Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[jblnut]

With the conditions and the luck you've been having, maybe it would be easier to coil the rope up on the combine and not the tractor....would be less digging to make the pull .

We talked about putting the rope on the combine but figured it'd get in the way of the spinners in the rear that spread the straw out. Plus it was a ****** to get into the hitch on the 4WD so on the tractor it stays

JBL:That was some adventure and a ton of pictures showing most of it. GEESH!!

Happy to see you got everything out of the mud ok and the soybeans home with the aid of duct tape (Red Green would be proud).

Not sure what the best way to store rope is, but a warm dry place after cleaning it off might be a good idea. I had a decent size one i used for exercise that I stuck outside in a hose box and while it was pretty dry in there without any heat I noticed mold on it. just because you might need that rope again and you don't want to spend another $800 on it when you could spend that on other things.

Keep up the good work and hope you don't get any of this rain that is dumping on us.

Cheers

I like taking pictures I guess

Oh it had to come out of the mud and would have one way or another. After further inspection of the box that was leaking beans it it gonna be a bit of a project to repair it. I think we're going to swap it with one of the boxes in the steer barn and use the busted up one for feed after it's fixed. It should last a long time if it isn't bouncing up and down the road.

I'm not sure where we're going to keep the rope but it'll probably get hung up on a wall in Dad's machine shed for storage using an old truck rim as a makeshift hose reel.

We're supposed to get some rain Monday-Wednesday and I also hope it stays away. It sure is wet enough here !!

Played work hookey for 3 days this week to go north and help with inlaws farming. Couldn't keep running because of breakdowns which I thought was VERY frustrating. After looking at your pictures, I much prefer putting a new end on the sickle, replacing a hydraulic hose (twice … once with a bad hose then a good hose) replacing a roller chain, taking a link out of a maxed out adjusted chain. Also replaced a shank on the ripper … found concrete. ~80 acres beans and 160 acres of corn to go. Corn was planted mid June, still half green. Hope you find lots of dry days!! And NO breakdowns.

Sounds like a typical day or two on a working farm

If it moves it breaks and there are tons of things that move on a farm. You get real good at fixing things however you can. The mud isn't all that bad, it's more a nuisance now that we have the proper equipment to unstuck things when they get stuck.

 

[jblnut]

The clouds sure looked odd yesterday morning. One big long line across the sky !!


Over the last few days we've been finishing up the feed room and finally filled it yesterday


It works !!!


Two mixer loads just barely fit in. I had to put a little extra scrap of plywood on the South wall to keep it from spilling over but it all fit. 14,250lbs of steer feed in there


I've been talking with a dairy farming neighbor for a while now about him raising his bull calves to weaning size so I could get them from him and he finally decided to do it. Which means I need to get the cattle trailer back into serviceable condition. It's got two flat tires .... on each side


Around Noon we started combining again and we found the clevis we broke on Thursday. Or rather the one we stretched out all crazy. Looks like it must have been sideloaded and just gave way. Either way, not great and not safe !!


It looks like we won't be combining these soybeans


Or THESE soybeans


This one seemed like it'd be no big deal to pull out ....


As soon as I started pulling the combine dropped about a foot and I thought it may not come out with the first pull !!


The 4WD scratched a fair bit pulling it out !!


Things were rolling right along until we bent a pair of sickles and a hold down clip.


We have a healthy bucket of spare parts in the combine. You never know what you'll need. After a bit of wrenching it was all replaced with new parts.


Dad was starting in the wettest part of the field so I decided to be proactive and bring the 4WD down there because we both knew he'd get stuck somewhere.


He got through WAY more than either of us thought and drove through some low land water !!


Just about as soon as he started up the sidehill he got stuck. Sidehill mud is the worst. The low land mud is smeary and wet but this stuff is just pure sticky muddy nastiness.


In an effort to fit all the soybeans on the wagons we had in the field we filled them up pretty full ....


It would appear that I forgot to check the tire pressure on the little green wagon. I took it easy all the way home and went 15mph and it held up just fine. I stopped and checked it to see if the sidewall was getting hot and it was barely warm to the touch. If we ran an implement tire this low it would have blown out !!

 

[Sifan]

You got it easy now with the bolt on sections vs rivets BIL runs a Massey with a 30' head, they alternate section up and then section down, cuts better!? that clevis … WOW!!!

 

[jeepxj]

i stand by my statement: plenty of inches of turn back.

 

[jeepxj]

did you re torque them after the first loading?

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: your clouds look like you are borrowing mine.

more great pics and stories and hard to believe those things that look like weeds in your fields have so much product on them.

good to see that you are at the ready with your rope, tractor and tools to keep things rolling out there. man you two work hard, but you GET R DONE that is for certain.

here's hoping the rain stays off you and your fields for a few weeks until you get everything harvested.

cheers

 

[jblnut]

You got it easy now with the bolt on sections vs rivets BIL runs a Massey with a 30' head, they alternate section up and then section down, cuts better!? that clevis … WOW!!!

We have a few older mowers and such with rivets and yes, the bolt on stuff is REALLY nice !! Everyone seems to have their own way of doing things I guess ... I've heard that about section up, section down as well but have never tried it.

Yeah that clevis is the reason you want to stand FAR away when pulling .... It was almost 100' away from where the tractor/combine were !!

I stand by my statement: plenty of inches of turn back. Did you re torque them after the first loading?

Lol. Seems to be plenty of turnback. Not one tiny bit of slip on any of them whatsoever. They tensioned them before we picked them up and retorqued them after that. We did go through and retighten them all after the first day of use and I couldn't get anything to budge so they're good and tight !!

JBL: Your clouds look like you are borrowing mine.

More great pics and stories and hard to believe those things that look like weeds in your fields have so much product on them.

Good to see that you are at the ready with your rope, tractor and tools to keep things rolling out there. Man you two work hard, but you GET R DONE that is for certain.

Here's hoping the rain stays off you and your fields for a few weeks until you get everything harvested.

Cheers

I think our clouds today used to be your clouds last week. It's raining and looking like it's going to be a two day soaker with almost 2" of rain

Those "weeds" are each worth less than $0.01 per plant with the prices of things today. If you think soybeans look like weeds you need to rummage around in a canola field. That is some brushy looking stuff before it's harvested !!

I don't think we work that hard I guess. We get up, play chicken tender, feed the steers, do oddball things until noon when the dew burns off and the crops dry out, then we sit and drive around all day. Once in awhile we need to get out to hook/unhook a wagon. I've been getting good at setting up that big rope and putting it away but even that is not too bad. When the crop gets too tough to keep combining in the evening we get things cleaned up and back in the sheds for the next day. I then go do chores again and go in the house. Then the real work starts ..... sifting through all the pictures I take and figuring out which ones to post on here for all y'all media hungry GJ'ers

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: I'm positive your pictures will be seen by others for years to come so keep posting them up.

I could post pictures of our traffic jams i weave in and out of sometimes daily to get from my house to pick up some old tools and back, but i'm sure you don't think much about TRAFFIC while you are sitting in one of your rigs.

cheers and have a great day!!!

 

[jblnut]

JBL: I'm positive your pictures will be seen by others for years to come so keep posting them up.

I could post pictures of our traffic jams I weave in and out of sometimes daily to get from my house to pick up some old tools and back, but I'm sure you don't think much about TRAFFIC while you are sitting in one of your rigs.

Cheers and have a great day!!!

Oh I intend to keep them coming. Feels almost silly posting up the same things over and over though. Mix feed, bed steers, combine crops, do field work, build something, play with chickens, be a Dad, fix broken stuff, etc. etc. etc.

Whenever I drive somewhere there are more than a few cars I get all antsy and jittery. I'm not as worried about running into someone else or doing something dumb as I am of the rest of the texting/hairstyling/reading/emailing/snapchatting/booger flicking/sleeping/distracted drivers on the road .....

 

[jblnut]

Want to know how wet it is out here ?? This well is 180' deep and it's running over. I guess it's full ??

Yesterday morning I finished the dirt work for the 2049 shop project. Well, at least finished it for this fall. Pretty much everything from me to the sheds and driveway has been touched as part of this project. I never thought it'd be as big a deal as it was !!

I decided it was a good idea to air up the tire that was low yesterday. It only had 15lbs in it

I picked up a pair of lazy man air chucks. They lock onto the valve stem so you don't have to hold on the whole time. I want 80lbs in this tire so I set the regulator on the air compressor for 80lbs and away we go.

Off to the field to combine more soybeans. Normally we don't do stuff on Sundays but it's suppose to be rainy and cruddy for the next week so we thought we'd chance it .....

Nothing much going on in this picture but I thought it looked neat and DRIVES said I had to post more pictures so here it is

This is WAY different soil than what we were dealing with on Thursday-Saturday. This is low land black dirt that stays solid a lot better.

The muddy fields are going to make a mess of things before we're done in theis field ....

Unloading on the go like the big boys do it !!!

Oh look. Mud.

The family decided to ride in the combine for a bit. I sat on the ladder platform and watched Dad drive through water all afternoon.

Leo and I made faces at each other through the glass

Huh. Seems like we're not done getting stuck yet !!

Once we had a pair of loads full Mama Bear and the cubs and I went to unload them. They were busy climbing all over the hay racks while I unloaded the wagons. We all had fun

 

[cvairwerks]

Had an epiphany while I was out running an errand today. Need to get you and Zack the Millennial Farmer together and do a couple of videos on the automation you've been doing on both the chicken barns and the dairy stuff. He's more about video and podcasts and you are pretty good with the written side of things. Think it would be a hoot to get you guys and the families together.

 

[jblnut]

Had an epiphany while I was out running an errand today. Need to get you and Zach the Millennial Farmer together and do a couple of videos on the automation you've been doing on both the chicken barns and the dairy stuff. He's more about video and podcasts and you are pretty good with the written side of things. Think it would be a hoot to get you guys and the families together.

My Dad keeps saying things like "The Millennial Farmer and Welker Farms got to use a grain cart and combine for FREE because of their videos. You should do that instead of those boring pictures." Lol. At this point it's about the time it takes to do the editing and background work that goes into putting a high quality video together. I'd love to do it and have a lot of the video/computer equipment needed to do my own YouTube channel but I have just as much fun following those guys along.

I'd be 100% open to a video with Zach and anything we have going on here. I've never met him but I get out in his neck of the woods here and there for work. It's nice country out there and I'd love to farm the ground they do !!

 

[cvairwerks]

If you don't mind, then I'll punt a note over to him with the suggestion. Would probably take a bit to set things up so you guys to do one on the dairy automation and visit one of the sites you have done, since you guys personally aren't a dairy. You got the chicken side covered though.

Didn't intend to suggest you start doing videos too....I know how much work goes into them, as I used to be a network broadcast engineer and maintenance guy in my previous life.....last century.

 

[jblnut]

If you don't mind, then I'll punt a note over to him with the suggestion. Would probably take a bit to set things up so you guys to do one on the dairy automation and visit one of the sites you have done, since you guys personally aren't a dairy. You got the chicken side covered though.

Didn't intend to suggest you start doing videos too....I know how much work goes into them, as I used to be a network broadcast engineer and maintenance guy in my previous life.....last century.

I want to do the video thing but they do it so well and are doing an AMAZING job of showcasing what goes on inside a farm and why things are the way they are that I don't know how much more I'd add.

It'd be neat to showcase the dairy side of things to his 347k subscribers and I'd be happy to make a fool of myself on camera.

 

[ripperd]

I was just thinking a chain would have been alot cheaper, but the give and stretch of a real recovery rope works much better for the type of thing you were doing! Can rent/lend/barter with your neighbors when they get stuck now!

 

[Higgins]

You could start a new business, towing farm equipment out of the mud! Don't laugh. How much would a Heavy Tow Truck charge to get a large vehicle out of the mud!!

Yrs. ago my 1st house was on a rural road that was a circle. However, the closed end of the loop went down by a river. We also had a ski jump two blocks over, but the road didn't connect. People coming out to attend the event would try and take a shory cut thru our little subdivision. The only problem was when you started down the hill, you would never make it back up. They would call a tow truck, however there cable wasn't long enough to get to the bottom of the hill. ( My 1st winter I had to get towed out twice) Went to F&F and purchased 2 50 ft town chains. So I ended up making $20 or $25 from each towing company for the use of my chains. The only down side was I'd get woke up all hours of the day. However, it was good money !!

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: your picture reminded me of the days when I filled up a tire by threading on the hose so I need to get that connector cause filling up small leaking tires around here is a PITA having to hold that nozzel just right so the air gets in the tires.

sorry to hear you have more rain on the way so hope it misses you this time.

very interesting that your well is overflowing. does that change the quality of the water much and i'm guessing you have drinking water filtered so how often do you have to change the filters?

not that you want to go into the towing biz, but a good point was made and you and your dad do have the skills.

cheers!!

 

[Sifan]

LOL Good luck getting !!RICH!! in the towing business LOL In farming communities, neighbors don't charge neighbors because you might need help one day.

 

[jblnut]

I was just thinking a chain would have been a lot cheaper, but the give and stretch of a real recovery rope works much better for the type of thing you were doing! Can rent/lend/barter with your neighbors when they get stuck now!

Chains are bad news for pulling equipment out of the mud, or for anything other than securing loads for that matter .... I really really really like this tow rope !!! We've pulled most of the neighbors out of the mud over the years and now we have less of an excuse not to help when they ask it would seem.

You could start a new business, towing farm equipment out of the mud! Don't laugh. How much would a Heavy Tow Truck charge to get a large vehicle out of the mud!!

Yrs. ago my 1st house was on a rural road that was a circle. However, the closed end of the loop went down by a river. We also had a ski jump two blocks over, but the road didn't connect. People coming out to attend the event would try and take a short cut thru our little subdivision. The only problem was when you started down the hill, you would never make it back up. They would call a tow truck, however there cable wasn't long enough to get to the bottom of the hill. ( My 1st winter I had to get towed out twice) Went to F&F and purchased 2 50 ft tow chains. So I ended up making $20 or $25 from each towing company for the use of my chains. The only down side was I'd get woke up all hours of the day. However, it was good money !!

A wrecker wouldn't come anywhere near a combine for less than $1,000 I'm thinking. That's why I thought this spendy tow rope was a worthwhile investment.

JBL: your picture reminded me of the days when I filled up a tire by threading on the hose so I need to get that connector cause filling up small leaking tires around here is a PITA having to hold that nozzle just right so the air gets in the tires.

sorry to hear you have more rain on the way so hope it misses you this time.

very interesting that your well is overflowing. does that change the quality of the water much and i'm guessing you have drinking water filtered so how often do you have to change the filters?

not that you want to go into the towing biz, but a good point was made and you and your dad do have the skills.

cheers!!

That little air nozzle was a decent purchase. Simple and effective but you HAVE to remember to adjust the regulator on the air tank or I'd imagine BAD things will happen

No idea on the water quality changes. It still tastes good so it must be fine. No filtered drinking water here. It comes out of the ground and goes in a glass. Well to be fair we do have a filter on the water in the house to filter out sediment and sand mostly. The house well is an 18' deep hand dug well from WAY back when. The wash machine water valves kept plugging up so I put one of those cheap 10" filter canisters in and change it once a month or so. There's almost an inch of sand in the bottom by then

At this point Dad has the skills to get stuck and I have them to get him out

LOL Good luck getting !!RICH!! in the towing business LOL In farming communities, neighbors don't charge neighbors because you might need help one day.

This exactly. That could be widened out to "in all communities" but for sure out here in farm country we can't help the neighbors enough.

 

[jblnut]

Combine unstuck cable thimbles are here. They're a good sized set of them too

A few days back Mr. Torchman Guy at the local welding shop cut me a few scraps of steel to build something with ....

Two pieces of 1x5x15" plate and a 7" chunk of cold rolled 2" shaft.

Draw some lines and drill some holes. Pilot holes first. Mostly because it's a good idea but partly because I had a masonry tipped bit in my holesaw arbor for some unknown reason ???

2-1/4" holes on the left and 2" holes on the right. These Lenox hole saws earned their keep tonight !!

 

[Redwolf947]

I'll bet that was a pita.. hurm, not sure and cant guess exactly what you are up to on that...

 

[jblnut]

I'll bet that was a pita.. hurm, not sure and cant guess exactly what you are up to on that...

I really really expected to fight it all the way but it was about a 20 minute ordeal and all four holes were drilled. Slow speed and tons of schmoo to keep it all cool. I temped the 2-1/4" hole saw when I was done just for funsies and it was only 225°F. Can't argue with that !!

 

[RADcustom]

Looks like Mr torch man guy has a nice selection of steel on hand and well organized too!

 

[jblnut]

Looks like Mr torch man guy has a nice selection of steel on hand and well organized too!

Mr. Torchman Guy works for CAP Enterprises in Melrose. They're a local welding/fab shop that does most of our oddball custom stuff at work and since they're close I get my oddball pieces of steel and stuff there as well.

That is one of the very few areas in their shop that is that neat. It's been a welding shop for over 70yrs and it shows. Stuff EVERYWHERE !!!

 

[jblnut]

I drilled a pair of 25/32" holes in the big plates yesterday morning.


Here is it all assembled. It's a LARGE clevis for the new tow rope. I couldn't find anything that would fit all the needs we had so I built one. I'd need a 55ton clevis to be able to cram the tow rope in the pin opening and then the pin would be too large to fit in the drawbar PLUS they're in the neighborhood of $200. The materials for this one were ~$65 all in.


The end of the tow rope that is on the combine side kept opening up and filling with dirt so I made a needle out of a piece of baling wire and threaded some of the rope material through it to tighten it up.


It should drag across the ground better now without filling up with dirt !!!


We also built a big bracket to hold the rope so I wouldn't have to climb up on the back of the tractor to coil it up. It was a PITA before. This seems like it'll be easier !!


Dad got the thimbles on the cables. They make them look pretty legit now.


The rear support brackets have gotten a little bent up. We've pulled at a bit of an angle to snap the combine out of the mud and they're bending all over. I think they're where they should be now


We got the new corn head on the combine and tried it all out.


Once we had all the bugs worked out and the combine set correctly we decided to move to a field where the corn was a bit dryer.


Not bad so far !! The moisture is nice and low and the yield is amazing !! Only problem is the combine doesn't like the head and it's not recording acres. I messed with it a bit and ended up setting it up as a platform head instead of a corn head and it started recording again. Strange.


Empty hopper .....


Full hopper !!!


This thing just eats corn. I can drive faster and take two more rows than the other one.

 

[Farmall450]

I like the pull cables. Looks a lot like something I saw MN Millennial Farmer buy

(well, was sent*)

 

[jblnut]

I like the pull cables. Looks a lot like something I saw MN Millennial Farmer buy

(well, was sent*)

We have thought about doing this for a while and after I saw how easy it would be in his video we decided to make the purchase and take the plunge.

I'm sure he gets a fair number of things for free or a heavy discount but if you do the math on how many views he's getting on his videos he is making some pretty serious money having his YouTube channel as active as it is. I've been following him from the beginning and subscribe when he had less than 500 subscribers. His channel is blowing up and gaining thousands of subscribers each month and I think it is awesome what he is doing explaining the way things work on a farm in the way he does.

I assure you the video of him installing his set of cables was more entertaining than it was when we did it here.

 

[Farmall450]

We have thought about doing this for a while and after I saw how easy it would be in his video we decided to make the purchase and take the plunge.

I'm sure he gets a fair number of things for free or a heavy discount but if you do the math on how many views he's getting on his videos he is making some pretty serious money having his YouTube channel as active as it is. I've been following him from the beginning and subscribe when he had less than 500 subscribers. His channel is blowing up and gaining thousands of subscribers each month and I think it is awesome what he is doing explaining the way things work on a farm in the way he does.

I assure you the video of him installing his set of cables was more entertaining than it was when we did it here.

Honestly any decent sized farm that can commit to making good videos has serious potential. Between free stuff and AdSense...wow. I followed him and welker since sub thousand. Same with many others, who haven't seen nearly the growth.

 

[jblnut]

Honestly any decent sized farm that can commit to making good videos has serious potential. Between free stuff and AdSense...wow. I followed him and welker since sub thousand. Same with many others, who haven't seen nearly the growth.

There are a number of decent farming related channels on YouTube these days. Welker and The Millennial Farmer being my favorite two. I really would love to do the YouTube "thing" and think it'd be a blast even if no one followed along. I'd have fun, heck I have tons of fun on here and this thread has less views over the last 4-1/4 years than the latest Millennial Farmer video has in the last few days. It's still tons of fun and pictures are way less time consuming that videos and all the editing that comes with it so I'll stick around for a while for sure

 

[jblnut]

Today started off with everything clicking along pretty well. The dryer was still running from being filled last night.



The corn is decently dry (20%) and things were working well with the new-to-us combine.


The first wagon off to the wet bin !!


Wagons 5&6 (I think) getting filled.


I noticed a clicking coming from inside the combine in this general area here ....


Shields off and it's still behind something ....


More shields off and something looks not correct ...


Seems a chunk of one of the vanes had some loose. I took a grinder and cut it off and off I went !!


Off I went until corn stopped feeding into the combine. After a fair bit of troubleshooting it was determined that the hexagonal shaft that drives the chain that brings the crop into the combine was rounded off. Into the shed it went to undergo some major surgery.


We unhooked wires and hoses and took off shields and belts and tons more stuff to take the feederhouse off to be able to get to the shaft.


Off it comes. That LARGE pulley in the foreground is attached to the suspect shaft.


This is the rock trap impeller. The idea here is that any rocks that get picked up get smacked by this impeller and get thrown down into a small little area designed to take an impact. Having a rock enter the combine is never a good thing and this does a good job to prevent this !!


The shaft is out.


This is one side of where the drive gears sit. Totally rounded off and shot.


Once the rock trap was removed we can see the rotor (the main threshing component on red combines since the late 70's) and could inspect it for wear. Looks like we'll be removing it some time in coming years to replace a bunch of wear parts on it as well. Not today though. Enough stuff going on already !!


What a mess !! Of all the things to do to a combine this is in the top 5 for most major repairs. Once we had the worn out shaft out we looked over more wear items and decided to rebuild the entire feederhouse and rock trap as long as it was off. No time like the present right ??

 

[Farmall450]

Major surgery on the front of the combine. Hope all goes well. Probably ate a rock at some point to get that vane messed up. Are you going with plastic feeder chain bars/slats?

 

[ripperd]

Yikes. Doesn't seem like a great time of the year to be down a combine!

 

[jblnut]

Major surgery on the front of the combine. Hope all goes well. Probably ate a rock at some point to get that vane messed up. Are you going with plastic feeder chain bars/slats?

I'd agree on the rock taking out the vane. We're fairly certain nothing has been touched from the rock trap back since it was new. The feeder house looks to have been rebuilt sometime in the past as there is already a patch in the floor and the chain is not the original factory chain. We'll go through the rotor, cone and concaves in a few years once the 2049 Shop is up and heated.

Yikes. Doesn't seem like a great time of the year to be down a combine!

Not really but that's how it goes. When we purchased the combine we talked about bringing it to the dealer to have them go through it but figured it'd be upwards of $10,000 by the time all was said and done. We decided to risk it and looked it over ourselves but didn't tear things apart like this we we figured we'd fix the issues as they presented themselves. $3,000 in parts later we should have these issues fixed and the feeder house will be good to go for a long time again !!

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: at some point you'll need to hire a full time mechanic to fix all your stuff or is that going to be LEO'S job in a few years?

GEESH finally got some sunshine and spent the day inside tearing into your machine. i'm happy you figured out the issue and hope you can somehow finish this season's work before any more repairs.

now that you are set for pulling out tanks out of your field maybe you won't get stuck in the mud. looks like you've made yourself one of the better towing designs around.

good luck!!!

 

[davo727]

Whats the rating on the rope? The rope loops through the load and back to the puller or single?

 

[red]

Whats the rating on the rope? The rope loops through the load and back to the puller or single?

Post 2877
"It's a 50' long 200,000lb pull rated tow rope."

 

[jblnut]

Whats the rating on the rope? The rope loops through the load and back to the puller or single?

The rope has a loop on each end. The tractor end goes into a giant clevis I made and the combine end has a 6" strap through the loop that doubles back to the combine to give a little extra length.

It works very well and was a purchase we're very happy with so far !!

Post 2877
"It's a 50' long 200,000lb pull rated tow rope."

 

[Tom Sestito]

I enjoy this thread as I’ve said in the past. I also enjoy videos. But, I’m the type of guy that likes reading all the time, and watching video only some time. Solid much rather come here and read than watch videos. Plus, I can’t always watch videos depending on what I’m doing, but most of the time reading is no t an issue. so it would kinda **** to lose this great thread for a YouTube channel. Just sayin. I appreciate the time you take to put this together with all else you have on the go. Cheers

 

[jblnut]

The day started off with our bulk oil totes getting filled. Well, after playing with the chickens and hanging out with the steers for a while that is.


Oh yeah, there is a mess in Dad's shop we need to clean up today !!


As long as we were replacing shafts and other worn parts we replaced all bearings that came out as part of this. This one happens to be a 38.1mm (1-1/2") hex shaft. Not often you see hex shaft bearings and thought it was worth a picture


This red chunk of metal is the drive gear set for the feeder house chain. The shaft inside it is what stripped out and rounded off. We decided a new feeder house chain was a good idea as it was looking a fair bit sloppy. Farming is fun and spendy at times but hey, it's a good time all the time !!


Now I'm not much for swearing, well most of the time anyway, but if I had to put a quarter in a swear jar for every naughty word I said when putting this little red piece of metal in here I'd be able to go on vacation to the Bahamas. I'm not looking forward to doing the rest of them in a few years. These vanes help direct the crop flow into the rotor where it is threshed.


While nosing around in there I noticed a few welds had worn down to the point that they needed attention and were showing some cracks.


I threw the hard surface wire in the welder and went at it. It doesn't look pretty and there's two good reasons for that. One is that I had to weld it in there while just about standing on my head and the other is well, it was 30F in the shed when I did this and I was cold.


Dad and neighbor Jason got the stuff in the WARM shop together while I finished welding and some other odds and ends out in the COLD.


HEEEEY it looks like a combine again !!!


The tool cart is living up to its name. I think most of Dad's tools found their way onto it


Nom Nom Nom eating corn again !!!


The goal was to finish the field we were in yesterday. I want to bale the corn straw on Thursday so it has to be done tonight to give time for it to dry out enough.


16 rows left. Almost done


Wait a moment. If I was almost done why am I back a the bin site


The grain dryer is all steamy and doing it's thing.


Oh good grief that's right, I went home with Dad to get Big Red to pull the combine out of the mud.


The clevis works well and the rope hanger worked well as well but doing this at night wasn't a lot of fun. I should have known better than to go in this wet area but I was after every kernel and should have left those few for the deer as it turns out !!

 

[jblnut]

I enjoy this thread as I’ve said in the past. I also enjoy videos. But, I’m the type of guy that likes reading all the time, and watching video only some time. So I'd much rather come here and read than watch videos. Plus, I can’t always watch videos depending on what I’m doing, but most of the time reading is not an issue. So it would kinda **** to lose this great thread for a YouTube channel. Just sayin. I appreciate the time you take to put this together with all else you have on the go. Cheers

Thank you kindly for the wonderful feedback !!

No worries about me ditching GJ for YouTube. I do not have anywhere close to enough time to be able to pull that off. I like the crowd here and the fact that GJ is WAY more "exclusive" so to speak is a huge plus for me. I think the current farming channels on YouTube are doing a great job of conveying what we do on a daily basis and I'm happy to help provide that information through another form of media on GJ.

I'd imagine if you've read this post you also read cliftonbros89 thread. If not you need to. He's got another awesome angle of farming with beef cows and lots and LOTS of green machinery.