Who’s getting hay equipment prepped?

[thepumpguysc]

I’ve been REALLY BUSY the last 2 weeks and so far, no end in sight..
Everyone went to start their machines after sitting all winter and they won’t start..
So my phone starts ringing..
I KNOW I’ve done at least 6, 4020 inj pumps and a handful of 950’s & more on the way..

 

[Hay Dude]

Some bearings are easy, others make you wonder what a designer/engineer was thinking when they designed it.

Oh don’t get me started on engineers.
I think one of the last sentences my dear old dad muttered before he died was “engineers should be forced to repair or replace everything they design”.
Probably be mine, too.

 

[WinterDeere]

Oh don’t get me started on engineers.
I think one of the last sentences my dear old dad muttered before he died was “engineers should be forced to repair or replace everything they design”.
Probably be mine, too.

This is going to sound xenophobic, because it is, but it's true. I have worked with engineers from maybe three dozen different countries, and have concluded that America has led the world in design and manufacturing since the inter-war period, because we grew up working on bicycles, farm equipment and hot rods.

I have worked with absolutely brilliant guys from China and India, way smarter than me in many ways, but most of them couldn't design their way out of a wet corrugated box with a sharp knife in one hand. Just as reading teaches you grammar and vocabulary, working on things designed by others and yourself teaches you the vocabulary of good design.

 

[CH4Ohio]

Lineman North Florida:
Some bearings are easy, others make you wonder what a designer/engineer was thinking when they designed it.



I spent about 6 hours changing the cutter drive belt on a haybine yesterday. First time I've changed one. Have to remove quite a bit of stuff including taking the gear box loose and sliding it out from the machine so you can slide the new belt in and around it. Not that bad really, but it seems like there would be an easier way to change a belt . . .
Now that I've done it, I could do another in about 2 hours. (By the time it's needed again, I'll probably forget what I learned and spend another half day on it.)

I have to shout out New Holland belts though. I noticed a big chunk missing on it last September on a final cutting of about 12 acres. Didn't have time to change it so crossed my fingers and ran it. It held together and was still working when I took it off yesterday.

Don't know how you guys are able to keep up with the maintenance on that big equipment! This old haybine and a small square baler are as much as I want to fool with anymore. Glad I'm not relying on hay to buy groceries -- we'd starve.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Lineman North Florida:
Some bearings are easy, others make you wonder what a designer/engineer was thinking when they designed it.



I spent about 6 hours changing the cutter drive belt on a haybine yesterday. First time I've changed one. Have to remove quite a bit of stuff including taking the gear box loose and sliding it out from the machine so you can slide the new belt in and around it. Not that bad really, but it seems like there would be an easier way to change a belt . . .
Now that I've done it, I could do another in about 2 hours. (By the time it's needed again, I'll probably forget what I learned and spend another half day on it.)

I have to shout out New Holland belts though. I noticed a big chunk missing on it last September on a final cutting of about 12 acres. Didn't have time to change it so crossed my fingers and ran it. It held together and was still working when I took it off yesterday.

Don't know how you guys are able to keep up with the maintenance on that big equipment! This old haybine and a small square baler are as much as I want to fool with anymore. Glad I'm not relying on hay to buy groceries -- we'd starve.

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Belts are one of those things that can surprise you as to how long they will last being all cracked and thread bearing, I remember when I first started seeing serpentine belts on early 90's Chevrolet trucks and upfront I thought it would be a terrible idea for everything to run off of one belt but I was wrong, they seem to last on and on and can be changed in a matter of minutes with only a pull handle to ease off the tensioner. P.S. nice clean shop area that you have to work in.

 

[CH4Ohio]

Belts are one of those things that can surprise you as to how long they will last being all cracked and thread bearing, I remember when I first started seeing serpentine belts on early 90's Chevrolet trucks and upfront I thought it would be a terrible idea for everything to run off of one belt but I was wrong, they seem to last on and on and can be changed in a matter of minutes with only a pull handle to ease off the tensioner. P.S. nice clean shop area that you have to work in.

You are right about belts. Sometimes they’ll hang on by a thread.

Thanks on the shop …. Not really organized yet but nice to be inside and dry.

 

[Hay Dude]

I prefer double & triple belts. One breaks, the others will get you home

 

[WinterDeere]

I prefer double & triple belts. One breaks, the others will get you home

As long as the broken one doesn't jam up the works and take out their partner(s)!

On belt-driven woodworking machinery, where belt lengths are shorter, we have to buy doubles and triples in matched sets. If you don't it's pretty common to find one belt is tight while the one next to it is loose and slipping.

What this means is that, on a triple-belted machine, you're usually stuck buying 3 new belts when one fails. Maybe that's less an issue on the longer belts used with ag equipment?

 

[CH4Ohio]

As long as the broken one doesn't jam up the works and take out their partner(s)!

On belt-driven woodworking machinery, where belt lengths are shorter, we have to buy doubles and triples in matched sets. If you don't it's pretty common to find one belt is tight while the one next to it is loose and slipping.

What this means is that, on a triple-belted machine, you're usually stuck buying 3 new belts when one fails. Maybe that's less an issue on the longer belts used with ag equipment?

Or do they have independent tensioners?? I don't know . . . interesting point . . .

 

[Hay Dude]

I had a have a Pottinger mower with a triple belt. One broke, then a few months later the second belt broke.
I limped through a couple hundred acres with just one belt. Had 3 new belts at the shop, just wanted to see how long it’d go on one lol