With the picker shut off and disconnected from the tractor, I'd take a hammer and try to loosen it up by beating the ears with a hammer. plus if you can loosen the elevator chain will help. Hope this helps.

I have a few ideas that might help, having wrestled that problem before. X2 on disconnecting the picker from the tractor, at least the PTO shaft. Wire it loosely to the top of the tongue so it doesn't flop too much when turning the picker by hand.

First, the drag chains for that front elevator should have splice links of the style that can be removed by pulling the cross pin out of them. That cross pin is retained inside the splice link with a small cotter pin. That way you can release the tension on the drag chains without needing a chain breaker and a lot of slack. Then you can pull the drag chain either way to release the captive ears of corn. Re-hooking that splice link is just as easy.

Second, I think the nuts for those bolts on your cleanout are attached to the back side of the sheet metal or frame. I have removed that cleanout a couple of times, but not in a couple of years, and I am not near mine to look at it. It must not have been too much trouble, or I would have remembered cussing it. At worst, you should be able to reach through the access holes in the side of the sheet metal to reach the nuts, if need be.

Third, if you are trying to diagnose a cause for your problem, you might check your husking rolls and rubber fingers. Those captive ears most likely piled up too deep at the top of the husking rolls and spilled into the return side of the front elevator. That might indicate another problem in your 327 (the back half). No worries, everything is fixable. Holler back if something else rears its ugly head.

Thank you for the compliment. Just trying to be as helpful as others have been to me. I love this forum, too--no politics, just corn pickin'. Cornstover, did you get it freed up?