2+2 Guy

Yes, Bill the grade is controlled by laser and it was added to the machine sometime in the 1980’s. The latest technology uses gps for both guidance and grade control. Even though the land appears to be flat, there is always some fall to it. They try to achieve one tenth of a foot per 100’ of run. It gets complicated sometimes and I’m certainly no expert. My job is transportation, repairs & gofer.

Was HD at the 2015 Roundup in Sedalia? I kinda think I remember meeting him. Sorry to hear of his passing.

Oh yeah! We got them sex stones. That's one reason he was going so slow. He hit 4 of them on the first line. Sorry for the picture quality. It was crisp & clear on my iPhone but I suppose by the time I sent it to BJ's phone and he worked whatever magic he does to get it on here it lost some of it's clarity. Well at least ya get the idea anyway. Got 2" of rain last night so it's setting again. What a year. Guess I shouldn't complain. 20 miles east of us got 6".

Sure glad to hear that he's doing ok, Mark. Hang in there pal.

Kind of an optical illusion in the picture. There’s actually 5-6” in between the tandems. The video that BJ will be posting tonight shows it better.

Yep. He runs a chain through them when hauling. Originally there was a grader blade on the front but his uncle removed it and added the weights. It gets pretty light on the front end when the digging wheel is out of the ground. Thought you guys would like to see the IH suitcase weights on there. Video coming soon.

Well I’m capable of rebuilding a 300 lb. gear case but I don’t seem able to load a video on RPF. Here’s a coupe pics I snapped yesterday when we got it running. I’ll try to email the video to BJ for posting.

Those used to be in one of the farm magazines. Can’t remember which one it was but I always enjoyed them. A whole book of them would be great.

They made them. 👍

I was there a couple years ago. Really enjoyed the museum. Some great lookin trucks in that place. Hope you have a good show, Pete. I'll miss seeing you guys this year.

Well guys, the local machine shop came through for me. I got there when they opened this morning and by 10:00 I had 3 new washers. Asked him what I owed him and he said, "Oh how 'bout 10 bucks". Gave him a 20 and told him to have lunch on me. Bearing supplier called at 9:00 and said everything was in. I love it when a plan comes together. By 5:00 we had it all back together and filled with oil. Hope to have it back in the machine tomorrow if we can get back to where it sits. I heard they got 3-4" of rain up where it is. Son is going to call his customer tomorrow morning and see if we can even get to the machine. I know we all like pictures so here ya go. Empty Gear Case Guts & Gears All back together. Ready to go back into the ditcher. Hope it lasts another 50 years. Thanks to all for your ideas and input. BJ called me this morning and said they could burn some out at work for me but I had already been to the machine shop. Thanks BJ 😊

Thank you all for the great ideas. I am going to try the local machine shop first thing this morning. As always time is of the essence and I know these guys are usually very busy. We'll see how that goes. The ditcher is sitting in the middle of a customers field in the middle of a job and more jobs are coming in daily. I highly suspect that we will end up just stacking some narrow rim machinery washers together, as stronger800 suggested, just to get it going. As my father-in-law used to say, "Yep, we'll fix that better when it rains". 😊 Thanks again and I'll let ya know how it all turns out. My son took over the family's farm drainage business after my brother-in-law(his uncle) passed away suddenly last winter. He's the 4th generation to run the business and the 3rd generation to operate this machine. After 4 years of blissful retirement I've been pressed into service as his transportation & repairs executive. 😵

Local transmission shop owner told me the same thing. He reminded me that a lot of the "deuce 'n half" military trucks used a transfer case similar to that. He thought they may have been made by Clark. Haven't been able to locate anything on that line yet. Yes it does...…..come to think of it I believe there is a fab shop with a CNC water jet less than 20 miles from me. Might have to check that out tomorrow morning.

Thanks, will check into that.

Good question. They appear to be nothing more than spacers between the gears on the shafts. My only concern about doing that is the possibility of premature wear if they spun freely on the shaft. However this isn’t something that’s turning at high rpm so maybe my concern is unfounded.