If I were superstitious…

I would have knocked on wood after my last post. That day I had another conversation with Loren after the head quit raising on its own. I thought there was an adjustment that I hit wrong. He said to check the hydraulic levels. They were fine. I kept running. Then the head wouldn’t raise at all. Next BGC died and buzzers went off, lights flashed. We had a problem. By this time I was letting William drive. He got  it running again but there was no steering. Struggling with the wheel, he backed it to the other end of the field. We called the service dept. They said we shouldn’t have kept it running after it died. It may have burned up the main gear case that is lubricated by hydraulic pump. A story was told of how someone just did that last week. His combine was still in the shop. It was a big mess. We thought we were screwed.

If you have to have a service truck come out, you want one this size.

Not this size.
It means that the problem is bad enough that the combine needs to be worked on in the shop and you can’t drive it there. So after John determined that there was no hydraulic pressure anywhere. He called for the semi to haul it back to the dealership. I have never seen how a combine is loaded on a trailer to transport. So I got an education. While I stood around taking pictures thinking this should make a great blog post, the guys loaded up the combine.

After the trailer was unhooked, the combine was dragged by huge strap up on to the trailer.

Then the trailer is hooked back up to the semi. The ground was too soft, William pulled semi and all out of the field to the road.

So BGC was off to the shop.

The good Lord was smiling on us this day. It turned out a shaft to the hydraulic pump broke. The mechanics were able to fix it the next day.  BGC was running again the day after that. And, knock on wood, it is running great.

Harvest Status Report

After two weeks or so, here is the Harvest Status Report
BigGreenCombine: no breakdowns.
Grain Bins: one fan has gone out
Elevators: The first one we have been hauling to is putting in a new dump pit (supposed to be finished weeks ago) is having electrical problems on and off.
Yields: Corn- Highest field was 178 bu/a, Lowest field was 67 bu/a
            Beans- Haven’t started yet. Will start after the next rains coming in.
Rain: 3.7 in. for Sept.
Cattle: One cow (Mable) escaped the pasture and went for a stroll down the road. Put a new solar fencer on the electric fence. William put some round bales in to keep everyone happy.

An Ah-ha Moment

Phone call to Loren while in the cab of the combine in the field:
Me: Loren, the automatic head height isn’t working. I have to us the manual adjust.
Loren: When you push the 1, 2. or 3 button does the head move?
Me: It moves a little but hardly at all.
Loren: Do you have the sensor bars down underneath the head?
Me: I don’t know.
Loren: Go check. And give me a call if you need help.

I didn’t call him back. The auto head height works like a dream when the bars are down where they can do their sensing.

For those who don’t know: These bars make the head move up and down automatically with the terrain. Love ’em. You really miss these neat little features when they don’t work or forget how to make them work. Thanks Loren.

Combine Clinics

are basically a good thing, especially when they are held at the local winery. But what you end up seeing is the new series combine that has all the bells and whistles and you still have five payments on the one that was new one series ago. I did get some info on running GreenStar and the Apex software along with the coveted phone numbers of Scott and Brad who actually know how to run them. One thing I forgot to ask is about load calibrations sequence. I guess I am going to have to look that up. Then I’ll call the guys.
I do like being the only female at meetings. No lines for the bathroom.

Gentlemen, Start Your Combines

Every year we have the combine gone thru by the very able mechanics. They found a gear box that had come off its bracket and was sitting on a bolt. Its amazing that it had held up that way it did. Anyway they found it and replaced it. It has new belts, filters, tight chains, ect. So the Big Green should run with no problems all fall. ;o). We picked it up last week and are now getting the trucks and augers ready. The kids have to finish cleaning out the bins. Then we should be good-to-go after a cattle sale and a wedding. (Mr. Cox said it was time to start up the combine blog. So, here ya go.)