Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

[cliftonbros89]

Shouldn't be too hard. A quick buzz on amazon showed sets available. Unless you mess with other things that are goofy Brit sizes, I'd just rummage around on the net for the specific one you need. I like having tools, but it's extremely difficult to justify buying a set to get a single tool, unless it's not available anywhere else.

BTW...I do have Whitworth, and BS stuff since I used to do some Merlin engine work.

I’ll have to check it out

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well started the day with more rain...

This morning dad and I met with a new landlord. Picked up another 79 acres. A friend of mine’s family had some ground in. The bottom that they decided that want us to farm. Only thing is it’s on the outside of the levee...so right now it’s under water...

Deere came to work on the combines.

They’re finally doing all the work on them from their inspections back in the winter.

The rain kept going.

Over an inch again. More supposed to come in by Saturday too.

So I had everything from the gearbox for the brush hog cleaned up.


I had the bearings, had the seals, but I didn’t have the shims that I need for the shafts. So I’m waiting on those to arrive tomorrow.


So I checked over the rest of the brush hog and made sure that was good to go.

This afternoon we caught a bit of a break from the rain.

So I checked all the cattle and put out some mineral.

I also had to clean out the calves waterer yet again. It seems they all like to take drinks when they have a mouthful. It gets pretty nasty.

So it’s definitely wet out. Going to be awhile til things dry. The river is going back up. Way up. Right now it’s supposed to be up high for at least a week. Higher than last time. It’s a tough spring. The way it sounds, at least in the county there isn’t hardly any corn in the ground. What is in the ground is getting hammered in to the ground from the rain. It’s not good.

 

[ssffnomad]

Stop on meeting night at your local Vol. Fire Dept. Ask them about some Fire Fighting Foam for Extinguisher. Don’t over do the recommended ratio.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Stop on meeting night at your local Vol. Fire Dept. Ask them about some Fire Fighting Foam for Extinguisher. Don’t over do the recommended ratio.

I was actually going to talk to a cousin of mine. Her and her husband are both full time on a fire department up in the St. Louis area.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Friday was not quite as productive as I’d hoped.

I started the day with the regular chores. It was cloudy the entire day. But luckily no precipitation for once. Dad went out turkey hunting.

Luckily, he managed to get one. I’d been a little aggravated if he hadn’t.

The river was is on the rise. So we decided to pull a few more pieces of equipment out before we couldn’t get across the bridge anymore...again



After checking on the cattle I drove down the hill yesterday morning to check the water level. This was a little before 7:30


Once it starts running through the train tracks it doesn’t take long for it to fill the low spot in the road.

This was shortly after 10.


It even rose a little higher just in the time we got the equipment out.


And it’s still rising...

The guys from Deere came by to finish up on the combines.


The parts and labor aren’t cheap by any means. But it makes a big difference when a guy who knows both machines like the back of his hand working on them. He has a good idea on where the problem areas are and how soon things can wear. He also knows the easiest and quickest way to work on them. It helps that the truck has a boom, welder, and torch on board to do anything and everything too. I try to watch once in awhile to learn a little something.

With an extra hand from dad I put the splitter gearbox for the brush hog back together.

It’s ready to go except for some shims...which I should’ve had yesterday but they still haven’t delivered to the parts box...


Dad tested out his new hitch.

After putting things away and getting things cleaned up for the day I called it quits early. I couldn’t finish the brush hog, couldn’t get anything else in the shop, everything is mud, I was at a stand still. But it doesn’t sound like I’m the only one.

 

[Farmall450]

No you're not. A few guys mudded some in on the sandier ground up North, and I'm sure by my school here in central IL they're running hard with the 70s and sun having dried everything out.

 

[cliftonbros89]

No you're not. A few guys mudded some in on the sandier ground up North, and I'm sure by my school here in central IL they're running hard with the 70s and sun having dried everything out.

There isn’t hardly any corn planted around here. I’ve only seen a few fields that managed to get a stand in the area. A few south and a few across the river.

Every time it’s just about dry enough we end up with another 1”+ of rain. Plus the river being up isn’t helping out the bottom ground at all. There won’t be hardly any corn down there this year.

National report came out yesterday that only about 23% of the country’s corn crop is reported planted, compared to a 5 year average of 46% by this time.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well we had more rain this week...who would’ve guess it...more of a thorough update to follow...

 

[cliftonbros89]

So picking up where we left off. Last Saturday May 4 I woke up to more rain. I didn’t have the stuff for the brush hog so shop work was out.



So I spent a little time with all the cattle. It rained the whole morning and didn’t quit til mid afternoon so it was a slow day.

Sunday we had sun but I spent the day doing jobs at the house.

One of which was finally finishing my working bench in the basement. I finally did the top for it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Monday the ground was still soaked. Dad had a doctors appointment, still didn’t have the parts for the brush hog. So I did some reorganizing in the truck.







I shuffled some things around but I think I managed to save myself a little room here and there.

Saturday I’d gone to Deere for a few things.

Picked up a filter wrench and scraper to keep in the truck.

I also picked up a couple hydraulic hoses. Back when the hoses blew on the 8300 drill when dad was sowing grass and rye for waterways he stole the hoses off the 7 foot brush hog. So those needed to be replaced.

When they handed me the new hoses they made up I noticed the ends were wrapped. I thought that was pretty cool and thoughtful of them to do that. It keeps the ends nice and clean til you’re ready to put them on and would eliminate the need for a cap or plug like I usually use. I didn’t ask for it I just assumed it was a new thing. Then I looked at the receipt when I got to the shop. Apparently, that’s a nice new $5 add on they do now. $10 extra I was charged just for the little shrink wrapped ends...I think I’ll stick to my caps and plugs... not to mention that new Parker hose is over $6 a foot!

Things were drying off a little by the afternoon, chemical and fertilizer bills have started rolling in. So dad wanted to sell some beans to pay for that.


So we loaded up the trucks for Tuesday morning.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Tuesday we hauled beans all day.

I hauled 3 loads, dad hauled 2.

The bin finally got low enough we had to start scooping.


This bin is always a pain because the beans always stop running out before the top door is clear to bring in the sweep so you have to scoop everything out of the way to get the door open. The fact that these beans were super dusty didn’t help matters any.

I ended the day checking on the cattle.


I’ve also been finding several situations lately where I’ve needed an offset wrench. I don’t have any in the truck so I picked up a SAE and metric Sunex set from the Matco guy.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Wednesday morning dad and I started the day hauling off a few more loads of beans.

We ended up selling them down south a little ways at the port in Missouri because the place we usually sell to in Illinois is about impossible to get to right now because of the river. There are multiple road closures on multiple routes to the place and it would be a lot longer trip, likely on some narrow curvy side roads we shouldn’t be doing down with the trucks, so even though the port in Missouri was paying a few cents less it was worth it to make a quicker straight shot trip down and back than to wiggle around in Illinois.

By Wednesday things finally dried off some.

I was able to get back to spreading some fertilizer on the bean ground and dad was able to get back to spraying.

I spread as much as I could because they were calling for yet another chance of rain!

By Thursday morning we had another 1/2”

Which usually wouldn’t be too bad by this time of the year. But it brought in a lot of clouds, cool, damp air and the ground was already wet. So it didn’t take much to make things real muddy again. Then before the day was over we ended up with another 2/10’s.

But by Wednesday evening the shim kit, that I’d been waiting a week for on the gearbox for the brush hog finally arrived.

It has a variety of sizes to shim the shafts to eliminate end play. So we had to try a couple different ways before we got things tightened up.

So the gearbox was finally done.

So I mounted it back on the brush hog and set everything back up. Then I freed up all the slip clutches and let them slip up and reset them so they aren’t locked up from sitting since fall. Trying to avoid an incident like last year.

So it’s finally all ready to go and out the door.

In the afternoon I heard someone pull up to the shop and tell dad, who was cleaning up all the solution filters and spray tips on the sprayer, that we had cattle out. It was my cousins who’s in visiting my uncle (the one next to dad’s) and said they were just down from my uncle’s house standing in the lane.

It was about 10 of the big calves. We ran them all back in the gate and went to investigate the fence.

One of the winds during the week must’ve blown over this tree that wasn’t standing too strong in the saturated ground and it fell over. Which wouldn’t be too big of a deal but we were using that tree as a corner post for the fence. When it fell it pulled along a good 25-30 foot of wire with it. It also bent 3 post over in the process. So we had to run some new wire and set some new post. It also decided to rain a little bit at this point as well.

But we fixed it up and back to the shop. I pulled the brush hog out and cleaned things up. So now just about everything, with the exception of the headers for the combines, the square baler, and the hay tedder, is ready to go. So with most everything else looked over I pulled the 4010 back in. We ordered some parts for it during the week to fix some things on it. So it’s next on the list.

 

[cliftonbros89]

With things still wet, shop work almost finished, there wasn’t just a whole lot on the to do list Friday.

We ground some feed and checked on all the cattle.

We’ve had some piles of gravel sitting around waiting to be spread. With the ground being so wet and muddy there are several places around the the driveway or lot has settled or has been washed due to the rain. So we spread rock for a big part of the day.

We fixed up a spot in front of the shop and storage trailer to get the water to run away from the building and dad wanted to eliminate the muddy strip of grass too. He manned the 4020 while I supervised with the shovel and rake.

So we spread rock in front of the shop.

Also, on the other end of the shop. There used to be grass on both sides of the concrete slab in front of the doors. But overtime with running equipment and trucks over it to work on or wash up it’s really killed the grass. That and digging up some old water lines a few years back. So we leveled those spots up and spread some rock.

Dad also leveled up the lot out by the equipment shed and spread some gravel out by it as well. While he did that I did the equipment shuffle. With having almost everything out of the shed in the bottom up by the house it’s tough to find a place to park things out of the way. Especially, while trying to spread gravel everywhere.

So we got the accomplished and called it a day early for once.

Late Friday into the early morning hours of Saturday more rain set in. It was a light and gentle rain for once. But regardless it was rain. It rained a light shower to a mist all day. Even after the radar didn’t even show anything. It just kept going. It was enough to add up to over a half inch again.

Since it was raining I just took the day off. Dad checked the cattle so there wasn’t much to do with the rain.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So with all the rain from the previous week the river rose.

This was last Saturday.


By Monday it was up a little more. Then a bit more when it crested by Tuesday.




It’s definitely up there.


By Friday it had finally dropped some. But there’s still a whole hell of a lot of water out there. It is dropping. But at a very slow pace. It’s almost staying at a steady level right now. But since it just keeps raining everywhere it just isn’t dropping.


All the rain is really making things hectic. Lot of people are putting off planting corn. A lot of hay needs to be cut. But it’s just not happening with all this rain. We’re almost to 3 times the 10 year average amount of rain fall so far as this point of the year. It’s getting a little ridiculous.

Grain prices also took a dump this week. Beans are going under $8 corn is dropping near the $3.50 mark. Wheat isn’t going anywhere either. Things are starting to look a little rough.

Either prices falling, Mother Nature having mood swings, and no trade deals in sight, I think some people are on the edge of getting a little worried about things.

 

[Farmall450]

Nice gravel work. I think I'd tell Deere to shove the $10 upcharge, especially b/c it wasn't asked for.

 

[lis2323]

Pretty dumb of Deere to charge for the wrapped ends. They should have just raised their prices a bit and not shown it as a separate charge on the invoice.

My hydraulic shop always puts plastic caps on the ends of new hose assemblies. I’m sure the charge is built in one way or another. Don’t really care. Any lesser chance of contamination is worth it.

 

[mudcat]

I really enjoy and appreciate your attention to detail and preventative maintenance. While I was growing up I worked for a farmer that was super particular about his equipment. All implements were cleaned and fully serviced after we were done with them for the season. All grease zerks had to be wiped clean and hydraulic fittings were cleaned and then sealed in a bag. All his stuff looked near brand new each year we would hook up. Taught me a lot about the importance of maintaining your stuff. All of his equipment was at least 15 years old.

Keep up the great work and I sure hope things start drying out for you.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Nice gravel work. I think I'd tell Deere to shove the $10 upcharge, especially b/c it wasn't asked for.

I know. I wish I’d noticed it before I left and was back to the shop. I don’t go there very often for hoses anyway. Definitely another reason not to.

 

[1Garageman]

I think it is unbelievable how many tools, and parts that you have. It is just amazing how much mechanical work you farmers do!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Pretty dumb of Deere to charge for the wrapped ends. They should have just raised their prices a bit and not shown it as a separate charge on the invoice.

My hydraulic shop always puts plastic caps on the ends of new hose assemblies. I’m sure the charge is built in one way or another. Don’t really care. Any lesser chance of contamination is worth it.

Yeah I thought it was a bit much for it. Most of the hoses I get straight from Deere, not made in store have plastic caps. But majority of the hoses I have made other places never have the plastic caps. That’s why I’ve bought cap and plug sets myself so I don’t have to worry about dirt when I’m putting the new ones on something.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I really enjoy and appreciate your attention to detail and preventative maintenance. While I was growing up I worked for a farmer that was super particular about his equipment. All implements were cleaned and fully serviced after we were done with them for the season. All grease zerks had to be wiped clean and hydraulic fittings were cleaned and then sealed in a bag. All his stuff looked near brand new each year we would hook up. Taught me a lot about the importance of maintaining your stuff. All of his equipment was at least 15 years old.

Keep up the great work and I sure hope things start drying out for you.

Thanks. Things weren’t always like this. But over time I would grow tired of having problems when in the field or in a rush to do a job or use a piece of equipment. It’s so much easier to look things over when there’s a little time to do it before you need it. It makes things operate a lot easier when everything is good to go and you don’t have to stop and loose time because of something that should’ve been seen and taken care of before you started using it.

I do the best I can. I’m by no means a professional on checking everything over. But I can check most things over pretty well.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I think it is unbelievable how many tools, and parts that you have. It is just amazing how much mechanical work you farmers do!

Well I guess we wouldn’t have to do as much. But it’s usually cheaper to not pay someone else to do it. There’s a lot more to most things that there used to be too. Just like regular vehicles anymore. If makes a difference working on equipment that ranges from the 1930’s to today too. A SAE set of combination wrenches won’t fix it all anymore. There’s a lot of electrical involved in all the newer stuff.

Same goes for parts. Not everything runs the same filters or has as many similar parts as they used to either. So we try to be prepared for things. If something happens in the evening, at night, on a weekend there aren’t a lot of options. Unfortunately, especially around here, there aren’t many options for replacement parts on a lot of this stuff. Majority of Deere stuff you can only get from Deere. Aside from some bearings, seals, things like that there isn’t an aftermarket option. Even if there is it’s usually not work it. It may be cheaper, but it may take a week or two to get here too. Most the time Deere can have it the next morning.

Things can wear quick when there’s grain running through it, it’s being dragged or dragging something through the dirt. Every system on the equipment is running at full throttle, full power, so parts can be used and abused before you know it. If you don’t stay on top of things it can cost you more than the parts and labor to fix it. Especially a year like this one has been. Then window of opportunity can lessen to get things done. Which can greatly effect the outcome for the rest of the year. Also, like right now, if your ending results in the field aren’t good and the markets are in the hole it can make things tough.

 

[rixtrix1]

Even though you use expensive equipment, it's good to see that you don't just rely on the name and quality for it to last, and spend your "down" time in the winter maintaining it so it's ready to go when it's needed the next season.
When my FIL was still farming, we'd pressure wash everything as soon as he was done with it that fall to inspect for wear or maintenance needs and then do as much maintenance as possible before it got too cold. That way, there was no rush in the Spring. With irrigated farming, it's the only way to keep from working yourself to death during the growing season. Saw too many of the neighbors just park everything, then complain how they had no time to get it ready to go when needed again and want to borrow his stuff( never happened!) I was the town kid mechanic SIL who loved working on neat stuff so I spent a ton of time at the farm. The inlaws are great people to be around, too. Dad had a tank of gasoline on the farm, I had a key to the pump, Mom was an excellent cook, so there was an extra incentive to go work on his equipment during my "off" season, lol,
(Drag racing 2-3 weekends a month from May-September).

 

[DynoDave]

I think it is unbelievable how many tools, and parts that you have. It is just amazing how much mechanical work you farmers do!

A couple of the best local race car builders and drivers I know are farmers. They have an excellent understanding of mechanical principles, and the ability to fabricate and repair.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Another day today. But didn’t get too much accomplished.

Got the parts in for the 4010 but didn’t get a start on it today.


Checked on all the cattle and calves to make sure they were doing good.


Picked up some chemical for the fields and feed supplement for the calves too.

The electric fence was having some problems over at my uncles so I had to check them out a fix a few issues.


While over at my uncle’s he said he was wanting to use the 720 for some stuff but wasn’t having trouble getting it started.

There was a bit of an issue with the lever on the starter.

I took it out and we fixed that issue, then had to adjust around a bit on something other things with the choke and a fuel line, checked the plugs, but finally got it going.

Sums it up for the most part today. Markets fell again, still muddy, river is sitting pretty steady. So didn’t go much of anywhere today. Another day waiting. But hopefully tomorrow will be a little better.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Even though you use expensive equipment, it's good to see that you don't just rely on the name and quality for it to last, and spend your "down" time in the winter maintaining it so it's ready to go when it's needed the next season.
When my FIL was still farming, we'd pressure wash everything as soon as he was done with it that fall to inspect for wear or maintenance needs and then do as much maintenance as possible before it got too cold. That way, there was no rush in the Spring. With irrigated farming, it's the only way to keep from working yourself to death during the growing season. Saw too many of the neighbors just park everything, then complain how they had no time to get it ready to go when needed again and want to borrow his stuff( never happened!) I was the town kid mechanic SIL who loved working on neat stuff so I spent a ton of time at the farm. The inlaws are great people to be around, too. Dad had a tank of gasoline on the farm, I had a key to the pump, Mom was an excellent cook, so there was an extra incentive to go work on his equipment during my "off" season, lol,
(Drag racing 2-3 weekends a month from May-September).

I do what I can. Like I’ve said before I grew tired of the headaches of problems that developed that could’ve easily been avoided had the time been taken to look things over ahead of time. It makes a big difference. Anymore I get a little anxious if I don’t get something looked over before it’s time to be used.

I’ve seen what can happen when you don’t take care of things and we’ve had those people that want to borrow things to (we can refer to the winch for that). Sure maintenance and repair require money, but it makes an operation run a lot smoother.

Never done any racing but my b-i-l is working on building a car right now actually. He’s been taking his time with it. Probably started on it almost 5 years ago and doesn’t even have the engine and transmission in it yet. But he getting there. All the type of stuff is a little bit above my knowledge of things.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Another day of waiting for things to dry yesterday.

Checked on the cattle and fed Ben. He’s getting big. We cut back on the milk awhile back so he’d take to feed. Took him a little bit but he’s getting it figured out.


Got an old Martin style 5/8” Blue Point flare nut wrench via eBay. Pretty soon I’ll have a full set in the shop and close to a full set for the truck.

First thing dad and I did was replace the tie rods on the 4010.


The left side was easy to do. The right side not so much.

The outer rod was bent (hard to tell in the picture). The inner rod, being threaded, was a bit rusty and didn’t want to unscrew too easy. But we got it back together. Now they just need some green.

At some point some one did a botch job on the seat mount and it was missing the piece for the armrest. Dad ordered some parts from Steiner and we had an extra cushion set on hand.

Dad rewelded a mount for the back of the seat. Then I mounted the new seat and put on an old SMV sign we had laying around.


We’re hoping we’ll at least be able to get some hay cut before we are able to get in the fields to plant so we had to do an equipment shuffle.

Plus we had an auger wagon still loaded with rye seed we were never able to plant during the wet fall. We unloaded them into some empty bean totes so the wagon will be freed up to load the drill with seed beans.

While we were moving stuff around dad wanted to put gravel under the old box trailer back by the grain bins.

So we moved it to do some gravel work.


The trailer is loaded with tractor tires for the pulling tractors and some other odds and ends. Since it was so wet when we sat it down on the ground the jacks just sank in. It took both loaders to lift it back up so we could move it.

But we managed to get the rock spread, move the trailer and finished leveling up the rest of the lot by it. Which is nice since there was a big pile of gravel that was in the way right there. Also since dad wanted to move it that meant he finally got rid of a ton of old pallets and some scrap metal that was sitting there that needed to be moved.

At one point during the day I also had to help my uncle.

He was spraying some weeds in the pasture in an old washed spot and found a newly broken out hole with his Can-Am that came along from all the rain. Just about turned it over. So needless to say he wasn’t in a good mood.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So there was supposed to be a chance of us getting a rain in the early hours of the morning. Maybe just a few tenths. May not even make it to us. But when I got up this morning it was wet.

3/4” at the shop and even more on a few of the other farms. Some almost an inch and a half at least. Just when things were starting to dry up, just about to the point of getting back in the field. Then bam! More rain.


Checked on the cattle, then dropped stuff off at the recycling center.


I got a storage box for grease tubes for the truck. So I stuck those in there this morning and also put my gasket maker and caulking in with it. I think it’ll work good for keeping that stuff out of the way, dry, and keep it from getting squished or drying out.

Not bad for about $13.

One of the things dad had to move yesterday was an old 7 foot 3-point mower.

He picked this thing up years ago when he was selling hay to a guy. It was kind of included in on the payment I believe. This thing has been around for a long time. I know at least 15 years. It’s been moved from barn to barn. Then moved underneath the box trailer with the tractor tires to some what keep it out of the weather. I wasn’t even sure it worked. I threatened to sell it a few times. But dad always says he’s ganna use it.

So today he cleaned it all up, loosened things up, greased everything, sharpened the blades and mounted it to the 420.

It fired right up! Even thought it’s made for a yard he tried it in some tall stuff. It’s definitely not made for hay making grass as it definitely puts it under a load. But it does pretty good in the short stuff. I’m not totally sure where he’s going to use it but he seemed pretty excited to have it going.

Meanwhile I started in on the load control shaft on the 4010.
I think within the last 8 years I’ve replaced this on the 2520, 3020, 4020, 4440 and now this. The shaft always wears at the seals and the seals always go out. The bushings usually **** to knock out too.

But to start thing I was a bit disappointed. For starters someone had the hydraulic drain plug so tight it required my 2 foot breaker bar plus a pipe that’s over 2 foot.

When I took the plug out I found a bunch of metal shavings stuck to the magnet.

I was a little nervous of what I might find.

After I knocked the shaft out I found the oil left in the bottom of the case was nasty, dirty and full of metal shavings. I managed to get a lot of it out with the air hose. Needless to say I decided to should probably change the filter while I was at it.

I had to get a few other things done around the shop but I at least managed to get the shaft out of the 4010 and the new seals and bushings in.

But there’s still more to do.

Well despite the rain, the river, and everything else the markets started out strong compared to the prices from the past few weeks. Good enough we made a couple corn contracts for this month and one for July. It was a good thing we made the call when we did because the price fell by about 15 cents by the end of the day. Pretty short rally.

 

[Joatha]

I am pretty much a lurker on this site but I wanted to let you know that this thread is one of the more interesting ones for me. I always seek it out when I pay a visit. I really enjoy your updates.

My grandfather was a farmer in Illinois - a small corn and soybean farm with about 120 acres and he had chickens and pigs as well. It was a lot smaller than your operation for sure. I used to help with the farm when I was young - couldn't do a lot but I did help some. He sold it and retired when I was about 12 and he and my grandmother moved to the South at that point. We had moved South about 2 years prior (although I spent a lot of time in the summer back at his farm those 2 years). Your posts take me back to those days and they are greatly appreciated. Just thought you would like some feedback and encouragement.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I am pretty much a lurker on this site but I wanted to let you know that this thread is one of the more interesting ones for me. I always seek it out when I pay a visit. I really enjoy your updates.

My grandfather was a farmer in Illinois - a small corn and soybean farm with about 120 acres and he had chickens and pigs as well. It was a lot smaller than your operation for sure. I used to help with the farm when I was young - couldn't do a lot but I did help some. He sold it and retired when I was about 12 and he and my grandmother moved to the South at that point. We had moved South about 2 years prior (although I spent a lot of time in the summer back at his farm those 2 years). Your posts take me back to those days and they are greatly appreciated. Just thought you would like some feedback and encouragement.

Thanks. Good to hear from someone new who’s interested in everything.

 

[Sifan]

What year is your 420? Nice unit! Interesting to think, at one time it was somebodies main tractor and now it's your utility tractor.

When I was 14 my Dad loaned his International 706, 25' disk and me to my uncle to help them put in their crops. Was a rainy year, like this year and they were way behind. Ran into a problem at the very first field ... their tractors were a/c wd45's with 8' disk ... I couldn't get the 25' disk through the field gate LOL Hello mr chainsaw, lost track of how many gate posts and trees we cut down to get into fields.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well today was a different day.

We decided to start the day hauling off some of the corn for the May contract.

We sold it to a mill down at the same port where we hauled those beans too. The corn this mill buys all goes for products for human consumption.

Dad hauled one load then stopped to finally get a start on cutting the rye.

While he did that I kept hauling corn. I hauled off 3 loads today.

I loaded up both trucks for tomorrow and fueled them up ready to go.

My dad also cut the rye over at my uncles.

After I loaded the trucks I hitched a ride to go get the 2520 from the rented bins with the beans.

I took off down the road to the hay equipment shed. So it was a good hour cruise for the evening.

I cleaned things up from loading trucks. I’d also ran the fans on the bins. A little extra air just to make sure things are dry. I shut them all off at dark.

Dad had a starting issue with the 7510 that we’ll likely have to look into tomorrow.


I had gave the 2520 a quick, well deserved bath. It was covered in dust from the soybeans in the bin, and it also had a good amount of bird **** on it from sitting in the barn. At some point tomorrow I’m also going to give the tedder a good look over to make sure it’s ready to roll.

Dad picked up his truck he dropped off the other day.

He had a guy fab up an aluminum insert that sits in the place where the gooseneck hitch is.

He made a latch that keeps it secure to the ball and has an easy to reach lever to release it and make it easy to remove. It looks pretty good. It’ll make it nice to load things up without dealing with the hole in the middle.

Tomorrow I plan to haul off both truck loads of corn then we’re set to do hay.

Dad also got a start on the couple fescue patches at the neighbors and my uncles.

Lots to do. There’s a good chance of rain coming on by Sunday. So we’re going to have to hit it hard to get all the hay up and put away before the rain might set in.

 

[cliftonbros89]

What year is your 420? Nice unit! Interesting to think, at one time it was somebodies main tractor and now it's your utility tractor.

When I was 14 my Dad loaned his International 706, 25' disk and me to my uncle to help them put in their crops. Was a rainy year, like this year and they were way behind. Ran into a problem at the very first field ... their tractors were a/c wd45's with 8' disk ... I couldn't get the 25' disk through the field gate LOL Hello mr chainsaw, lost track of how many gate posts and trees we cut down to get into fields.

I forget what year it is. But I’m pretty sure it’s a later model. I think the last year they made them. Dad said he can’t remember but, at one time my grandpa had a narrow front end 420 years ago. My uncle’s said grandpa used to make them pull silage wagons with it.

I know the feeling. That 32’ disk of ours is hard to fit into some of the farms we rent too. Along with the 40’ harrow, the 35’ header...there’s several things!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Found a little frog on a gate today after feeding Ben this morning. I haven’t seen one like this in a long time. Must be due to the rain.


Found a Killdeer nest today too. There’s usually one next back by the grain bins every year. I don’t know how these things make it. They’re hard to find. I don’t know how they never get drove over. I’m doing my best to avoid it.

 

[Sifan]

nest in church parking lot and someone put a metal folding chair over it. With a sign "Bird Maternity Ward" LOL

 

[cliftonbros89]

nest in church parking lot and someone put a metal folding chair over it. With a sign "Bird Maternity Ward" LOL

I was thinking about putting a circle of orange paint around it. But it’ll likely be awhile before we haul some more corn off so we should be able to avoid that spot for now.

 

[welder57]

I have a Landpride finishing mower (84") the only thing it was needing was no flat tires which I added. It work great cutting my 3 acre yard with my orange tractor. 5/16" thick blades are the best, the flat type, no lift.(Ebay has parts and prices that are best for the blades and belts).

 

[cdsloop]

We have that same tedder that we bought about 3 years ago. It has been a huge upgrade to the Fort brand 4-basket that we had before. We could never keep wheel bearings or tires on that thing.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I have a Landpride finishing mower (84") the only thing it was needing was no flat tires which I added. It work great cutting my 3 acre yard with my orange tractor. 5/16" thick blades are the best, the flat type, no lift.(Ebay has parts and prices that are best for the blades and belts).

I’ll have to keep that in mind. Surprisingly for sitting so long the belt and blades look like they’re in pretty good shape

 

[cliftonbros89]

We have that same tedder that we bought about 3 years ago. It has been a huge upgrade to the Fort brand 4-basket that we had before. We could never keep wheel bearings or tires on that thing.

It’s not bad. Only complaint I have it the safety bars do not hold up well. We’ve had some fields that have been fairly rough, when doing custom work. Those bars bounced themselves apart, more than once. We finally took them off a few years ago. One of the back safety signs is left on the back but I bet it won’t make it through the season.

We had an JD Frontier brand one before this. But it was junk. Teeth were always breaking. The shaft to the gearboxes on the wing had keys that sheared off all the time. Then one day one full center basket, wheel and all just rolled out from under it. The whole thing was only held on by 4 small bolts and they broke. So we bought a Krone.

Before that we had a small older JD one. The kind you had to swing the outside baskets around from the back. It did a good job it was just worn out. Teeth were worn, tires were done, the locks to hold the wings in place were worn too.