Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

I almost made my first round with my R52 Gleaner, but didn't quite make it.
It started out well, ran a moisture test from the front headland at under 14%. Then I started adjusting the concave to get a better sample. Stopping every 100 ft to check to see how much grain I was throwing over. Opened up the fan damper, tightened up the concave again, adjusted the sieve. Still a bit of chaff and heads in the bin, but Beacher Wheat is hard to harvest. Now starting to put some material through this machine, running about 3.8MPH, rebuilt header feeding well. Starting to fiddle with the monitors to learn how they work.
Then all of a sudden the auger in the header is at a standstill. The drive chain has come off the sproket.

There is always cause and effect, I was a bit rash in thinking the chain was the cause, no such luck. It was the effect.
In rebuilding the header, i missed replacing a single washer over a simple eyelette that adjusts the auger position. As a result the eyelet opened up, the auger moved back and was jamming into the stripper bar. No big damage, but not something that gets fixed by putting the chain back on.
I flipped through the manual a few times before I realized what was the source of my angst. Drive to the front of the field and unload, I have some repair work to do.

Started to unload, then had to shut off the unloader to position myself a bit further from the wagon. This R52 is a lot bigger than my old MF540 and its going to take a few rounds to get used to the length of this unload auger. But it wouldn't start again. Damn electronics! Now I am tracing the wiring diagrams, why won't this auger engage?
Drive to the yard. Now I have more to fix.

First I need this auger emptied, and I don't want to drain it through the clean out, there must be 100 bushels in the bin. All the wires look good, but the clutch will not engage. Problem is, with the grain loaded auger the metal dog that goes in front of the sensor for detedting the auger position, has moved just far enough the sensor is not made. Sollution, place a piece of metal over the sensor and everything works. Of course it took and hour and a half to figure this out.

Now I can move my attention to the plugged header. I love my Gleaner. Within 20 min all the damaged parts are off, and repaired. 20 more minutes back on and modified to prevent such a future failure (needed washer now installed). The reverser works! Hard to justify calling it a plug when it is so easy to undo. BUT the little metal cover at the center to access the fingers has gone missing. That would have plugged up my old combine, i didn't ever hear it go through this one. Back out to the field to run this straw through and see if the other repairs are good. The auger slips as I pull in to the field, lilekly need to re-adjust the slip clutch.  That ends my night.  It was getting dark, my combine needs work, and I am getting a bit tired, nothing good will come of doing any more.

Thanks to a 1/2" rain today, well timed for the tassling corn, I can take my time to make the needed replacement and repairs tonight.

 

So the wheat harvest is at a stop, the field barely touched.   But that's ok the rain is very needed.  So far today, more rain than all of June.  But surprisingly, the crops have been hanging on and are lookig good despite the drought.  I credit fall plowing.

Head high by the 4th of July!  Just need rain to take advantage of a good start.

Views: 617

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by OntAG Admin on July 5, 2012 at 10:48am

Thanks Gus,

Let us know how the wheat runs...glad you got some rain.

Take care.

Comment by Mitch Lang on July 4, 2012 at 2:53am

Your corn looks nice Gus... Must be that fertilizer you used... :)

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Sioux County Farmland Auction Shatters Iowa Record at $32,000 Per Acre

A historic farmland auction in Sioux County, Iowa, where a 35.5-acre tract sold for $32,000 per acre—setting a new state record for farmer-buyer purchases.

Sioux County Land Auction Shatters Iowa Farmland Record at $32,000 Per Acre

Zomer Company Realty & Auction oversaw a historic farmland auction in Sioux County, Iowa, where a 35.5-acre tract sold for $32,000 per acre—setting a new state record for farmer-buyer purchases.

Deere’s disappointing outlook shows farm recovery is elusive

Deere & Co.’s weak forecast for the year ahead reinforces the difficulty in predicting a recovery in the U.S. farm economy as uncertainty continues to swirl over the impact of tariffs and trade deals. Shares of the world’s biggest farm machinery maker fell as much as 5.7% in New York as the company’s first profit outlook for 2026 fell short of expectations. The forecast underscores how the agriculture sector remains in the dark even after a U.S. trade agreement resumes crop shipments to China. Farmers have been grappling with President Donald Trump’s tariff policies that squeezed demand and raised costs. While the recent deal with China is raising hopes, there’s still questions on whether the ramp-up of soybean and wheat sales will be enough to shake the US farm economy out of a years-long slump. “Deere’s widely underwhelming 2026 guidance suggests a more severe and prolonged agricultural downturn than we initially anticipated, though it offers clarity on trough earnings this cycle,

Scout Could Be Taking Its American Heritage A Little Too Far

Every car company is taking a slightly different approach when it comes to the sounds of their electric vehicles. Some are hiring famous composers, others are putting mics and amplifiers on the electric motor to pump up its natural vibrations. The reborn Scout is going to be doing something a little more... agricultural. It's heading back to its roots to make each Scout sound like a Scout. That might seem like a good idea, but in this case, its roots mean more than just cars. "All of the sounds inside the vehicle, we want them to feel authentic to us and unique," Scout Chief Design Officer Chris Benjamin told Automotive News at the LA Auto Show. To help make those authentic sounds, Scout has gone to great lengths by traveling to interesting locations across the country. One sound team headed to a farm in Adairville, Kentucky, Benjamin said. There, they put sound equipment in a silo to capture the noises of the farm. Why capture farm sounds? Because the original Scout was built by Int

Alberta farmers hold off on big purchases as crop prices drop — and big U.S. suppliers feel the effects

Faced with falling crop prices and rising costs, many farmers in Western Canada are squeezing as much life as they can out of older equipment — which they say works their fields just as smoothly as the new stuff. For Jason Schultz, the idea of buying vital equipment for his central Alberta farm, such as new tractors and combines, seems decidedly out of reach. “I just can’t make the numbers work,” Schultz said in a recent interview. “I haven’t purchased anything since 2022 and the last big purchase was (in) 2021. “The numbers just don’t pencil at all when you’re talking $400 an hour to run a tractor,” Schultz said, noting he has no plans to buy new machines anytime soon. New combines can often cost nearly $1 million, while tractors can soar upwards of $1.4 million. This frugality is weighing on some of the biggest companies in the industry. Deere & Co., the maker of John Deere tractors and other heavy equipment, said last week its net income dropped nearly 30 per cent to around US$

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service