Remove and Install Cutterbar Knife

  1. CAUTION: Death to you or others can occur from feeder house inadvertently lowering. Completely raise feeder house and verify that safety stop is engaged when performing any procedure with header attached to machine.

    Cracking of hydraulic line fittings to lower feeder house results in an immediate dropping of feeder house and header. To prevent injury, raise feeder house completely and lower safety stop (A) onto hydraulic cylinder rod.

    TS696
    TS696-UN-21SEP89

    H90891
    H90891-UN-26FEB08

    H112224
    H112224-UN-12NOV14

    Right-Hand Side Shown

    A - Feeder House Safety Stop

    B - Reel Safety Stop

    Completely raise feeder house and lower safety stop (A) onto hydraulic cylinder rod.



  2. Raise reel completely and engage reel safety stops (B) on reel lift cylinders.

  3. Shut OFF engine, set park brake, and remove key.

  4. H109633
    H109633-UN-14JAN14

    Dual Knife Center Area of Cutterbar Shown

    A - Left-Hand Knife

    B - Knife Center Section

    C - Cap Screws and Nuts

    Dual Knife Cutterbar Only:

    Disconnect left-hand knife section (A) from center section (B) by removing cap screws and nuts (C).

    IMPORTANT: Avoid damage to hold-downs. If also removing right-hand knife, disconnect center knife section and connecting bar.



  5. CAUTION: To reduce risk of personal injury, always wear gloves when handling knives. Stand to rear of knife when removing or installing.

    NOTE: Cutterbar removal procedure shown for left-hand side. Right-hand side similar.

    H103430
    H103430-UN-16SEP11

    H96273
    H96273-UN-06MAY10

    H103429
    H103429-UN-15SEP11

    Knife Shown Removed for Clarity

    A - Cap Screws

    B - Cutterbar Hold-Downs

    C - Cap Screw

    D - Knife Head Bearing

    Manually rotate knife drive until knife head cap screws (A) are accessible.



  6. Loosen cap screw (C).

  7. Remove cap screws (A) to disconnect knife from drive.

  8. NOTE: It may be necessary to loosen hold-downs (B) slightly to allow knife to slide freely.

    Pull knife through guards until bearing assembly (D) is separated from knife drive gearbox.

  9. Remove cap screw (C).

  10. H103442
    H103442-UN-16SEP11

    H92140
    H92140-UN-09JUN08

    A - Self-Locking Pliers

    B - Bearing Assembly

    C - Spanner Ring

    Using a pair of self-locking pliers (A), apply light pressure to relief area of knife head to expand it.



  11. Remove bearing assembly (B).

  12. Remove spanner ring (C).

  13. IMPORTANT: Spanner ring maintains a smooth drive operation and proper knife head alignment. Replace spanner ring any time a major component failure has occurred in knife head or knife drive gearbox area.

    Replace spanner ring any time system has been previously operated with improper knife head alignment.

    Install new spanner ring (C) in knife head of newly installed knife.

  14. Install bearing assembly (B) in knife head.

  15. Remove self-locking pliers (A).

  16. H103444
    H103444-UN-16SEP11

    A - Knife Head Drive Cap Screws

    B - Knife Head Cap Screw

    Install cap screw (B) but do not tighten at this time.



  17. Push knife back into guards until bearing contacts drive. Verify that drive is positioned correctly to accept bearing and lightly tap components together. Tighten cap screws (A) to specification.

    ItemMeasurementSpecification
    Knife Head Drive Cap Screws (A)Torque130 N·m (96 lb.-ft.)

    IMPORTANT: Failure to tighten cap screws (A) can result in knife and drive damage.

  18. IMPORTANT: Setting of cutterbar head is critical. If cutterbar head is not set correctly, binding and gearbox failure can occur.

    H103445
    H103445-UN-16SEP11

    H64729
    H64729-UN-25AUG00

    A - Knife Head

    B - Bearing Shield

    C - Gap

    D - Gaps

    E - Knife Back

    Set vertical position and angle of knife head (A) so cutting surface is centered in guard slot and is parallel to bottom of guard slot at (C).

    NOTE: Make sure knife head (A) does not contact bearing shield (B).



  19. Check fore/aft gap distance (D) at both locations between knife back (E) and first guard to verify that a gap exists. If there is no gap, see Align Knife Head And Knife Drive in this section.

  20. NOTE: While tightening cap screw to specification use pry bar to avoid twisting of cutterbar head and loss of knife head settings.

    H103446
    H103446-UN-16SEP11

    A - Knife Head Cap Screw

    Tighten cap screw (A) to specification.

    ItemMeasurementSpecification
    Knife Head Cap ScrewTorque130 N·m (96 lb.-ft.)



  21. Verify that knife section is still properly positioned in first guard slot after knife head cap screw is fully tightened.

  22. See Align Knife Head And Knife Drive in this section to verify that cutterbar is properly aligned.

SS43267,000047A-19-20141113