Wednesday, October 13, 2010

It came on Wednesday...

Friday the 13th, that is.  Here is the summary of breakdowns during the final stages of our hitherto trouble-free harvest.
  • Tandem #1: blown o-ring on the hoist. Upside: We fixed it ourselves - an increasingly rare feat.
  • Tandem #2: hard-to-diagnose priming problem caused by tiny leak in fuel return line.  Had to order and wait for new line.
  • 9570 Combine: blown turbocharger.  So few of these machines are out there so we couldn't cannibalize a new one. Dealer doing his best, but day 4 and counting.
  • Brand new CIH MX 305: After 4 calls for the a/c the technician finally discovered the little beads in the receiver dryer (don't ask me!) has escaped into the lines and valves. Maybe tomorrow.
  • With all the harvesting stopped, we started hauling fall delivery beans from bins we couldn't deliver from the field because of train problems at the elevator, and...(wait for it)...Tandem #1 is developing a significant shimmy.
Meanwhile, like EVERYONE around me is done (pdf)!  The horror!


Still, all I have to do is pull out last year's work log and things fall into perspective.  Just not much interest in blogging right now.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

my grandpa always used to say the first done dont have enough to do--
we are still a week away even with pathetic corn yields-
enjoy the weather
steve

Anonymous said...

John , what's the rush you aren't going too plant any corn in those fields until probably April anyways...yields in our part of Ontario ,soys average to above,corn great...feel for you on that combine, no way should they be down that long on current model machine..problems in our county that dry week at end of sept. 6 deeres and a c-ih burned up...because of safety concerns our deere tech says that it is a 1/2 day job too remove shields so when there is a fire its burning pretty good before you get too it...we be about last too finish soys here ,but that's OK as they are worth at least $1 bu more than 3 weeks ago...regards-kevin

Anonymous said...

Obviously you have neglected to knock your head on a wooden post for luck. At least the ground is dry enough to not get stuck. Mired combines all around!

Karl M. Hess said...

Did these harvest interuptions give you an opportunity for a second opinion referral from your cardiologist with Baxter Black? A trip to the vet may be just what your heart needs!! Thanks for sharing and continued safety. These experiences just enrich the conversations at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Karl M. Hess

Anonymous said...

John, I try to not worry about what the neighbors think or say, in a week or 2 everybody will forget what the order of finish was. I've had a chronic electrical problem on my R52 that nobody can figure out, so its frustrating, still have some beans to cut. It sounds like you've had a difficult harvest with health and machinery problems, hang in there and remember what is really important. AC