September 29, 2008

View of the day-Al picking up the wheat swaths to make room to park the equipment.

After spending the better part of the morning moving the rigs from the field south of town to one just west of town, we were able to get everything organized and ready to start just after lunch.

Fortunately Al was able to park the truck at the bin in the field and dump into it with the cart when he got a load, which was often since the wheat was running 50+ bu/ac. Marilyn had to go into town for groceries so Al got to take over combining and when she got back, Al had stopped and was preparing to dismantle the front end.

The feeder had been sounding rather noisy in the canola and after tightening up the feeder chain, it had subsided somewhat, but was back to the rattle after 100 acres. Once we had the pickup head was removed we were able to get in to see what the problem was and discovered a roller that holds up the arm of the feeder drum was bent out of shape on one side and missing completely on the other. A call to the Case dealer confirmed they had the rollers but not the bolts, so rather than run for the parts, we were able to find enough washers and bolts to fabricate a replacement. We shortened the feeder chain by a link and once the header was back on, it was running like a top and we were back in the field.

We worked until Al had filled the first of the bins and had moved the auger to the next bin before calling it a night.

After all, it was Monday Night Football...