wont move as it is right round) it trips the metal detector.
Hope that makes sense

That also sounds like a circuit board issue I'm afraid

 

[jhorr30]

Our metal detector has been playing up this time.
I have figured that every time i bring the spout round to the right to its stop, that if you move the control joystick to try and move it further round to the right (it wont move as it is right round) it trips the metal detector.
Hope that makes sense

I know I am not the expert here!
Have you got the machine wired to the battery rather than using the tractor power sockets? the tractor sockets can give a poor power supply with a poor earth as well.
I know the machine is very sensitive to bad earths and low current. if it also trips the detector when you try and move it left after it has reached the end of it's travel it might be a power supply issue.

 

[YELROM]

Now you mention it it could be the power supply as the lead i have direct to the battery lost power after the second load, so plugged it in to tractor socket and carried on

 

[jhorr30]

If the lead is left on the tractor all year round the fuse can corrode a bit giving poor contacts for the power to try and get through.

 

[Martin Holden]

I know I am not the expert here!
Have you got the machine wired to the battery rather than using the tractor power sockets? the tractor sockets can give a poor power supply with a poor earth as well.
I know the machine is very sensitive to bad earths and low current. if it also trips the detector when you try and move it left after it has reached the end of it's travel it might be a power supply issue.

Very good point. The solenoid that operates the stop pawl needs min 9v to work. Below that it'll trip out on its own

 

[njneer]

we are having a hell of a time with our jf forage harvester.
the metal detector appears to be detecting metal, dropping the pawl tostop the feed rollers. that would be all good but it does it with the machine running empty. if you disconnect the wires in the box on the machine for the metal detector it will run for ages no problem. connect them back up it will maybe trip after 10 seconds or might last a couple of mins or more.
problem we have is there are no jf service guys in Scotland, England and wales these days and the dealers south of Edinburgh where we are based have no more clue than us.
Through a contact from the supplying dealer we have been in contact with a guy in Ireland who is doing his best to help. I am unsure if he works for jf or works for a dealer.

on his advice we dismantled the feed rollers yesterday expecting to find a knackered bearing in the metal detecting roller. the bearings where all ok and nothing metal was inside or outside the roller.
we also was advised to demagnetise the smooth feed roller by running a 40amp current from a dc welder through it for 30 seconds. this has had no effect on it either.
short of spending £1200 on a new metal detecting tub for inside the feed roller or changing the card in the control box at around £800 does anyone have any ideas of things to look at?
the machine had a lot of non detecting problems when new in 2010 which saw the detector in the roller being changed and in 2011 when the card was overheating due to too much protective lacquer on it. has worked virtually faultless since until now. lifted the first 30 acre field of the season with no problem. the next 15 acres took 2 days to chop. got another 200 acres of grass to chop as soon as its dry so am tearing my hair out!

Had this before with 1060 , customer spent fortune on electrical components in the end it was mechanical adjustment.
Check the adjustment of the pawl , if it is too close to the ratchet wheel the vibration of the machine operating or driving over a bump can be enough for it to catch the passing pawl and drop it in., adjust the pawl away from the ratchet a little to increase the clearance and see how you go , might still be something else but a quick and easy adjustment to try and eliminate it from the equation.

 

[Martin Holden]

Had this before with 1060 , customer spent fortune on electrical components in the end it was mechanical adjustment.
Check the adjustment of the pawl , if it is too close to the ratchet wheel the vibration of the machine operating or driving over a bump can be enough for it to catch the passing pawl and drop it in., adjust the pawl away from the ratchet a little to increase the clearance and see how you go , might still be something else but a quick and easy adjustment to try and eliminate it from the equation.

When set correctly it should be approx 3mm from the edge of the ratchet wheel. It's close but it has to be for a fast stop!

 

[njneer]

When set correctly it should be approx 3mm from the edge of the ratchet wheel. It's close but it has to be for a fast stop!

Yes couldn't remember the exact setting but the one i went to was literally just clearing thevpawl and no more must have been thou in it.
Had a build up of grass on top,of itbtoo pressing it down also.
Adjusted it away and it never did it again.

 

[jhorr30]

fitted a new control box this afternoon. it ran for over 10 mins driving around a paddock without tripping out. just need to wait on some of the almost 5" of rain we have had draining away so we can mow some and try it out properly.

 

[6480]

fitted a new control box this afternoon. it ran for over 10 mins driving around a paddock without tripping out. just need to wait on some of the almost 5" of rain we have had draining away so we can mow some and try it out properly.

Make sure it will trip with metal contact to .i remember a man with self propelled and it didn't trip done alot of damage to iy

 

[jhorr30]

We have checked that it senses metal all along the roller already. Have had issues with a faulty detector when it was new. had a faulty card in the box the next year. bloody great thing when it goes...