Rabe Raven skimmer bolts

[Fen Farmer]

Working a 5f Rabe Raven here. Having problems with breaking the 2 bolts which hold the skimmer stalks to the frame of the plough. It seems they aren't very robust!
Have switched from 8.8 to 10.9 bolts which has improves things slightly but not 100% cured. Would I be best of with genuine bolts?
Anyone come up against this before?
Thanks

 

[ploughman1963]

Looking at your name I am guessing you are on the Fens and therefore likely to be in light puffy soil - or have i got that wrong? If I hadnt come to the above conclusion I would have said you must be in some heavy old stuff and you are running your skimmers way too deep. I would only run skimmers about 12-2" deep max. I run a similar plough and no its not been an issue unless Ive hit a big obstruction.

 

[Fen Farmer]

Yes! Very light and puffy here - on slatted bodies.
I have got the skimmers fairly shallow, perhaps I should lift them out further!

 

[ploughman1963]

THen I cannot understand - if you stop in-furrow in the middle of the run - how much of your skimmer is in the ground? if you have more than the replaceable skim point in then you are too deep - but still surprised that there would be enough resistance in that soil to snap the bolts. Are you keeping the bolts tight?

 

[Fen Farmer]

Skimmers are maybe an inch deeper than the point, will lift them a little. I think it's when I catch the harder headlands on ex spud ground. Yes, bolts are rock tight.

 

[ploughman1963]

Im afraid bring the skimmers shallower is all I can suggest - other than, will your plough allow you to move the skimmers further forward? The downside is the scalpings could end up on the back of the body in front but it will increase the gap between the skimmer point and the main point/shin

 

[Exfarmer]

Skimmers are maybe an inch deeper than the point, will lift them a little. I think it's when I catch the harder headlands on ex spud ground. Yes, bolts are rock tight.

I am sure you can‘t mean your skimmers are an inch deeper than the point*. Skimmers should run as shallow as possible,
* perhaps local terminology. A point in Norfolk was what I called the share.

 

[traineefarmer]

As well as the suggestions already mentioned, I'd recommend trying some genuine bolts - most of the metric bolts supplied by dealers and fastener suppliers are far-eastern made and just about meet the ISO spec. The Rabe ones should be top quality and probably european made.

We had a similar problem on a combine variator pulley which would shear an M10 bolt every few hours. I found a bolt on my XC90 that was the right length and ordered a load from my volvo dealer (much to his amusement!) now we only shear one a year.

Make sure your dealer supplies them in a Rabe packet. Some substitute genuine nuts and bolts for cheap generic stock as that's what most customers want.

 

[Fen Farmer]

Thanks for the comments, will try run them as shallow as possible. Will see about some genuine bolts also.