Marveltone
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
- Messages
- 1,485
- Location
- Somewhere north of Roseau, MN
- Tractor
- Fordson Major Diesel, McCormick Deering W4, Ford 1510, John Deere L111
It was 84 degrees today, and while that's downright cool compared to what many of you are experiencing, it was still plenty warm to be outside and working. I was disking a portion of my hay field that's just way too bumpy. I first mowed it quite low, then hooked up the box blade, lowered the scarifiers and started ripping up sod and knocking down the biggest bumps. Once I was satisfied, I switched to the disk and started rolling over the whole area to cut up the sod into much smaller pieces and further smoothing things out.
Did I mention the heat? It was a dry, dusty process, and both the tractor and I were covered in black dust. Things were starting to look pretty good as the sod clumps were getting smaller and starting to spread around and into the low spots. That's when I saw something different. Amidst the cloud of black dust, I thought I saw something white. I looked again and sure enough, there was steam coming from under the hood! I immediately shut down the tractor and popped the hood. Sure enough, the radiator screen was coated with a 1/2" combination of dried grass and air-borne topsoil.
I walked off the hay field, through the pines, down the pasture on the side of the hill and to the garage to grab a vise grip, some heavy leather gloves, a gallon of antifreeze and an empty jug. I went to the house, filled the empty jug with hot water, gathered the other items and trekked back to the fallen tractor, hoping all the time that I shut it down soon enough.
I used the vise grip to remove the hot metal screen, clean it and return it to service. I then donned the gloves, slowly and carefully opened the radiator and started pouring the hot water in, followed by a fairly equal amount of antifreeze. I took a deep breath, started the engine and watched to see if there were any obvious leaks anywhere and to let the coolant run through the system. None... Good! I topped it off, packed everything in the bucket and decided I had enough excitement for one day. It was time to go home and ponder what I have learned.
Remember to check those radiator screens often!
Joe
Did I mention the heat? It was a dry, dusty process, and both the tractor and I were covered in black dust. Things were starting to look pretty good as the sod clumps were getting smaller and starting to spread around and into the low spots. That's when I saw something different. Amidst the cloud of black dust, I thought I saw something white. I looked again and sure enough, there was steam coming from under the hood! I immediately shut down the tractor and popped the hood. Sure enough, the radiator screen was coated with a 1/2" combination of dried grass and air-borne topsoil.
I walked off the hay field, through the pines, down the pasture on the side of the hill and to the garage to grab a vise grip, some heavy leather gloves, a gallon of antifreeze and an empty jug. I went to the house, filled the empty jug with hot water, gathered the other items and trekked back to the fallen tractor, hoping all the time that I shut it down soon enough.
I used the vise grip to remove the hot metal screen, clean it and return it to service. I then donned the gloves, slowly and carefully opened the radiator and started pouring the hot water in, followed by a fairly equal amount of antifreeze. I took a deep breath, started the engine and watched to see if there were any obvious leaks anywhere and to let the coolant run through the system. None... Good! I topped it off, packed everything in the bucket and decided I had enough excitement for one day. It was time to go home and ponder what I have learned.
Remember to check those radiator screens often!
Joe