September 30, 2010

View of the day-The wheels are off...well one was, anyway. The only way to get the shaft out to get the bearing changed was to get the big tire out of the way.

The guys from Chicoine Equip. showed up bright and early with the parts and immediately set to work. It seemed like the further they got into the job, the more things had to get removed. After they got the tire shifted, they were able to get started...until the jack and blocks started sinking into the soft ground. They made a road trip to get some steel sheets to put the jacks on, but then decided to put the tire back on so they could remove the pickup head and find some solid ground for the jacks.

It took the better part of the day, but they were able to get everything apart, and since they had it apart, they made a point of changing out both bearings. With things being beefier inside, they had to unpin the feederhouse and almost take it off to get enough room to get the larger rock beater drum out...but they did, and once everything was back where it belonged, it was test time.

While the combine was getting worked on, Marilyn started getting the broken disappearing fingers replaced. Even though there were a couple of openings to reach inside the drum, Al's reach was further than Marilyn's, so with teamwork, that job was accomplished.

The other two combines had finished the canola field and came back to the yard to see what was going on. We were ready to roll with everything running better than ever, so it was time to try the combine out on some canola swaths. We all moved north to the next field and started in...success! Big thanks to the guys from Chicoine Equipment, they did a hell of a job.

There were a lot of low spots that were wet but fortunately no one got stuck and once we finished the first piece, we quit for the day.

No point in starting a new, wet field in the dark...