Today we
were going to get a lot done. We went over to the welding shop to see how the
cart hoops were coming…not so good. They
had an emergency repair come in and it had to be done before the
afternoon. It was a dry van that looked
like someone had taken a very large can opener to the top and peeled it
open. We decided to take the tractor
back to the farm and work on it.
It broke
100ºF today, so we really didn’t want to be working in the direct sun, although
there really was no getting away from the heat…unless we went into the air
conditioned comfort of the camper. Al
was driving the tractor back to the yard and when he pulled in the drive way and
tried to downshift, the shift lever felt like something had let loose and just
flipped back and forth with no effort.
We
started to inspect what could have been wrong…Al was sure we were going to have
to pull the transmission or split the tractor…Marilyn was sure it was something
reasonably simple. We got digging around and found the ball and socket on the
end of the cable had worn and popped apart, so we just needed a new one. Thankfully, the repair didn’t require a whole
new cable…that would have been a nightmare.
We got
out the parts CD, found the number, then called down to Fairview to see if they
had what we needed. They did and it was
only $9…how often does that happen? So
we were on the road for parts. Although Fairview is only 40 miles away, it
seems like 80. We are sure some of those
signs have got to be wrong. Anyway, we
got to see a lot of wheat fields along the way, but no one is combining yet…the
talk in the parts store is not until the middle of next week. Of course, this hot weather could bring it
around.
We got
the parts, then stopped at Sonic for a milkshake before going back to the
farm. Back at the farm, we got the part
put back on and Al took the tractor for a spin to make sure the cable was
functioning properly. It was, so now it was Marilyn’s turn to get down to work
and get the 2-way radio mounted in the cab and wired up. Since we had it
somewhat gutted from looking for the shift cable issue, it made wiring it in a
lot easier.
Once we
got everything put back together, Al drove the tractor back to the welding shop
so R.L. could take a look at the hoops in the morning. We took a tour around the lot behind the shop
where we parked our trailers and discovered a couple more crews had moved in…one
of them with Gleaners!
We went
back to the camper and were happy to hit the shower after the hot sticky day of
grubbing around. Al is going through
withdrawal…no hockey until Wednesday, so he waits patiently.
As does
the combine…
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