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April 14, 2022

How Many Parts Are in the Combine?

As a farmer, you know how essential combines are to harvesting your crop. They save you both time and money, and thus headache in the harvesting process. You understand how important they are, but what exactly makes them so important? Why is it called the combine? And what are the parts of it, anyway?

If you are searching for used combines for sale, let’s first make sure you get the full picture of what a combine harvester is and what it does. Then you can check out Machinery Pete to find exactly what you’re looking for, but we’ll get to that later.

What Is the Function of the Combine Harvester?

A combine harvester is a machine that combines four parts of the harvesting process: reaping (cutting), threshing (separating grain), gathering, and winnowing (removing chaff). Because these tasks are done by one machine, farmers are able to harvest much more quickly with fewer laborers helping them. A combine can typically harvest about 50-100 acres of land per day depending on weather conditions, size of the combine, and type of crop being harvested.


Parts of a Combine Harvester and Their Functions

So what are all the parts of a combine? A combine is made up of 17,000 parts. To put this into perspective, an automobile is typically made up of 6,000. As you can tell, combines are complex pieces of machinery. Because there are so many individual parts, we will discuss the 21 main parts of a combine harvester to get the best overview.


Power

There are two types of combines, the control and the self-propelled combine harvesters. The control harvester relies on a seperate tractor for its power, but the self-propelled harvester has an engine that powers it built in. The combine’s driver sits in the cab and maneuvers the combine through the field.


Header

The header is what cuts the crop from the ground. Headers vary in size depending on the type of crop being harvested. The reel uses its metal teeth to push the crop down towards the cutter bar. The cutter bar is the long part of the header at the front of the combine that does the actual cutting. From there, the header auger pushes the cut crop onto the grain conveyor to be transported into the combine. During the process, any rocks picked up fall into the stone trap to protect the inside of the combine from damage.


Threshing Unit

This unit is where the edible parts of the crop are separated from the inedible ones. When the grain enters the threshing drum, the drum spins and uses friction to rub the seeds free from the rest of the plant. The speed at which the drum spins needs to be altered depending on the type of crop being harvested. 

Once the plants go through the threshing drum, they go into the concave where the grain is separated from the smaller parts of the straw that is left over.


Cleaning Unit

The grain then falls through the top adjustable sieve onto a connected grain pan. A fan blows on the grain to remove any unwanted material off of it. The grain then falls onto the bottom sieve to go through a similar process to remove even more chaff. An impeller moves this material across and through the sieves through rotation. The unwanted chaff and stalks travel via a straw walker, a type of conveyor, into the straw chopper to be cut before expelling it from the combine. The grain then goes through a tailings conveyor, which pushes any grain that hasn’t been completely separated from the stalk and chaff to the tailings rethresher to go through the threshing and cleaning processes again.


Grain and Tailing Collection

A grain auger transports the grain into the grain tank to be stored. Once the grain tank fills up, a tractor pulling a grain cart will pull up beside the combine, and the unloading auger will push the grain out of the combine and into the cart.


Find Used Combine Parts Using Machinery Pete

Combines do a lot for farmers during harvest, but they can be expensive to buy new. Machinery Pete offers an online marketplace to buy what you need to harvest efficiently (as well as any other farming equipment you may need). Using the filters within the site, you can find the perfect used combine parts to fix your combine while also saving you money. To learn more about Machinery Pete or to create an account to start searching, click here.