This old man is BEAT tonight!!!! Fun times in the heat!!!

Back last fall we decided to get a High clearance self propelled sprayer. The Prowler we have can not go over corn 3 foot tall. We have been applying fungicides by plane and hiring late nitrogen dribbled on. So we wanted a machine that we could apply either to full size corn. So I found a really low hour Hagie all wheel drive, that had a cab fire. We bought it and two others that had been damaged. Over the winter we made one good machine out of the three, plus we have a fair amount of good parts left over.

With the wet weather we did not put much of our nitrogen on as preplant. our plan is/was to apply the balance in two later applications. This way the change of leaching is greatly reduced. Our earliest planted corn needed the second application now. So I have been working on that this week. My three sons that I farm the most with took family vacations this week. So myself and my oldest son have been doing the feeding chores and applying nitrogen.

This morning I was at the back of one of the larger fields we have. Full tank of 32% nitrogen on a moderate sidehill. BANG!!! Right rear wheel drive hub shattered. Dropped the entire hub/wheel off the drive motor/spindle. More fun in that it was the downhill side too. Made things a little exciting for a few seconds. LOL Good thing the booms are on the front of the Hagie machines. IF they had been in the back I think the extra weight would have made the machine roll over. Lucked out in that the wheel/tire/rim had wedged itself under the tank support and was holding the sprayer from falling further.

Now the fun began. The sprayer is half a mile from the road. I was not going to run down 5 foot tall corn. There is a grass water way 400-500 feet down the hill from where I was at. I walked down it and by cutting the fence I could cross into a pasture field we rent. I walked to the road looking for a path to get back there. Call Rob, My oldest to come and help. We went to the shop and gathered up a pickup full of railroad ties and other BIG wood blocks. plus I have some hydraulic jack stands I made that lift a two foot stroke. We had the pickup full and the Gator/trailer full too. We could not get the pickup clear back to the water way. So we had to off load everything into the Gator and haul it to the sprayer. I did take my corn knife and cut one row of corn from the water way to the sprayer. Three hours later we had it blocked up to where it was safe to work on. Everything had to be done by hand. No lift/loaders to help. We did have my gas air compressor. We got the hub fully apart around 1 PM. The worst part is it damaged the wheel motor mount too. So we had some pretty heavy parts to handle. Then back to the shop/farm and take the same parts off one of the parts machines.

I tell you working in standing corn, on a hillside facing due south, without much of a breeze, with 85 degrees temps and high humidity it was HOT!!!!!! We got it done just at 6 PM. A weather front passed through around 3 PM, without any rain but dropped the temperature ten degrees and lowered the humidity. That really helped. By the time we got all the blocks/tools picked up and back to the shop is was right at 8 PM. Start to finish it took us right at 10 hours to get it repaired. Not a fun job with the early heat and humidity.

My son turned fifty back in March. He was talking about how "old/sore/tired" he felt. I laughed at him. I told him to add nineteen years to that and see if it felt any better. LOL

P.S. We weighted the one bracket. It weights 298 lbs. Because of it shape and the location there was nothing above it to attach a winch too and no way to jack it from the bottom. So with both of us lifting it up I was able to get my right shoulder under it. I could then hold it while Rob got the bolts in. Funny thing is that he tried to hold it while I started the bolts and he could not do it. LOL I think it goes back to me bagging all that feed when I was young. I am a lot stronger in my shoulders than the boys. I did take a hand full of Aleve when I got home but I am not telling him that tomorrow when I tease him. LOL

Great story, hope you sleep well. Ron MN

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Thanks for sharing.

That is a heck of a story. I helped my son with his sprayer similar to that a few times when you thought you never would get it fixed.
I was glad to see him trade that one on a pull type sprayer that he uses now.
Hope you get some rest and don't hurt too much over the next few days.
Richard in NW SC

Good that you guys have the skill and ambition to tackle such a task. Is that known to be a week spot on those sprayers or is it just a fluke? Other then time lost, did you have any more expense?

You sure know how to get a job done and then write a story about it. I hope sometime in the future we are able to meet as you are an inspiration to me.

That is what you call suborn determination. Admitting defeat is not an option. Not many people around like that anymore.
Loren

That kind of repair is certainly well earned in the heat and humidity while in standing corn. Why is it that machines like these always seem to have a serious mechanical failure in places like that ? I'll bet there are even worse places and conditions. Like a crawler throwing a track while in a turn on a hillside in mud. Not something you can walk away from, best to get after it right away like you did, whenever possible.

Long time farmer friend had a bearing overheat in his 6620 combine during harvest, back side of a field, down hill, against a hedgerow and marsh like area. Tough one to get to. They were able to quell it before a fire got out of hand, apparently this grease fitting was not known about and he had this 6620 for many years, so not really sure what happened. With him overseeing, due to health issues, I used to thoroughly grease this combine, even repaired the header auger, put all new sections on the sickle bar, guard extensions for downed oats. I thought it was well taken care of and we left it ready for corn after oats. Apparently under the operator station, there is a fitting that often gets missed. Recall he had all the books, but that was an expensive repair, thankfully he did not lose the combine to fire.

That is something, high enough clearance to apply at such height, should definitely pay off. I rode with a person running a late model JD sprayer on all the fields he planted in 2009, about 300 acres worth. This thing was amazing and I have photos somewhere, one of the little car I used to drive, parked right underneath it, drove it under to get the shot. That thing had no suspension, remember how it handled when going over a ditch. Seemed like you could run in corn until it was pretty high, thinking about this now.

Billy here is a picture of the model of sprayer we have. The caption says the corn is 12 foot tall. I know the boom will lift 11 feet from the ground and the chassis clearance is over eight feet.

That is incredible, talk about keeping the tool close to the work ! I looked through my old folders, it was a JD 4830.

Somehow, from the headline, I suspected that it was a story from you! You have a real talent for writing. Thanks for posting.

Great story JD ,but I will stick with my pull type sprayer ?

JD you have a lot more stamina than I have and you are a year older to boot, My neighbor had a Hagie like yours that he used for commercial work. It seemed to break down at about the same rate as the other brands. His son ran it and when he gave up commercial spraying his son went to work for Hagie as a traveling trouble shooter. There wasnt anything he couldnt figure out. Now he works for a Deere dealer doing pretty much the same thing.

Great story! I think I would have sacrificed enough corn to get a loader in there.