Finally done

paul · Nov 10, 2021

Was an odd year, dry summer, wet fall, crops did ok, harvest was backwards with dry corn and wet beans.

I always pick a load or two of ear corn for a neighbor and myself and friends who feed squirrels.

Ended up the picking was last this year, couldnt take action shots as it got dark and the rear work lights stopped working, finished the last row with a flashlight.

Paul

rrlund · Nov 10, 2021

I finished Friday. Everything's full, wagons are still loaded and some in a chopper box. I ran out the last little bit from some wet spots with the combine Saturday and ground that. I've been chopping a load every four days and running a quarter of a load out to the cows every day. I'll be chopping the last load Saturday. As wet as it's been the whole month of October, it really stretched things out and made for a frustrating situation.

paul · Nov 10, 2021

Corn stalks were very weak, my corn stood but I saw lots of flat fields around here that is miserable to combine. When I started the corn and saw it was under 17% I just kept going with that, before mine fell over too.

Then of course got late with the beans, and we caught wet weather, a 2 inch rain really slowed things down.... I got stubborn and left the bean head on, we got foggy weather and could combine a couple hours late in the afternoon only....

So the last bit of corn got real late, I should have switched back to corn and then finish with beans, but it worked out.

Had a few gremlins with the old equipment, combine is a Gleaner L3, need to do some maintenance this coming summer before harvest, the feeder drum is farmer fixed and could use some sprockets and chains, I see some ball bearing on one bearing, etc.

Supposed to rain here in a few hours and snow in a day or three. So just in time.

rrlund · Nov 10, 2021

Ya, I had a gear box that runs the outside gathering chains go bad on the New Idea 325 picker, so I pulled the old one with the 8 roll bed out of the tool shed. I had to swap some gathering chains and some other drive chains over on to it, grease it and check the oil in all the gear boxes. Then after one day in the field, the outside tire went flat and I had to change that. When I got all done, I figured I'd better fix that gear box before I put it away. All that was wrong was a bearing in the top of it. They had one at the auto parts store in town. Took all of an hour to fix it after I had messed around for a day and a half making that old picker work. Just one of those spur of the moment frustrated judgement calls that went the wrong way.

paul · Nov 10, 2021

When my feeder beater drum went bad and wrecked 2 finger holes, I was ready to throw in the towel. Dealer with salvage machines had none, and it just looked bad. Took an hour to clear my thoughts, and look it over carefully. The inner bearing was actually ok, it was the 3 bolts holding the triangles on the bearing that broke out. I was able to get three bolts back in through a one inch slot, and bent and braced a finger opening enough to be serviceable again to finish the 25 acres that was left.

There is an internal crankshaft to make the fingers move in and out, the whole assembly is difficult to remove. All the fingers and guides are well worn one is missing. I need to get it out and have welded up or find a replacement. The tips of the fingers are worn smooth, they normally have flat spots to turn in or out. I guess its seen a lot of crop over the years!

I was pretty dejected when I first saw the damage and thought I had to get the bearing out.

Paul

rrlund · Nov 10, 2021

Seems like when you have your back against the wall and just want to get done, every little thing looks like a career ending disaster.I wanted to get back out in the field and pick, not work on a gear box. The other picker was sitting right there but I was already an hour in to it when I figured out it needed more than just grease to get it going. It slipped my mind already that after I fixed that tire, the fan belt jumped off and when I went to put it back on, nothing was lined up. The frame was broke. I had to bring it home and spent over an hour and a half pulling everything back together with a jack and come along then welding and plating it. Taking a break to think things through would have been a real good idea when that bearing went bad in that gear box. You'd think I'd get wiser as I get older, but I just seem to panic easier than I used to instead.

Bill VA · Nov 14, 2021

Looks good.

We made freeze dried hay last week - I think we are done for 2021.

centash · Nov 14, 2021

Finished corn here on Nov. 10. Worst harvest weather in a long time. We were lucky that the soya got off and the wheat sowed in a timely manner. 13 inches of rain since Sept 1 really made a mess of the fields. I managed to get about 35 acres off on my own, but the soil proved too soft for the rest with continuing rain and snow. Finally asked a friend with a dualled up 4wd machine to finish it. In retrospect, I should have had him harvest it all since he left fewer ruts that I did. The frustrating part is that I put 20000 feet of tile in that field last fall! We put another 16000 feet in a different field last week, and the ruts are so bad I have to plow it to get the field levelled off. The good part is that the corn was easily the best yield ever, coming in at just over 200 bushels per acre....and the price is one of the best as well.Gotta take the bad with the good I guess....

Ben

Dopp Creek · Feb 9, 2022

Nice looking Ford Paul. Is that a 7000?

Finally done

paul

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rrlund

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paul

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rrlund

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paul

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rrlund

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Bill VA

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centash

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Dopp Creek

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