poor farmer/logger

Barley is very close to ready now and the wheat isn’t to far behind. Calling for rain tomorrow though unfortunately. Don’t need it now.

I’ve often wondered about them too. Rotor belts I was always told to run the oem by friends that had tried them. I don’t have any experience with any of their belts so I’m not the best judge but I have always been a bit suspicious. I’ve used some of their other parts on our 2188 and even John Deere 4560 without issue though.

Must be somewhat rare can’t say I’ve heard of them around here. Quick google search says they’re here in sask too. Don’t know of anyone that’s been bit by them at all. Hear stories of the odd rattle snake further south but that’s about the worst I’ve heard of.

This is why I live where the air hurts my face lol. Hopefully you’ll heal up quickly without to much pain.

Was talking with the ag manager of the coop where we buy a lot of our stuff today. He had 3 quarters of barley wrote off too So they cut it and baled it up for the cows too. Sucks but at least you can get something out of it. Crop insurance seems to be doing a better job of that now too. Used to be you had to combine it and leave a check strip then monkey around trying to get the adjusters out and figure it all out. All the work to prove there was no crop there. Im not a huge fan of carrying grain over but I don’t like throwing money away either. Always run the risk of bugs or spoiling. It should’ve all been gone last winter but of course hindsight is 20/20 lol.

The rain a few weeks back was a game changer. Without that we’d be in pretty big trouble right now. I’m hoping we’ll make a average crop but I’m not getting my hopes up. I’d sooner be surprised then let down. Getting to be decision time though now. Have some wheat and barley left over from last year yet. Debating cutting my losses and letting it go or go buy another bin. It’s looking better crop wise so thinking the new bin might be the option for this year. Sure not giving them away anymore though either.

Biggest thing I think is not to turn sharply with a heavy tree in the gathering arms. Get it swaying the wrong way and over you go.

Some of the organic stuff around here tends to look not a whole lot better. Was a huge organic farm tried to start up. They wanted to turn it into a million acre company. Lasted a couple years lol. Takes lots of work to clean up a mess after the fact too. One bad year of weeds takes 10 to get rid of or more it seems.

I don’t think they had front protection but I can’t swear to it either. Careful cutting down big stuff as it can tip the machine. Haven’t run one but have heard stories lol.

I was out crop checking last night too. No worms in the canola so far. Could see some damage possibly from grasshoppers on the canola stems. Maybe birds as well, not to sure. Wasn’t enough to kill the plant though and the pods seem to be filling regardless. Some very heavy spots around the field. Wasn’t out in the middle at all so don’t know what the whole field looks like but made a lap all the way around it on the reserve. Looks a lot better then it did a few weeks ago. Some of the canola that was stressed is blooming now again though. Only a few acres worth so it’s not major at least. Probably won’t make it in time for the rest of the field though. Wheat and barley is changing pretty fast. No one combining around here yet though.

Back on the combine today again. Got the fuel line fixed and hyd line replaced. Took it out for a half hour or so test drive tonight just to see how it would do. Everything seems to be back to normal. Found one bolt today that was worn out on the belt guide for the unloading auger. That’s where the rattle was coming from that I heard when I started it. Had to weld the hole back up and get it somewhat trued up again. Odd I never noticed it last fall but it’s obviously been rubbing for a while. Separator sure engages a lot firmer now. Draws the engine rpm down to about 700 when you engage it at idle. Rotor speed was set to about 800 with the engine wide open. In wheat it will load it up a little more at engagement I imagine as I run it around 960-980 wide open. It’s always been slow to engage when it’s cold out. Hot it hasn’t seemed to be a issue but it definitely seems firmer now. Hopefully finish putting the shields on, grease it and go without any issues this fall again. Ram flawlessly last fall. Here’s hoping for a repeat.

They’re close to normal for the time of the year. Maybe down a bit. North branch is still up a little so it’s kind of averaging out a little. South branch is always shallow though. Very difficult to get a boat down it. Even the main river is iffy in spots. Lots of big rocks. Looks like lots of pods. Hope they all fill out nicely for you.

First night in a month pretty much since I’ve had a few spare minutes to just take off for a while and kick back a little bit. Drove by some of my canola but I did t take any pics. Not to much has changed anyways, nothing blooming now except for a couple of alkali spots among the slough. Went up along the river for a while and did a little bit of hiking down the riverbank. Nothing to crazy but I found a game trail following a ridge down the bank. Was kind of a neat little spot with a nice view. Made a loop around by the forks after that and then back around through the bush and home again. Was a nice little break anyways. Just felt good to be doing something other then running for parts or pulling wrenches. Hopefully get some grain hauled out this coming week. Need to get the swaggers out and ready yet too. Still 2-3 weeks away from anything being ready to go here yet but it’s coming up pretty quick.

Well some degrees of success today. Got the combine running again. Had some odd noises the first few seconds but I think it was a combination of loose tensioner springs and air in the lines yet. Went to check the pto over though and found a fresh oil puddle under the pto pump. Heart sank a little then. Wiped everything down with break cleaner and started it back up. Turns out it’s one of the oil cooler lines I said should’ve been replaced when I had the pto out. Moving it around must’ve cracked it. It was baked real bad from the heat of the motor. Further investigation found one of the fuel lines leaking. We had it out to braze up a cracked line where a clamp had rubbed through. Touched up one spot where one had been rubbing too. It started to leak after I got it back on. 360 bucks for a new one but it’s no where to be found in Canada. Parts book says something about a 5/8-18 inverted flare fitting so not sure we can even get a hose made up to replace it. Maybe get some compression fittings or something from hypower. Cooler line has a 1/2” long reach fitting on it so probably have to go to pa anyways. Everything else seems to work at least. Ran the pto for a little bit with the rotor in neutral. Put it back into gear and it didn’t hesitate at all when I kicked the separator in so hopefully all is well there.

I was watching the radar wondering how you were making out. Looked kind of ugly over your way. We just had a storm go through here too. Never did show up on the radar. Lots of thunder and lightning. Only a tenth of so of rain though. No hail here but my brother in law at Emma lake said they had a inch in around 10 minutes time. Some hail with it too. Was almost non stop lightning overtop is at around 9:30. Every direction you looked you’d see a flash very few seconds.

They’re neat to see. Have never seen one in Canada.

Crops have perked up some after the rain. They seem to be filling out so hopefully that means good things and they don’t stop. Grasshoppers seem to have slowed up some finally too. Still a bunch moving around but nothing like before. Spray and the rain must’ve helped. Lots of pods on the canola if they just all fill. Still won’t be a super great crop but there should be something at least if it all makes it and matures. Was checking for army worms and bugs in the canola tonight. Didn’t find anything so far. Need to go check my rented land on the reserve. A haven’t been out there since the big rain. Been to bush running for parts of working on the combine.

Thank you very much. Appreciate you looking it up. That’s very helpful. I am surprised that those adapter bolts aren’t torqued higher. I’ll put a good coating of loctite on them just to make sure.

Anyone happen to know the bolt torque for the adapter plate,flywheel bolts and flex plate bolts? Thought it would be in the manual but not luck. Asked on Facebook and got a few different answers so thought I’d check here as well. Will make a call to the dealer in the morning if nothing else. Service guys are hard to get ahold of this time of the year though.

Someone sure spent a lot of time customizing that thing. Looks good though, I like it.

Brother got the flywheel fixed up on Friday night. Heading down today to pick it up again. He ram into issues pressing that new bushing in as well too. Wrecked his new sleeve that he had pressed in so he had to do it over again. Second go around he machined a bevel on the outside edge of that hardened bushing. It was square cut and very sharp. Second go around it went in smoothly he said. Got the seal drive made on the lathe and finally got the rear main installed yesterday. Monkeyed around for quite a while trying to get the seal retainer centered as best as I could. With the thicker pan gasket they use now it was impossible to get it perfect. Got it to around .008-.0010” so it will have to do. I made some aluminum dowels to center it. Never went to this much trouble on our genset and it’s not leaking so hopefully this works as well. Speedy sleeve was a little hard to drive on but it’s sitting in where it should be now at least. I installed the seal and sleeve together.

Wheat is starting to turn more here now. The late seeded barley I did in those slouch bottoms that were wet is sure doing good though. Lots and lots of n and some moisture sure makes for a heavy crop. Hoping it doesn’t all lay down, starting to lodge a bit now already. Canola is pretty much done blooming now. Fields are mostly green with the exception of a few low spots. Been working pretty steady on the combine so I haven’t been out checking for bugs yet. Hopefully won’t have to do any spraying.

Still looks good either way. Just about lost my phone today in a pail of waste oil. Was clipping it back into the holder that was clipped to my jeans and it slipped out. Bounced off the axle on the back of the combine(i was standing on top of the back tire) and landed right beside the open oil pail of waste hytran. cracked my screen protector but that was all.

My brother is very particular and precise so I’m sure what ever he does will work. I’ve tried to be careful so hopefully everything I’ve done will work as well. I maybe could’ve done the machining as well but I felt more comfortable having him do it plus he has the material there anyways. I can make parts but I certainly don’t call myself a machinist lol.

Well made a quick trip into Saskatoon today with the flywheel. Brother is going to work his magic on it and get it back true to size again. Plan is to bore it out press in a sleeve then turn it back to the proper size so the bushing will stay put. Had found a used one at the wrecker but mom and dad roped my brother into doing it for us instead. Looked into some sleeve retainer compounds but the concern was keeping the bushing centered in the flywheel. There’s only .001-.002” of wiggle room from the input shaft to the is of the bushing so if it’s not square it will be a real pain to get it in and could’ve potentially either pushed the bushing back out or took out the seal once we ran it. If the weather cooperates I might get the rear main seal done tomorrow.