Need serious corn sheller help!!!

[Jebaroni]

Hey guys. I bought a corn sheller yesterday. Kinda reminds me of the guys that set out to find the ugliest, worst, most far-gone, hopeless tractor they can find and try to restore it. Well, I got the corn sheller version of that. It's pretty much all there, but it's a bit unusual. It is an IHC sheller (several IHC logos on cast parts) but it's all-steel and is a 2-hole sheller. I never knew IHC made a 2-hole job much less in a steel version. It differs from the ordinary 1-hole model being a little wider, belt pulley replaces the hand crank, has an elevator that carries the cobs away from the sheller, and an elevator that carries the shelled kernels up about 4 feet to go to a bin or bagger chute.

I need to know what model sheller this is so I can get a manual. Now the bad news. There are quite a few broken parts. The chain sproket that drives the cob elevator is broken off. I can get another one of those without too much difficulty as even if the diameter is different, it won't really affect much. However, there is a large gear that sits behind the flywheel that is broken in half that needs to be replaced, and a 3rd gear on the opposite (non-flywheel)side that is missing altogether. Would anybody happen to have a 2-hole sheller like this that they could part out or know where these parts might be obtained? I'm calling in all favors to try and find these things!! Thanks a bunch!

I have pictures on my photobucket website at http://photobucket.com/albums/v44/jebaroni/

Jeb

[Mike Schweikert]

Try Ebay, I saw somebody was selling guts from a wooden version, might do the trick....

[Scott]

There's one like yours on ebay, but their opening bid price is a little high. Maybe you can talk them down on the price.

[Harry]

The IHC Keystone line had a two-hole sheller. I have the Pony, which is a one-holer and came in both wood and metal. The XL was their two-hole version and included the elevator options.

http://www.old-engine.com/keystone.htm

[Jebaroni]

Thanks for the pictures Harry. I have the all steel version but it's nice to see other pictures of the earlier machines. I have contacted the guy on eBay who is selling the other sheller but so far no response. It is interesting to note that the small gear on the non-flywheel side is also missing entirely on his sheller just like it is gone from mine. Part of me wonders if there ever was a gear there in the first place, but if there was no gear, then why does the shaft next to it have a gear on it with nothing to drive and why is there a gear gaurd going around where a gear would reasonably seem to go? I'll probably know more when I get the think torn down and take a look at what it's driving inside.

I even saw an old black and white picture from the Wisconsin Historical Society of a similar yet different 2-hole steel sheller and it also seemed to be missing the gear on that side. Really gets you to start wondering. I really appreciate the help and again, if anybody knows where I might be able to get some parts, PLEASE! let me know! Thanks!

Jeb

[Benny Mckheean]

I also have a IHC metal one hole corn sheller that I painted about three years ago but I have not uncovered it since.If you need any pictures of It I can get you some.

[Andrew Albrecht]

I just got a Keystone IHC two hole wood model like the one in Harry's photo.
Needs a little work on the feet and i think part of the elevator is there. Got it in a local auction for $185.00. If photos will help you i can take some, guess i need to document it anyway.

[W.B.Lewis]

Jeb, I just sold an original IHC Keystone corn sheller sales catalog to a paper dealer in L ancaster, Pa. If you are interested I can give you their address. W.B.Lewis

[Mike Schweikert]

Hey reading this leads me to ask if anyone has any pix of a John Deere 2A steel sheller. I got one and wanted to see what it is supposed to look like..
Thanks all

[Jebaroni]

Mr. Lewis;

I'm not so interested in purchasing the original manual as I would be in just seeing some different angle views of the machine. Again, my unit is ALL-STEEL, not the wooden version. The configuration on the wooden units is totally different from the steel units. Not even close. Parts interchangibility may be a different story. To those who said they had wooden units, let me look and see if I can get part numbers off of the parts i'm looking for and see if any match up on your units so I can see if my pool of possibly parts machines will be any bigger. Thanks for the help!

Jeb

[Sky]

wish i could get a kern sheller fer my fairbanks to work!

[Jebaroni]

They *shouldn't* be too hard to find. Heck, I live in Iowa now right in the heart of corn belt country and you woudn't beleive how hard it is to find one of these things that someone is willing to sell. I see them fairly regularly, but they either want too much, or its in really bad shape (like mine), or it's not for sale. Around here they sell at auctions for around $65 on average in varying condition and i'm actually hoping to pick up an IHC one-hole steel sheller to go with the two hole kinda like a set. The one-holers are much more common and can be restored a lot easier. Skylar, just keep asking around and you normally see loads of them at shows. I think there were about 4 or 5 at Denton, NC this year for sale. I opted to buy my David Bradley corn grinder there instead of a sheller. Just ask around....and keep asking around. That's how I ended up with mine and that's what i'm now doing to try and find parts for it!!!

Jeb

[Harry]

Originally Posted by W.B.Lewis

Jeb, I just sold an original IHC Keystone corn sheller sales catalog to a paper dealer in L ancaster, Pa. If you are interested I can give you their address. W.B.Lewis

Might be just like the one that I have. I paid more for it than my corn sheller.
Jebaroni, I'll try to get some more scans put up.

[Bryan Storey]

The hand crank for this sheller has a gear cast right on it. It goes on the shaft next to the small gear on the side opposite the flywheel. Not sure but I think this is what you are refering to when your talking about the missing gear.

[Jebaroni]

I didn't know that the 2-holers were also equiped for hand crank operation...wow. Talk about a sore arm! Any way you could post a picture of what the hand crank looks like? I guess they would be intuitively obvious as not many hand cranks had gears cast onto them! Thanks for the info!

Jeb

[Bryan Storey]

I took some pictures of my sheller and of the hand crank and put them on my Epson photo page. The large gear behind the flywheel is part number T120.


IHC XL Two Hole Sheller

[Jebaroni]

Is that one of those nifty cast iron pump oil can holders I see bolted near the bottom front of the sheller? I will say that you have done an EXCELLENT job in restoring that thing. Now I have an idea of what parts are which color and where some of the decals go. The guy on eBay has a rectangular decal on the non-flywheel side of the cob elevator that I didn't see on yours. Do you have any idea what that decal reads?

As a bit of a side note, if and when I ever get done with this thing....about the paint; I am torn between painting it 100% original like you have done yours or doing the same but with the sheet metal left plain galvanized. Any thoughts? I suppose one could go back and remove the decals and paint the sheet metal later on to make it like original, but I'm just thinking that the contrast would be really interesting, especially on the kernel elevator if the sheet metal were left natural like on some of the JD shellers. Again, awesome job on that sheller and thanks a bunch for the help!

[Jebaroni]

Also, i just noticed that you have a decal on the top of your sheller that has the XL designation on it. Where did you get your decals from? Can you get an extra shot of the top for a better look at that decal? I also think my flywheel is bent. The spokes on that thing sure are mighty flimsy. Do you think that all the spokes could be heated up and it gently pulled back into true?

Jeb

[Bryan Storey]

Well I cant take credit for the restoration job. I picked it up from another collector who had restored it. I cant say if the decals are like the originals or not. The XL decals look like they were made out of plain white vinyl transfer decal. If I remember right, without looking at it again, The decal on top is a standard ihc globe decal with the white XL letters added under it.
If your flywheel has just a slight wobble I wouldnt worry about it. Having steel spokes cast into the hub and flywheel rim, alot of them never turned perfectly true. If it is real bad you might try to straighten it but like you said they are real flimsy.
As far as paint I could go either way. I also like the look of a painted frame with galvanized sheet matal.
Just another added note, The parts book I have says they started building these shellers in 1926.

[Jebaroni]

Right, someone else mentioned a production run for these particular shellers of 1926-1937. Here's a picture from the Wisconsin Historical Society of another 2 hole steel sheller but obviously different. I wonder what the story is on it? Just an earlier version of the Keystone line?