Early retirement

This year has been breakdown heaven. If bad luck
were pennies I would have a sock full to put myself
out of my misery.

I had an order for 1500 square bales. I mowed the
front brome patch and the big field out back. The
first 500 up front went fairly smooth and only broke
a sheer pin when the side tire fell in a hole and
bound up the tines.

Yesterday was different. The guy hired a guy I know
to haul bales with his bale monster. When someone
is waiting on you bad luck happens. He filled the
first load and had just left when the 24 T quit tying
on both sides. I looked and found that the tucker
arm drive was bent. I quick called Chuck who
retired from JD as their baler mechanic. He is able
to fix anything. Chuck drove out and we took the
shaft out and heated it and bent it back. He
adjusted everything and I went back to the field.
Chuck walked behind the baler and was right there
when it did it again. Back to the shed. This time we
realized the stop for one side had broken off
allowing the tucker to go over center and putting it
in a bind (at this point the bale monster was back
and waiting). Chuck straightened the bend again
and I welded on a piece of stock to give it a stop.
He put it all together again and walked behind her
and made sure all was well. She cranked out the
rest of her bales without fail.

Did I mention Chuck is almost 81 and worked for
Deere for 61 years before retiring last year? He was
working a little slower yesterday - he just got a new
titanium shoulder.

I wish Chuck had not retired so early. Of course, he
still loves to come to the farm and I make it worth
his time. I would pay him to come and tell me
stories of his years with JD. Luckily they start
flowing every time he has a wrench in his hand.

Great that he can still do the work. There aren't many old time baler mechanics around. He sounds like a treasure of knowledge.

If it makes you feel any better my 24t bent the tucker finger shaft this year as well. I wanted to bale about 250 bales of second crop and serviced the baler and baled about six bales before it died. Why couldn't it have broke on the last load of straw last year insted of the first six bales this year? We only bale about 1500 small squares a year. I have not even had time to look at it yet. The 105 combine is in the shop now getting ready for rye and oats.I have had an interesting year with breakdowns and minor problems as well. Maybe with the new shop everything will be perfect for next year.LOL Tom

There are getting to be fewer mechanics like "Chuck" around anymore. The trouble is that the newer machinery takes a totally different skill set to make work. Meaning being able to figure complicated mechanical systems gets topped by needing to know how to figure out complicated electronic systems. I saw this coming in the early 1990s. It is one of the big reasons I moved off of the shop floor. I do not repair things well unless I can "fully" understand how they work. The complication of electronic systems make it to were few can fully understand how they work. So most mechanics are left learning how to flow chart repairs in a computer operated system with diagnostic tools that tell you what MIGHT be wrong. They really have little idea of how the entire system works. This is why your getting more parts changers over true mechanics anymore.

Someone should encourage Chuck to write a book of his experiences.

Late 90's saw a turnover on a conveyor...all it did was grip a part, flip it over to put on another conveyor.

Instead of a hydraulic or air cylinder for the turnover, they'ed used a servo motor.

I knew then my job (industrial electrician) was about to get a lot more complicated.

Fred

Fred: I believe your in Southern Ohio. I looked you up a few weeks ago after your reply to a post about rain. I think you live not far from the little village of Eckmansville in Adams Country Ohio??? I bought cattle from a family there for a good many years. Bob Shipley and his sons.

You may as well take a minute or two and figure out what's bending "the shaft". Stuff like that doesn't just happen, there's a reason.

Hi You are lucky chucks still around, Listen to every thing he tells you and ask more questions to if needed. I'm 42 and have been listening to these older guys for years. I had a couple friends one did machining the other ran backhoe loaders/rebuilt them and sold a few to. The stuff they told me went in one ear and stayed. quite often I'm doing something and what they said years ago comes to mind and is the solution. sometimes it's the opposite and you think they are gone and I bet they knew the answer to the problem.

Lots of this old school information is heading in a hole in the ground. There aren't many guys like me interested in listening anymore either, so that loss is speeding up fast.
A local guy was saying his Cat excavator broke down they sent a kid and as soon as he got the computer out, he told him your done before you start here there is no plug in for that machine it's to old!. The kid had no clue how to diagnose the problem and fix it, and Cat sent a bill for his wasted visit, and the guy that fixed it. The machine he runs now has JD written down the side, he was that mad about it.
Regards Robert

Robert

To give you some hope.

One of our boys did a Cat apprenticeship, and did very well at that.

But he grew up with a TEA 20, a FA 10 dozer and an AC 45 grader. His first vehicle retrieve was a flat head Ford truck. So he can get by very well on things that will only see a computer if you happen to take a laptop on board for some reason.

But they're very scarce

Could it be that there is a very real lack of common sense? When I went to school it seems the emphasis was problem solving now it's look it up on the computer. One other thing I think is missing is so many fathers go off to work I know growing up on the farm with the family and we farmed with my uncles it was a constant work related education.
Back when I first started working off the farm I worked in a factory that actively recruited retired farmers they were noticed as one of the best rebuilt parts suppliers around.
Those old mechanics are getting scarce I ran short of time and sent my tractor in to get fixed it came back not running they tried several times to straighten it out finally got a lead on an old guy he came with a paint can full of tools and straightened it out . The major problem was they tried the buckshot method of repair instead of going one problem at a time the messed with everything and then it's where do you start.

Troubleshooting knotters on JD balers is dull: "It's the tucker fingers."

We did. The missing stop combined with all those years of wear caused the one side to go over center and bind. It put out about 750 bales after he left. I think he got it.

Actually its more a case of there isn't a father in the house - let alone one that sets an example of getting up and going to work every day.

For him being 81 i bet he had some great stories. Thats awesome

Guys like that are well worth $75/hour.

Now days the computer tells them what part to change. There really no mechanics anymore just parts changers.

I remember a well respected mechanic making that same statement about parts changes in the mid/late 1960s.

Dean

So true never thought of it that way

That's me.

I know Bob and his son, not well but enough to say hello. About 3 miles up the road from me.

Fred

But now they are not even called mechanics .They call them techs. But I get your point about what each generation thinks of the next.

It seems that GENERALLY the best tradesmen (Persons?) we have at the factory...and by best I mean guys who aren't afraid to work and can eyeball a problem and figure it out... are former or current farmboys.

Done patting myself on the back now.

Fred

Remember back in the day looking for a job if you told someone your a farm kid you had best of had a lunch packed because you weren't going home till quitting time.

(quoted from post at 02:29:16 07/13/16) Fred: I believe your in Southern Ohio. I looked you up a few weeks ago after your reply to a post about rain. I think you live not far from the little village of Eckmansville in Adams Country Ohio??? I bought cattle from a family there for a good many years. Bob Shipley and his sons.

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Hey!! Didn't you get the memo about hijacking threads??

The man is quite serious about it you know!

I agree.