Sooner or later it happens

I had a good harvest season with no breakdowns on my JD 6620 combine and all was going very well until I stared plowing. First I plowed about 20 acres of sod without any problems and then I started to plow down corn stalks on a combined field. Plowed the first 15 acres without any problems and started on the next field when trouble began. The corn stalks began plugging the plow every few feet even though it had not plugged on the first field.

I looked the plow over and found that one of the shares had been bent and one of them had a broken point. Must have hooked a rock on my last pass on the previous field. So what to do?

No problem, I had a plow already mounted on another tractor so I just used that one. Again no plugging and I had nearly finished plowing, in fact I was making my last pass, when, bang, one of the front wheels suddenly fell of the tractor and I was done.

We had been having trouble with that wheel in the past and it had been repaired before and it showed no sign of distress but apparently the replacement studs had become fatigued and simply snapped when making a sharp turn.

My point, enjoy the good times when everything works as it should but be aware that sooner or later things are going to take a turn for the worse. I am going to fix the tractor right this time, looks like a new hub, and hope for a return of my good luck. Happy farming

Sounds like one of my days a while ago. Everything I used broke. I finally took the rest of the day off and began again the next day.

Years ago when I was farming more land than now......would always start the day out by planning out what I had to get done on that day. And usually some come-apart that had never happened before would totally change my plan......increasing my frustration by not getting planed amount of acres planted , hay cut, or whatever I had planned for the day.

Now.... I know what I will be working on....but never speculate how many acres will be planted or cut or combined by the end of the day.

When the day is over.....I just look back at what I got done.....and say to my self....."Self" You had a "Good day" or.......Maybe NOT such a good day !!!!!

John

This fall the guys who harvest my acres had real good luck with the combine over the 2800 acres they put through it. Grain cart was another story. In the next to the last field a snoot was poked into a $6000 grain cart tire. The experienced combine driver couldn't believe what he had just done! Rain was forecast so they borrowed a 1000 bushel cart on tracks from a friend. Next and last field on a Saturday evening with several days of rain in the forecast the borrowed cart lost a bogey wheel and threw the track. Had to unload it into a semi in a soft field so the semi had to be pulled out to the road. Went to the Deere dealer and rented another 1000 bushel cart. With twenty acres left that cart ended up buried in the mud. Finished the last twenty acres driving the combine a half mile across the field every time the tank was full. Next morning in a drizzle they had to vac out the stuck cart and dump the corn on the ground because it was too soft and slick to get anything close to the cart to dump into. But the combine ran OK!!!

Stressed wheel studs and fasteners are common enough that our father's advice of tightening turns out to be wrong. Torquee wrench is your friend. Jim

What? You mean "tighen em till they strip and back off a quarter turn" isn't right? The heck you say!

We ran the same way, harvest was pretty uneventful as far as breakdowns but when I hooked onto the dirt scraper that was another story. The best I had was a 6 hour stretch without a breakdown. Finally it broke the mounting for the cylinder on the clamshell and I backed it in the shed and said "we'll try for next year". The ground was so hard that it was tough pulling.

shoups sells reinforcing rings for ag wheels. they weld on the rim. work pretty good. neighbors 4020 with loader was good for cracking front rims. these cured em good. shoup parts . com heres a p/n for one of em.....rr8800.

(quoted from post at 08:07:03 11/19/15) What? You mean "tighen em till they strip and back off a quarter turn" isn't right? The heck you say!

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Snug 'em up till they smoke and back 'em off half a turn!