Al went out to the combine early to see how the tech from the dealership was making out. He had a list of things to try to get the autosteer going, so Al figured he would hang around in case someone had to hold the flashlight.
Marilyn got out to the field just as the tech was putting his testers and laptop away...still no luck. We continued combining "old school"...until the chopper plugged again.
This time Al was driving and he thought he had stopped it in time, but it appeared he had actually stopped it to soon. He felt the wad might have gone through. Too late. We drove back to where the trucks were parked and started pulling straw.
Once Marilyn got inside, she realized it was only 50% as plugged as yesterday...still plugged though. It seemed strange with all the power this machine has, that the chopper would be the weak point. The belt was getting smoked a lot from the slipping, so to be on the safe side, Al sent Marilyn to Windthorst to pick up a new one so we would be prepared.
Marilyn was a mile out of Windthorst, on the way back to the field, when Al called to say she should go back and see about getting some other parts for the chopper. It appeared, after inspection, that the splines on the high speed drive for the chopper were worn on the edges and that was causing it to slip into low gear and plug the chopper.
Al explained the parts needed as best he could...Marilyn did know "sort of" what he was talking about. Back at the dealership, she worked with the parts lady to figure out the right pieces to the puzzle. After getting the service manager in on the job, we decided on the parts. They didn't have them, but could get them by tomorrow morning. She was good enough to give a few print outs of the parts so we would have a check list.
Al figured we wouldn't worry about getting it right away, that we would get the winter wheat finished with it the way it was. The farmer was OK with the coarser straw that was being left, so we continued with the chopper in low range.
Shortly after that, one of the other combines blew a chopper belt, so they had to run to Windthorst to pick up a new one and install it. It didn't take too long before they were back with the rest of the machines and we had all four running until the field we were on was finished.
We had a new grain cart show up at the field later in the day. This was to replace the green one that was "resting" in the field. This one is 2000 bushels and allows us to connect via bluetooth on the cell phone to see how much we have unloaded for combine calibrations. Now that's a smart cart!
One day left on the winter wheat...
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