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Beans (almost) done!

D

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
I managed to get all but about 3 acres. Then the head busted off the sickle. Not sure what happened. Maybe something got past the guards? Never had a sickle snap before. Gonna run up get a new one, run the last few and get em sold I guess. What would make the head snap off the knife like that?
 
Just a small stone or frozen clump. Haven't you ever broken a section before while cutting hay?
I'm planning to give it heck in the corn in the morning.
 
We used to weld the heads back on when they broke; the welded ones often lasted longer than the new ones most of the time.

Any good welders around your area?
 
Cold weather makes everything harder in the field. So those little sticks that where cut easy when warm don't cut as easy now. That dirt clod is now a rock. I would bet that if you look at the guards and old sickle sections you will find where things have been hard on them both.

Also I know that engineers say the temperature difference we commonly see does not make metal break easier but I do know that I have broke more things when they were cold than when they were hot.

When I have ran soybeans on frozen ground in the past I kept a box of good guards/sections plus a complete sickle on hand. In one 15 acre field, that had been cultivated late, I went through 20 guards hitting clods that would break the center web on them. I made a jig to weld them back together for later use.
 
It makes a big difference. We have a cold cell at work that can go down to negitive 20 and it's amazing what can happen to an engine that cold.
 
Take a look at the fracture, it may show a progressive crack rather than a single clean break. Reality is harsh at times. Jim
 
It can also just be plain old metal fatigue. There is a lot of stress on the gearbox end of that sickle. Or a defect in the metal. A defect the size of a grain of sand blew apart the engine of a United Airlines DC-10 in July of 1989, & crash landed in Sioux City, IA. Flt # 232 was filmed as it crashed, & come harvest a woman operating a John Deere combine discovered the fan disc in the corn field She was harvesting. Anyway I hope You get the beans done!
 
On a cold morning recently, I smelled gasoline. I found the brass shut off assembly, which screws into the soft metal sediment bowl assembly on one of my antique tractors dripping. It started that up all on its own, I presume with the assistance of the deep cold.
 
I was thinking the 10 degree temp was not a good thing. I started the combine up Saturday without any heat and winced the whole time I was waiting for the oil pressure to come up. Won't do that again! Today I plugged in the block heater before I started working on that chain that jumped. Got it back on and tensioned to specs then took a hour break for lunch. When I started her up there was no issue. One more day and I am closing out 2016. If they don't come off tomorrow then I'll just leave those last 2 acres for the wildlife. But that isn't going to happen. I'll have a package out to you in the near future. No rush. I'm out of farming until late April. :)
 
I've broken a lot of sections. Don't recall knocking the head off the whole knife...but I bet I have. Best wishes out there tomorrow! You really push your luck waiting until the last day so I hope nothing breaks. I hear there may be rain on Tuesday. Return of the mud.
 
If the head or any part of the drive is loose or has a bad bearing it will hammer the sickle and break it too. Check for any looseness or slop in the wobble box and head ball before you install the new one.
 
Back about 1980 Potsdam NY fire company got a new ladder truck, second fire it responded to the water cannon broke off the ladder. Maybe the -40 temperature had some thing to do with it.
 
Better than what I am making out. I went out Saturday to find out that my beans were tough and wet despite the low temps. Sunday we had snow. I am thankful the snow only amounted to an inch but the beans are still tough and wet. Pretty discouraging.
 
I had a friend on that plane that walked away by unbuckling the belt and stepping out on the runway 6 inches in front of her!! Jim
 
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