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View of the day-Working together picking up oats. Too far apart for a "natural" picture.
The day started out sunny, but in the SW there were clouds that carried the threat of rain if they came our way. We went out to the barley field and after servicing the combine, blowing out the rad and air filters, started in to finish up the last 30 acres that were left. It kept trying to rain, always just enough to make a mess of the windows on the combine, but not enough to stop the combining.
Once the barley was done, Marilyn drove back to Kim and Marg's yard to blow off the combine again and change from the straight header to the pickup head. After changing a few settings, it was time to head south to help finish a field of swathed oats. Everything was running fine, except for the pickup belt we had intended on changing on a "rainy day"...like we didn't have a few of them. Of the seven belts, the one next to the centre one was missing about 8 inches of the lacing that hold the ends together. The missing lace was on the outside edge of the belt making it flap around a bit. It wasn't affecting the pickup work so Marilyn kept a close eye on it to make sure it didn't break all the way and go flying.
Everything was going fine, the oats was running around 90 bu/ac which meant the trucks were busy filling a ring that was set up in one of the fields about two miles away. The cart driver was kept busy and we eventually had to wait after everything at the field was full. Marilyn decided to take some unintentional time off to let them catch up. The combine had been picking up the swaths perfectly, no signs of slugging the rotor with a big wad of grain, when all of a sudden there was a quick growling noise and the rotor alarm went off.
Marilyn stopped immediately and was boggled by what could have happened...the swath wasn't big enough to plug things up. Once she lifted the header up, it was obvious what the noise was from. A quick trip down the ladder and out to the back of the combine and the mystery was revealed...the centre pickup belt had split and went right through the machine and was sitting in the field. It was minus a few pickup teeth and had a few gashes from going through the chopper, but the combine was fine.
Al came back to the field and we put on the backup belt we had purchased in SD, and found some extra wire to make a "mickey mouse" fix on the flapping belt. Marilyn went back out into the field and had no trouble finishing the field. We moved the combine back to the yard to blow it off again so it is clean to go into some canola tomorrow. We have a line on someone who will might be able to re-lace the flapping belt...no mean feat considering tomorrow is Labor Day.
Not a bad day, all things considered...
View of the day-The cavalry saves the day!
Well here we go again...the lightning was flashing and then the rain came around 2am. It rained a couple more times during the night, so Al had his sign. Marilyn's theory was that if it rained, the repair on yesterday's breakdown would be major...and if it didn't rain, the fix would be quick. Funny how things work.
We discovered the belt was not wrapped twice around the pulley...no indeed...it was more like seven times. We tried hooking some of the remnants to a chain and pulling with the pickup, that worked for one of the strands, but the rest were wrapped so badly that some of the fibers had pushed against the oil seal and there was a pretty heavy leak. We decided the only way to get it fixed was to remove the gear box, pulleys and all.
Since the rain has quashed any thoughts of combining, in the morning anyway, we had extra help in the form of brother-in-law Kim, nephew Gordie(who was the photographer of the day), and the farmer, Garrett. Kim called into his CaseIH dealer to see if we could get the seal replaced on a Saturday, and they told him they would be able to help us out. That was the least of our problems at that point.
The gear box weighed about 500 lbs. so lifting it out of the engine compartment was going to be a bit of a chore. We got all the bolts out that were holding it down, looped a couple of heavy ropes around it and tried to budge it. We budged it right off the platform and under a small gear, which made removal even further off. Garrett then suggested he go home and get his backhoe...BACKHOE...what a lifesaver!
Once that showed up, he hooked a chain hoist to the the bucket and ever so gently lifted the gear box out and on to the back of our pickup.
We drove the 45 miles to Storthoaks to get it gutted, and after they cleaned it up and removed the sheaves, the remnants just pulled right off. They changed the seal and and we decided to change some pins and bushings since the pulley half was off anyway. They reassembled it and we were on our way back.
Kim was combining on his canola, so we were a body short, but Garrett used the backhoe to replace the gear box and helped get it bolted back down. We were just ready to bolt up the PTO shaft when we realized that the sprockets that speed up the rotor were not lined up...they weren't even close. They had put that together backwards!
We finally got it put together the right way and after getting it all set the way it was, Al took it out for a test drive around 6:30pm. Marilyn took over after Al got the truck full and combined until 9:30pm. A 25 acre day, which wasn't that bad considering we didn't think we would get going at all.
What a great start to September...
View of the day-We're not the only ones with problems. This Cat has hair balls, and it's trying to swallow the hired man!
Another early start to the day, not necessarily combining, although we did get rolling before noon. It was a weird day, weather wise...hot (for here), windy and with a haze in the air. It was reminiscent of Oklahoma, right up to the plethora of combines making dust in the area.
We finished the quarter of barley we were on around 5pm and moved a couple miles south to the other half section of barley. The farmer moved over first and opened up a parking lot for the trucks and carts. Those first rounds can have treasures hiding in them, as the picture will attest. The hired man did find the rocks that were jamming up the works, and was rolling within a half an hour of parking.
Things were going way to good. Just as Marilyn was making the last pass around a slough, the combine started making some interesting noises and the rotor alarm went off. She shut off the back end and headed over to the truck to dump and inspect which of the belts in the back was responsible for the heavy blue haze and aroma of burning rubber. Al went up to check it out and found the rotor belt had completely shredded...no problem, we have a spare one tied up in the rotor compartment ready to be installed for just such an occasion.
Upon further inspection, the remnants of the rotor belt had tightly wrapped around twice between a pulley and gearbox and there appeared to be an oil leak from somewhere that we couldn't see. It was impossible to get the belt out, it was jammed that tight, it was also getting dark. We decided to go back to the camper and check what the service manual could tell us and deal with it in the daylight.
Al is sure someone is giving him a sign...
View of the day-First on the bus for the first day of school.
We were roused this morning with at knock at the camper door at 7am. Al got up and checked, but it looked like it was a prank...no one was there. Gordie had decided since he had to get up early for the first day of school, we should be up too. Marilyn went in for coffee and to see him off, while Al kept his pillows from floating away.
We went to town to pick up our clutch cable but the courier hadn't dropped it off yet, so we went for breakfast. As we walked into the restaurant, we ran into an old friend from Grayson, who was working in the area and had a quick catch up on what was happening in his life. We had just sat down and ordered our breakfast when a harvester that we had worked with in the area last year came in for breakfast too. He was staying at the motel we were having breakfast at and was working in the area again. We had another recap of how his summer had been going. We had contacted him when we were in Tuttle to see if he could finish up some work that we couldn't get to, and the last time we had seen him was in Alva, OK. As a matter of fact, he was in the group shot in the "view of the day" at the motel.
We got our part and put it on the General...good as new(well, new for the General). We put the chaff skirt on the combine and then tried to figure out where we were going to combine, since the weather was finally cooperating.
One farmer tested his wheat and it was 17.8 at 2pm, we went out and took the "portable combine" and tested the barley and it was 14.5. It needed to be 13.5, so we waited a bit, then got the "go ahead" to move the machines out to a different field and just start in on it. We decided to move the combine and General, towing the pickup behind it. We got everything hooked up just as Gordie was coming off the school bus so he came along with us, riding in the General with Al. We didn't even make it 1/4 mile from the yard when a couple of bolts broke on the hitch and the pickup was wanting to pass the grain truck. We pulled the grain truck into an approach and just took the pickup and combine the 8 miles to the field. We'll get that hitch working yet.
We did a second test once we got to the field, then stopped to get it tested at the Ag Service Centre where Marilyn's sister works...it was down to 13.8...woo hoo! The wheat had gotten down to 14.4%, but we had already moved, so the barley was where we were staying. After we got back to the camper, Marilyn took the General out to the field and Al brought the tractor and cart, and at 5pm we finally got rolling.
We combined about 30 acres, then called it a night. We had to call to get a ride home since we had left the pickup at the camper when we went back for the grain truck and cart. Kim was just getting home from combining at his field of barley, so he picked us up. He made a point of telling us that a big raccoon had crawled up into the back axle of his semi trailer and must have rode along back to the yard...great.
The semi is only parked 50 feet from the camper...
View of the day-A blast from the past near Alameda, SK!
No rain today...well after 3am anyway...which meant we got to sleep in a bit and then it was a "super do nothing" day.
Al and Kim went out to Kim's 2388 combine and did some tinkering around, fine tuning it for when it would crank up again. Marilyn and Gordie went to Estevan to get the Walmart fix in.
Gordie(12) is used to shopping with his mother, not so much of a leisurely shopper. Marilyn on the other hand likes to cover every aisle, and check out bargains that she couldn't possibly live without. We didn't leave until 2:30pm for Estevan, so the trip was a short one as we got home before dark. It was an early night for Gordie...tomorrow he starts 7th grade in Carlyle...high school (it is there, anyway).
We didn't see anyone making dust in our travels. The rain gauge in the yard showed just under a half an inch, but the sun shone and the wind blew most of the afternoon. The forecast is for the high 80's Thursday and Friday, but who can tell.
Although, it was a Tuesday forecast, so there is hope...
View of the day-The combine waiting to get it's new boot.
Over the years of harvesting we have learned a few things, one of them regarding the weather. Our TV is on the weather channel by default, it is the most important channel during harvest. We have also figured out that the weekend forecasts are conjured up by practicing "lay meteorologists" as we like to call them. Any weekend forecast given after 6pm on a Friday is not to be believed and don't even think about the seven day forecast without adding "once upon a time" in front of it.
That being said, yesterday's blog entry ended with a lapse in judgement by quoting a weekend forecast. In the early hours of the morning, the familiar sound of rain on the roof of the camper wasn't a good omen. It repeated it's wake-up call shortly after, which removed any thoughts of combining unless the sun came out.
We went into town to see if we could get the cable ordered in for the General's clutch and we met with success, only it would be a couple of days. We picked up some fuel, oil and a filter for the General then went out to visit with our farmer. She proceeded to blame us for the rain because she had been following our blog faithfully and had noticed a pattern. Every time we moved to a new place...it rained. Merely coincidence, we can assure you. Anyway, after getting directions to the barley fields we were to do, we went back out to the trailers where Al changed the oil on the General, and Marilyn polished up the Big Top hopper on the combine.
No laundromat in town, and fortunately Marilyn's sister, Marg, hasn't figured out how to but a coin box on her washer and dryer, so we got this week's laundry done. Al and Kim, Marg's husband, went out to check some fields and then joy of joys it was Monday night football...well not the "official" one, just NFL on a Monday. Marilyn helped Marg "re-hue" her hair...what a chemist...and got a little on her nephew Gordie as well(but none on herself).
So, it sprinkled off and on all day, then around 9:30pm it set in and rained steadily until the writing of this entry. No sign of let up according to the satellite radar picture.
But who do you believe anymore...
