Tractor

Wednesday I got my tractor back from the John Deere dealership.  Before Thanksgiving my tractor started to act up.  The tractor is a stick shift.

The difference is that the stick shifts are different gears for different speeds.  But it is not for forward or backwards. There is no reverse on the stick shifts.  Forward, Reverse and Neutral is controlled by a lever on the steering column.  You can also see a "N" on the console display.  When the lever is in the forward position a "F" appears on the console. And "R" for reverse.

The tractor has a clutch pedal, but one doesn't need to use it to go forward or backwards. All one needs to do is to move the lever.  My problem was that after 10 seconds the tractor would automatically go to Neutral mode and the tractor would stop moving even though the control lever did not move.  A flashing "N" would then replace a "F" or "R" on the console.  One would have to move the lever back to the neutral position to reset it.  Then one could move the lever back to forward to backward.  After 10 seconds, the same thing happens.   Kind of hard to move the tractor when this happens.   And hard, and time consuming, to put a large hay bale out for the cattle.

Initially after numerous attempts the control lever would work and keep the tractor moving.  Then when one has to shift to move the other direction, the same problem would happen again.

The tractor is so new it is still under warranty.   I called the John Deere dealership.  Of-and-on when the repairman could come out to check the tractor.  Toss the Thanksgiving holiday in and Jack the repairman didn't make it out until December.  He spent hours working on the tractor.  He had a laptop to connect into the tractor as things are more electronic now-a-days, especially the control lever.   Maybe a connection was acting odd.  Looking at the connection it looked fine, but he said he would order a new connection to replace the one the tractor had in case the connection was the problem, and then come out to install it.

In the meantime, after he had checked the tractor out, now the tractor control lever consistently would go to neutral.   Never would it start working non-stop.  Moving bales got slower.  Then I realized that if I didn't let the clutch pedal out all the way, the problem wouldn't happen.  If I let the clutch pedal out all the way the problem happened.  I didn't have to use the clutch pedal to move the tractor, but I grew up driving stick shift and always press the clutch pedal when shifting gears.   Riding the clutch pedal is not good for the vehicle.  Fortunately I didn't have to drive that much when moving a bale.

Weeks passed.  I called the John Deere dealership.  Now Christmas and New Years holidays got in the way.  Finally earlier in January Jack came out to work on the tractor.  He had the new connection.   Opps.  It didn't match the connection the laptop complained about.  Finding the right connection is difficult as there are multiple connections.  They are located under the cab of the tractor.  To find them one lays under the tractor, or looks and reaches from the back of the tractor and under the cab.

He also downloaded a software update to the tractor in case that was a problem.  Nope.  He found a connection that matched the new one and replaced it.  Nope.  That didn't fix the tractor.  Each time he came out he spent three to four hours working on the tractor.

No fixes meant the tractor had to go into the shop.  Then I had to work around that.  I need to put out a new bale every three days.  I worked it out that I put a bale in the middle pasture and a bale in the north pasture.  That would give me six days.  I had to work it out that the six days would be Monday to Saturday as I imagined it would take more than a day to fix the tractor and I didn't want the six days to be over a weekend as they don't work, or get parts delivered on Saturday or Sunday. 

So this Monday was the start.   They had to come get the tractor and haul it to the dealership which is located on the opposite end of town.   The delivery guy told me when he picked up the tractor that he already had another delivery to the Seattle area on Friday, so Thursday would be the day of  return delivery.  I hoped they could get the tractor fixed by Thursday. 

Finally things went right.  I went for a bicycle ride late Wednesday afternoon and when I got home there was my tractor.  Jack was able to find the right bad connection, replaced it, and the tractor is now fixed.  Finally.  And this was on a new tractor with less than 100 hours of use.

Now that the tractor is working I spent some time clearing snow in the pasture before giving the cattle a new large hay bale today.  I don't like setting a hay bale on the snow.  Prior I used a shovel to clear a spot for the hay bale.  Using the tractor I cleared a larger area that is good for three or four hay bale placements as I like to move the hay bales each time.  This spreads the manure placement and reduces the hoofs from messing up the ground when the ground is not frozen.

You can see Fritz around the hay feeder.  He is the smaller one in the middle of the photo.

Fritz now with the cows

Today I let Fritz out of the south corral so he can be with the cows in the north pasture after I put out a large hay bale in the north pasture.  The cows were already eating at the hay bale.  Fritz slowly came out of the corral checking things as he went.   After he joined the cows the action began.  The cows have seen him though the corral fence and know of him.  But some cows didn't want him near them, and certainly not next to them eating from the hay bale.  A lot of head-to-head pushing.   While Fritz is a bull, the cows are bigger.  Therefore they could push him back.   Other cows ignored him and just wanted to eat hay.  It was getting dark at the time.  I'll see tomorrow how they are interacting.  Hopefully the cows will get it out of their system and accept Fritz to their group.

The previous bulls I had were accepted right away.  But then, they were larger than Fritz.  The last time I got a cow, Sugar and her calf, it took a long while for the cows to accept a newcomer.   And tragedy happened when I believe some cows pushed the heifer into the river during a cold snap the frost Winter.   The heifer froze and drowned as it could not get back onto the shore.   That should not happen again as I changed/made improvements to that drinking spot at the river.

Fritz leaving the corral to join the cows at the hay bale.

Fritz is in the middle between two cows.

By now Fritz didn't want to push against another cow and would walk off.

Here is a short 23 second video of Fritz and a cow tussling.  https://youtu.be/-B5LC4bvvdk

With Fritz out of the corral I put the two replacement heifers in the south corral to eat hay from there.  I don't want them to get impregnated until next June. I put the heifers into the loading corral first.  Then let the cows out of the corral.  Then Fritz.  Then I let the heifers out of the loading corral and they went right away to the south corral.  Job done.

I also put out another hay bale in the middle pasture.  That way on Thanksgiving I don't have to spend time to put out a hay bale.  Also, my new tractor now has an issue.  Forward/Neutral/Reverse is due to a lever on the steering wheel.  The stick shifts on the floor are for speed - not for forward or reverse movement.  The lever on the steering wheel apparently is now an electrical thing.  The problem now is that my tractor now will self-shift to neutral after 10 seconds even though the lever has not moved.  Over and over after I re-shift the lever over and over.   After some time the lever will stay "connected" and I can keep going for a while.   The lever has a sensor so if one gets out of the seat the tractor will re-shift itself to neutral.  Ok, but I am sitting in the seat when this current problem happens now.  I talked to the John Deere dealer about this and no solution yet.  So it takes me longer now to put out a hay bale.

Tractor sold

I sold my previous tractor, the John Deere 5420.  They picked it up yesterday afternoon.  I drove the tractor onto their flatbed trailer for them.

I sold the bale spear and the forks along with the tractor as they do not fit on my new tractor.

More annoyance

Still working on my hay.  Today I finally finished cleaning the MoCo.  I always had to use an air hose to clean the grass from my old New Holland haybine.  I figured that MoCo, since it doesn't have a sickle bar, would be easier to clean.  No....    The MoCo cuts the grass with blades like a lawn mower.   A lawn mower doesn't have grass to clean, but it can have hard grass crud that one has to scrape off occasionally. The MoCo... yup, it had hard grass cruds I had to scrape off so the future hay cutting will be easy.  I had a lot to scrape.

Then it was time to park the MoCo.  Where I wanted to park it in the NE pasture had some taller grass and weeds the cows didn't eat down.  I thought I would use my lawn mower to mow that grass down.  On my way there I mowed around the baler and the rake and stock trailer.  When I got to where I planned to park the MoCo my lawn mower quit running.   What?!   I tried and tried to get the lawn mower started but it wouldn't run.  I eventually quit and got my hand scythe and used that to cut the grass down. What a pain.

Unhooking the MoCo from the tractor took a little time but I got it done.  I decided not to rake my hayfield's windrows.  The windrows are dry enough and with rain in the forecast by Thursday I wanted to start baling the hay tonight.  The MoCo runs on 1000 PTO speed.  The baler runs on 540 PTO speed.  When Kyle showed me how to run the tractor and the MoCo he also showed me how to switch between 540 and 1000.  One unclips the PTO shaft, pull it out, reverse it and reclip the shaft into place.   Unclipping when well.  Pulling it out and reversing it went well.  Reclipping it did not go easy.   Over and over I tried.   Eventually I got the clip in place.   But... when I pulled the PTO shaft it came back out and the clip came off.  Over and over I tried.   Eventually I thought it maybe works this way.  I then tested running the PTO.  No turning and then I got a warning sign and a code.   What the code meant... who knows.   Over and over I tried.  A code.   Finally the PTO would run.   The display was odd, but ok, maybe this is how the 540 PTO looks, which is different than how the 1000 PTO display looked.

I went to hook up the baler.  The baler's driveshaft is very heavy and it was hard to align it with the tractor's PTO to get it in place.  When I pulled on the driveshaft to see if it was in place the PTO clip came off and the PTO came out of the tractor.  What?

Over and over I tried.  I finally got the driveshaft on the PTO.  I didn't pull to test it.  I ran the PTO.  Nothing.  It wouldn't turn and eventually I saw the code again.  I looked in the tractor manual.  No mention of a code.  How to switch the PTO shaft, unclip and clip it, was quickly explained.  It appeared I was doing everything right.

I kept trying and failing.  It was going to be dark soon.   Finally after a break I decided I would call Kyle in the morning to see if he could explain or show how to switch the PTO shaft.  Before leaving I pulled on the PTO shaft one more time.  This time it stayed in the tractor.  What?  I ran the PTO.  It ran and the display looked good.   I hooked up the baler and ran the PTO.  The PTO turned the baler.   Why the PTO now worked after several hours of me trying to make it work is a mystery.

It was now too late to bale any hay.  First thing in the morning I will try.

It looks like I should have enough netwrap, but who knows if that is the case.  The last time I ran out of netwrap I found the tube holding the netwrap is larger than I expected and there was less netwrap than I thought.  I don't want to run out of netwrap after hours when the John Deere place is closed.  This afternoon I bought another roll of netwrap.  $297 for a roll.  I also saw the John Deere place is expanding.  They are building 5 more repair places.  They currently have three repair places.

Since I was uptown I also bought some more diesel.   This time I thought I would remove the tool box before trying to pour the diesel into the tractor.  I then discovered that to remove the tool box it was easy.  Instead of unbolting the box, all I had to do was remove a pin.  No tool box - much easier to pour diesel into the tank.  Then it was easy to put the tool box back on the tractor.  At least something went right today.

Tractor and MoCo ready

This afternoon I hooked up my new tractor to my new MowerConditioner.  Since this was new to me, the John Deere saleperson, Kyle, who sold it to me came out to show and explain how it is done and how to operate the MowerConditioner.   We drove around the NE pasture to test it out.

It all looks and operates good and it looks like it will cut my hayfeld fast.  I plan to start sometime tomorrow afternoon.  No chance of rain until Thursday so I can get the hayfeld cut and baled by then.  I'll see how this all goes.

There is my retirement money sitting.  Good thing I don't plan on retiring.

The MoCo pivots behind the hookup to the tractor.  That way the driveshaft that connects to the tractor's PTO shaft doesn't have to bend where it connects to the tractor when I turn a corner.

The cutting blades.  There are two blades on these spinning devices they call "turtles".  They spin really fast.  I didn't have my camera when we operated the MoCo else I would have videoed them spinning.

Here is my hayfield ready to cut.  I've been waiting for the alfalfa to start to flower.  Not as much this year so far.  It may be because the Spring has been cooler than normal and that set the flowering back.

Tractor tire repair

One front tire on my older tractor has had a slow leak for a few years now.  It seems to leak more when it is cold than when it is warm.  I had planned on getting it fixed last Fall before Winter but got sidetracked on other things, then Winter came.  Before selling the tractor I wanted to fix the tire.   They found that the tire's inner tube had a pencil sized hole.   The hole had a flap so that may be why it was a slow leak as the flap pressed against the inner part of the tire.   The repairman was surprised the leak was a slow one.  I bought a new inner tube so it is fixed.

Donna had bought me a jack as a birthday or Christmas present a number of years ago.  That is how I was able to raise the tractor to get the tire off of it.

New tractor and Mower Conditioner

Last week I got my new John Deere tractor and mower conditioner.  Due to my recent problems with my old New Holland haybine I wanted to get a new piece of equipment to cut my hayfield,  They now seem to be called mower conditioners.  And they require more PTO horsepower from the tractor.  70 hp or greater.  My old tractor has 65 hp for the PTO.  So I had to get a larger tractor to run the mower conditioner.

This is the first time in my life that I bought new vehicles or equipment.  I've either inherited things or bought used things.   This was expensive.  Very expensive.  But I don't plan on retiring so I accessed my retirement money to buy this stuff.  Might as well make my life easier.

The new tractor is 105 hp with the PTO at 90 hp.  In the tractor's bucket is the new bale spear.  The tractor's bucket and spear are attached differently than my old tractor's bucket and spear.  So I had to get a new bucket and spear.

The mower conditioner is a center pivot, not a side-pull.   I can elect to cut my field in rows and not have to cut in circles.   The cutting mechanism is rotary blades.  No more sickle bars.  I'm told it will cut hay a lot faster.  I should be able to cut my field in less than a day instead of a day and half.

Tractor has started

We have warmed back up to normal temperatures.  Finally!  Our high temperature today was 33 F degrees.  Since my tractor didn't start earlier due to the cold temperatures and the diesel jelling I have been feeding the cows small hay bales twice a day.   I also fed the cows a smaller large hay bale I had made when I had baler problems this past August.  That hay bale was a third of the size of a large bale.  It was too large to lift so I unwrapped it from twine and used a pitchfork to load the hay into my pickup's bed.  I had two heaping pickup loads of hay, or one day of hay for the cows.

This afternoon I used the tractor's priming pump to make sure fuel was up to the engine and then tried to start the engine.  After turning the engine over for a bit the tractor started.  Hurray!  I shoveled a spot to place a large hay bale outside the corral and then hauled one out there.

Before I let the cattle out of the corral to the hay bale I used my pitchfork to carry - and carry - and carry the rest of the hay from the calves feeder in the south corral over to the cow's wooden feeders in the main corral.  There was about a day's worth of hay left for them to eat, or a small meal for the cows.  I did this so I could give the calves a new large bale today since the tractor had started.  Two hay bales in one day instead of two days.  Who knows what the weather could be like tomorrow or Wednesday.  The cows ate up all the hay I carried for them before I let them out of the corral to the large hay bale.

Since the temperature was around freezing I was able to shovel the manure out of the loafing shed.  That took a while as there was lots of manure from the few days the cattle sheltered in there due to the cold.

More snow and a tractor problem

More snow again today and through tomorrow.  Just what we need.   So it was annoying to drive uptown this afternoon to get groceries as the roads didn't seem to be plowed and were snowed covered a lot.  I didn't want to wait to get groceries on Saturday like I usually do as stores close early on Christmas Eve.   Apparently other people thought the same as the traffic was heavy and the store's parking lot was the fullest I ever since, along with the most people shopping in the store I had to encounter and move around.  People were everywhere.  I brought Donna along as her car has problems and I wanted to buy the needed ingredients for our Christmas dinner.   This year Donna thought about making enchiladas for the Christmas meal which I thought was a great idea.   I like my Christmas meal being something different than normal.  As for me I cooked a turkey for supper tonight.  I love eating turkey.  So the best of both worlds (meals) for me this holiday season.  And I feel stuffed right now after my meal.

It is getting warmer.  Last night's low temperature was -26 F.  Right now it is 0 F outside.  And tomorrow we are suppose to reach the teens.   This morning's house temperature was 43 F.  So the house is getting warmer also.

My frostbitten finger has a fluid filled blister that formed by morning.  I'm trying not to break the blister which can be hard when it is on one's finger.  Last year I must have gotten a frostbitten finger as I had a fluid filed blister.  I forgot about it until Donna reminded me.

My thumb has no blister. The skin is a little numb. It doesn't ache by morning.

I checked one of the glove pairs I had worn.  Gee.. where the frostbit areas are located, on the gloves it was worn and open.  I burnt the gloves in the wood stove tonight.

Time to put out another large hay bale for the cattle this afternoon.  I started the tractor and drove it out of the pole shed so the tractor could run and warm up without the diesel smoke dirtying the roof.  In the meantime I shoveled the snow where the bale would go.  I had to shovel a new area as the cattle had left manure on the area where the previous bale was located.  And once again I had to clear the snow off the bale I planned to give to the cattle even though I had to clear snow off that bale yesterday.

When I went back to the tractor I found it had stopped.  And I couldn't start it again.  It seemed like it wasn't getting any diesel to the engine.  I couldn't even prime the engine.  I believe the diesel gelled up in the cold weather.  I thought maybe adding new diesel to the fuel tank would help.  But it didn't.   I also noticed the newer diesel poured slower into the gas can and out of it.

It was starting to get dark.  So I put out a few small bales for the cows to eat for the rest of the day.  The temperature is predicted to warm up over the next few days.  At a warmer temperature the diesel will ungell.

I never had this problem with my tractor before.  But then, I never had such cold weather here when I had the tractor.

I can't wait for this cold weather to be over.  I want my global warming back!

Tractor problem

After I had removed the net-wrap from the baler's roller last Tuesday, and as I started to bale, I noticed my baler had trouble baling the hay. The baler would slow down as if the hay was coming in too fast.  Therefore I had to drive in the lowest gear to move slower.  Also, I usually bale at 20 to 22 rpm.  I now ran at 24 to 25 rpm to make the engine speed and baler rotation faster.

I was able to make two bales successfully, though slowly.  On the third bale, when the baler reached "60" it would then start the net-wrap.  The feeding of hay was slow and the baler was slowing down off-and-on.  I wasn't sure the baler spun enough for the entire bale to be net-wrapped.  So I then used the baler's monitor to again net-wrap the bale.  When I unloaded the bale I found only part of the bale was net-wrapped and the bale, as it rolled out of the baler, partially unrolled.    Great.  Just great.

I continued on to make another bale.  But the baler struggled to turn as it started to make another bale.  I had to unload that small bale and was unable to net-wrap it. 

During my second hay cutting in 2020 I had a PTO clutch problem on the tractor.  The John Deere dealership was able to adjust the PTO clutch back then to get the clutch back working for me, but they mentioned that in the long term I most likely would need to replace the PTO clutch.  To do this they would need to split the tractor to get to the clutch and this would cost many thousands of dollars.  They recommended to do this during the "off season" when they weren't so busy.

The clutch worked for me so I didn't do the repair work since then.  

Okay... if my tractor's PTO clutch was messed up when the net-wrap roller wrap earlier stopped the baler's belts, let me try my older baler.  It takes me more effort to use that baler, but less tractor PTO power is needed to turn that baler.  Ah... but it turns out my tractor's PTO struggled to turn that empty baler. 

I did notice that when my PTO was 80% to 90% engaged it had more power.  Later talking to Jack at the John Deere dealership he said that is how the PTO usually works.  The most power is at the 80% to 90% range, not the 100% level.  So I tried to bale my hay at the 80% to 90% range.  I was able to do better, but I still couldn't make a complete bale, only a small bale. And even then I couldn't net-wrap it.  This partial bale I unloaded at my stack of bales outside the hay barn.  Rain was in the forecast and I didn't want to unroll the partial bale.  Maybe later I could lift it using my bale spear and then hand wrap some twine around the bale to hold it together.

Yes, rain was in the forecast.  Maybe late Tuesday.  Most likely Wednesday and Thursday.  My cut hay was starting to get brown already as it has been some days since I cut the hayfield.  I didn't want the hay to get soaked and have to wait many more days to bale it.   I would not be baling my hay as fixing the tractor PTO clutch would take along time, especially now when the dealership repair shop is extremely busy due to all the repairs that come in since other people are doing their second hay cutting or grain harvesting now.

What am I going to do?

I need someone else to bale my hay.  I asked Chris.  He was busy harvesting grain, and also had 70 acres of hay to finish baling that day.  If he could, he would try to help me later that day, but the odds weren't looking good.

I went around the nearby area and talked with a few other people with baled hay.  I left a note on a guy's house door as I didn't have his phone number.  No luck.

When talking to Chris he also asked me if I had seen a few red heifer cattle the past few weeks. A cousin of his lost a few head of cattle a few weeks ago and they were spotted heading towards the road I live next to.  One of the heifers was killed when it crossed the highway.  I hadn't seen the cattle but when asking about hay I also asked if the other people saw the cattle.

I had no one else at that point to ask about baling my hay but I remembered a guy down the road had some cattle.  I had never talked with the guy.  I decided to go ask him about the missing cattle in case they went his way.  When I arrived at his place I saw he had a tractor and a large round baler.  Wow.

I introduced myself, asked about the cattle (nope, he hadn't seen them), and then asked if he could bale my hay.  Yes, he could.  And was happy to do so.   He and his wife drive by my place all the time and liked how I take care of my place.  They knew me as "the rancher who rides a bicycle".  I have found many people don't know my name, but they know me as a rancher and a bicyclist.

Because rain was in the forecast he came immediately to bale my hay after 8 pm. (8 pm - I had been spending hours trying to find someone who could bale my hay.)  He had a big newer tractor and a new baler he bought this year.  The tractor and baler were quiet when they ran.  Initially I told him I told him when he was done I knew what I wanted for Christmas. Then I learned the baler cost him $70,000.  Okay... maybe the baler is too expensive for my small place.  It took him a few hours to bale my hay as his big machines ran and operated fast.  It was dark when he was done.

So my hay was baled before it rained a little bit on Wednesday and Thursday.  The guy with the new baler is a great guy and meeting him my luck went from bad to good.

You can see how long my cut hay lay there.

Thursday late and Friday I moved the hay bales from the hayfield over to be stacked outside my hay barn.

My two small hay bales.

The guy's new baler made the balers up to "63".  My hay baler is a little off and the "60" setting makes bales around 4.5 feet wide and not 5 feet wide.  The "63" setting makes bales a little over 5 feet wide.  The smaller lighter bales are some of the bales I made last year.  I try to feed the cattle those bales first.  The smaller dark bales are bales I was able to make during the second cutting this year before my baler and tractor quit working.

I definitely have more bales that can fit in my hay shed.  After I took this photo I put some of my temporary green corral panels around the hay bales.  That will protect the bales later when I let the cattle back into this NE pasture to eat grass.

I am happy to finally be done with the hay cutting this year.  Yesterday I spoke with the John Deere dealership about my tractor's PTO and I plan to take my tractor there next week.

Tractor battery

My tractor battery finally died.  Last December the battery started to not work well.  One time back then when I tried to start my tractor after 4 pm I couldn't.  I ended up charging the battery and the next day the tractor started.  Off-and-on since then the battery seemed to be on its last legs when starting the tractor.  The charger helped.  The last couple of times I didn't need a battery charger to start the tractor.

Three days ago, the last time I started the tractor, it started without a charger.  I then spent three hours pushing snow away in the pasture so I could easily feed hay in the feeder to the cattle.  Then yesterday I tried to start the tractor after 4 pm again.  For some reason that appears to be a bad time for me to do so.   The tractor started right up.  Then after 30 seconds or so the tractor quit.   Like it had run out of gas.  When I tried to restart the tractor, the battery quickly went down.  Even using the battery charger I couldn't turn the motor over long enough to start the tractor.

So I put out a few small hay bales for the cattle to eat in the corral and called it a day.

This morning I took the battery in to the "Battery's Plus" store down the road.  They tested the battery and said it was no longer working, or good.  Well, I had this battery from when I bought this used tractor in August 2015; so the battery lasted a long time.

The new battery cost me $150.  It works.  Before I tried starting the tractor I filled the tank with diesel, in case why the tractor had stopped running yesterday was because it ran out of diesel.  That wasn't the reason as I now believe I had at least four gallons of diesel still in the tractor.   When I tried starting the tractor this afternoon I had to turn the engine over and over and over non-stop before the engine started. It was like the diesel was taking longer to get the engine started.  Then I was able to haul a large hay bale out to the feeder in the pasture.  The last time I did so I had finished using the second cutting hay bales from 2021.  Today I hauled out a leftover bale from 2020.  I have about a dozen of these bales left before I get to my first cutting hay bales from 2021.

Tractor frustrations

Today it was time to put out another large hay bale for the cattle.  The morning was cold so I plugged my tractor in to warm the engine.  The tractor started, then quit.  I was raising the loader arms with the bale spear when the engine had quit.  When I went to restart the tractor, it wouldn't start.  The same problem I had in the past where it seemed like the engine wasn't getting the diesel. I pushed the button on the fuel pump and it had fuel.  I tried and tried.  The engine was starting to get weaker.  So, I put a battery charger on the battery.

I tried off and on for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.  A few times it seemed like the engine was starting, but when I released the key, the engine immediately quit.  Hours later the tractor finally started.  Now when I tried to further lift the bale spear the hydraulics weren't working.  Before the tractor initially quit in the morning the hydraulics were working.  Now?  Nope.

I drove the tractor out into the sun.  Hydraulics weren't working for the steering either.  Ok.  I'll wait because maybe the hydraulic oil needs to warm up as it had been some time since I had plugged in the engine heater.  I waited and waited.  No hydraulics.  Last week I had poor hydraulics but that was due to low amount of hydraulic fluid.  Back then I filled the tractor with fluid.  I checked now.  The hydraulic fluid still seemed to be there.  I waited.  And waited.  Then I added a little more fluid as due to some foam I couldn't completely see how high the fluid was. Did some air get into the hydraulic fluid and was causing the foam?  I also turned the steering wheel as the tractor sat there.  Over time it was a little easier to move. Maybe turning the steering wheel would help get air out if that was the problem.  

After an hour of the tractor running the hydraulics finally started to work normally.

I was able to get a large hay bale and take it out to the feeder in the middle pasture in order to feed the cattle.  They were happy to finally get hay.  I had started this process after 10 am and now it was after 3 pm when I finished putting the hay bale out for the cattle.

Speckles, another cow, and three heifer calves were in the south pasture.  Speckles saw me put the hay bale out and she came walking up river to get back to the middle pasture.  After I parked the tractor I saw the other cow had done the same.  The three heifers were standing along the fence watching the cows eat from the hay bale.  So I walked out and opened the gate for them.  Two heifers walked through.  I noticed the cattle needed another salt block so I went to get one.  I figured the other heifer, who saw the gate was open, would walk through when I was gone.  After I returned with the salt block, I closed the gate.  Then I saw the third heifer had walked down the fence line to the west instead of coming through the gate.  It was standing along the fence looking at the cattle eating hay.  So, I had to open a gate and herd the heifer through the gate.

What a day.  So much was wasted.  And, it was sunny for once, the temperature had warmed up, and the snow was melting, so I could have gotten stuff done outside. But I didn't.

Tractor test and tree branch cut

Friday we had a nice sunny warm(ish) day and I drove my tractor around to test my new clutch cable fix.  Everything works fine.  No problems.  Good thing as I ended up putting out a large hay bale Saturday evening.  Saturday morning the cattle had woke me up when they stood in the hayfield near the house in order to moo at the house and me to tell me the hayfield has been eaten down.

This evening after I put out the hay bale I opened a smaller gate and let the cattle into the pasture to get to the hay bale.  All the cattle quickly went past me through the gate.  All but the youngest calf.  She didn't want to go near me.  The cattle went to the west side of the pasture and the hay bale.  The calf went back and forth along the fence.  When it got near the gate it went back and away before coming back to the fence on the other side of the gate. It would call out to the other cattle.  So I waited.  And waited. And waited and waited. It got dark.  Finally the calf approached the gate as she realized going through the gate as I stood there was the only way she was going to be able to join the other cattle.  She moved quick.  When I said, "See... it's ok to come through the gate when I'm standing here.", the calf bolted and ran to join the cattle and left me behind.

Friday after testing the tractor I decided to work on cutting a broken tree branch.  This is a branch that broke down back on the beginning of July this year.  The tractor was useful as the branch is high enough that otherwise I would need an extension ladder to reach the branch in order to cut it.

Below is how the branch looks like now.  Various times over the Summer I used a handsaw to cut off the side branches on the downed branch.

I put the tractor's loader up next to the branch.  Then I climbed up on the loader's arm and then into the loader bucket.  Then using a handsaw ( I didn't have gas for my chainsaw) I cut the branch.  The branch is thick.  I was partway through the branch when the handsaw's handle broke apart in my hand.  I had to climb down off the tractor's bucket and go get another handsaw.  

This time I eventually was able to safely cut off the branch.  That was another reason I cut the branch slowly.  Because I was right near the branch, and the tractor's bucket was a bit lower than the branch and right next to it, I didn't want the branch to fall on or against the bucket.  The branch is big and thick and long.  I didn't want the branch to hit the bucket.  It could either pin me in the bucket or knock me out of it.  You know I'm starting to get old when I start thinking about bad outcomes that could hurt me.

I cut the branch in a way that I expected it to fall away from the bucket.  Because the branch had split they were two sections.  One part of the branch went down to the ground.  The other part went out and up.  You can see in the previous photo the out-and-up part was slowly dieing over the Summer.  I got both parts to fall away from the tractor's bucket.  The out-and-up part went down first.  The second part went down next.  It broke off the branch below it. The end of the second part fell and landed on my fence.  So I will have to fix the fence later.  And clean up the cut branches.

There were also some dead branch limbs a bit higher than the branch I cut.  While up there I cut a few of them off.  The rest I left as time had passed and it was starting to get late. The dead branch limbs I left are higher up and out of the way and it is not essential I have to cut them off.

Tractor clutch cable problem

Wednesday afternoon was frustrating.  I decided to start my tractor and drive it a bit as I hadn't done so in a while.  It is my habit before starting a vehicle is to step on the clutch pedal to make sure the tractor isn't in gear when I start it.  There was no resistance when I stepped on the clutch pedal.  Hmmm?  I started the tractor.  When I re-stepped on the clutch - nothing - I couldn't put the tractor into gear.

I opened the steering column panel to look at the clutch lever and hose.  I found the cable that moved the clutch was completely broken.  Since I have a cab I had to figure out where the clutch hose and cable went under the cab.  The tractor doesn't have lots of space as everything was designed to fit close together.  So I had trouble seeing or reaching what may or may not be the clutch cable.  YouTube is a help as I found a video of a guy replacing his clutch cable on his John Deere tractor.

On my tractor I had to loosen and move another hose so I could reach up to the clutch cable.  Even then it was hard to work on things as my hand and arm filled the space and it was hard to see things.  How to unhook the cable connector from the clutch lever?  Again I re-watched the YouTube video and they showed how it was done.  Eventually I unhooked the clutch cable and pulled it out.

I had to get the part from the John Deere dealership as other parts suppliers didn't carry the cable I needed for my tractor.  I called and after some back-and-forth and dropped calls they eventually told me they had the part I needed.  I took my cable along in case they were wrong about the part - like that never happened with them.

They did have the correct cable.  It also came with the hose.  Due to the cable end attachments, the hose is required as I wouldn't be able to pull the new cable through the old hose.

Back at home I had a big problem removing the cable hose from the tractor cab.  I took the lock ring off but the hose would not slide out of the metal holder in the cab.  I tried and tried to pry it out.  No success.  Eventually I used a hammer to pound the hose down out of the metal holder.  It appears the metal holder was designed whereby the hose comes up from the bottom to install and remove, and one cannot slide it out sideways.  Why a lock ring is needed?  Who knows?  The YouTube video didn't show them removing the hose, and anyway the video was for a different model of John Deere tractor.

After some effort of sliding the hose down through the cab, it then took effort to reach and fit the hose into the metal holder under the cab.  Then some effort to thread the connector onto the end of the cable's threaded end.  Then to attach the connector back onto the clutch lever.  That done I went to attach the hose into the cab.  The trouble I had removing the hose... I had more trouble reinstalling the new hose into the metal holder.  I knew I had to slide the hose in from the bottom of the holder but the hose seemed a quarter inch too long and the hose was rigid and had no room to move.  Over and over I went.  Finally - somehow - I got the hose into the metal holder.  Then to attach the cable's connector to the pedal's arm connector... I had to unthread and rethread the connectors to each other so I could move the top connector into position to I could install the bolt to hold it in place.

Finally done.  Hours later.  My afternoon was shot.   Now to start the tractor.  Again no resistance on the clutch's pedal.  I couldn't disengage the clutch arm to put the tractor into gear.  I checked.  The cable was fine.  What is going on?  When I rethreaded all the connectors, did I not get them exactly right?  My neighbor Curtis wasn't around so I didn't have anyone to push the clutch's pedal while I watched under the tractor to see how the cable and clutch bar moved.  Or had experience with fixing clutches.  It was starting to get dark so I quit for the day.

When I had my head injury several years ago sometimes I think when I came back from the dead I came to another world from which I was born in.  Odd things happen now.  I've almost always have driven clutch vehicles over the many decades and never had a clutch cable break before.  My head injury did not cause the clutch cable to break.

Thursday morning.  I got my neighbor Curtis to come over and help me with the tractor clutch problem.  While waiting for Curtis to arrive I re-adjusted the top part of the clutch cable connections and the clutch seemed to work a little bit better.  When Curtis arrived he adjusted the top more and it got even better.  Then I went underneath the tractor and adjusted the bottom connections to the max limit.  Curtis made some temporary adjustments from the top so I could fully adjust the bottom.  Then he readjusted the top when I was done on the bottom.  It worked!  The clutch now works.  I was able to put the tractor in gear and drive a foot forward, then in reverse gear to drive back. 

I finished reassembling everything.  Then I went in the house and ate breakfast and then cleaned my wood stove.  Now it was early afternoon and it started raining.  And was wet and cold all day.  So I didn't go out and drive the tractor around the pastures to re-test the clutch work.  Tomorrow I will as the rain is suppose to stop tomorrow.

Photos.

Broken cable and new cable and hose.  You can see where the cable had broken.  And for the new cable you can see how the cable thread attachments on each end prevents one from sliding the cable through the hose.  The extra connector on the right side of the broken cable is what attaches the cable to the clutch's arm on the bottom under the cab.

This is before I removed the hose from the tractor cab.  You'd think the hose would slide sideways out of the metal holder.  Nope.  At the top are the two connectors that attach the threaded cable end to the clutch pedal arm in the tractor cab.

New cable and hose before I somehow bent it down to get into the holder.  The hose would not slide any further down through the floor and below the cab.  Even after the hose was put into the holder you can see the top attachments had to be removed in order to get them onto the threaded end.  Then somehow the end connector back on the clutch pedal arm.  Harder than it looks.

Under the tractor.  The opening was barely larger than my arm.

The purple arrows shows another hose I had to move in order to reach up to the clutch's cable and hose.

The red arrow shows the cable and threaded end.  I hadn't attached the connector to the cable and the lever yet.

The green arrow shows the hose's end and the metal holder just underneath the cab.

The blue arrow shows the clutch's lever I had to attach the cable and connector too.

Hayfield is cut, and dull teeth

I got my hayfield cut this afternoon.  Everything went well.   The tractor started no problem. I still have no clue why the tractor was difficult to start yesterday.   I figured I had two to three hours left of cutting if things went well.  It took me exactly two hours.  It is nice when things go to plan.

After cutting the field I used an air compressor to blow off all the grass and debris from the haybine and cleaned it up.  That took an hour as I really cleaned the haybine inside and out.   I then looked at the haybine's teeth.  One tooth had a broken tip so I replaced it.   While the hayfield was all cut very cleanly I still looked at the rest of the haybine's teeth.  I noticed some - 10 to 12 - teeth looked like they were started to get dull.  While, again, all the grass and alfalfa was cut well, I decided to replace the teeth that were starting to loose their ridges and look dull.

I had to make sure the teeth I was removing were aligned between the rock guards in order to take them off.

In the following photo the second tooth from the right side was dull.  I don't know why, but the right side of the sickle bar had an extra metal bar on top of the rightmost teeth.  I finally got the dull tooth off, but it took a lot of effort to get the upper metal bar up high enough and then the dull tooth off.

I didn't want to take the entire sickle bar off the haybine even though it would have made removing all the dull teeth easier.  In addition to the section with the extra metal bar, some areas had an extra metal tooth / sickle bar protector and that was more work to remove.  You can partially see what I am talking about in the previous photos on the right side.   In the following photo I already took it off.  It was on the left side.  The larger nuts had bolted it on.

Getting a good metal tooth back on the second to the right was a pain.  A nut had slipped underneath the tooth.  The photos make it look easy to access.  Um.. no.  The wheel that turns and knocked the grass down and towards the teeth  is just above the photos and I had to duck down to access the teeth trying to avoid banging my head or getting poked in the face by the wheel's tines.  And to find the nut under the metal tooth I had to lay my head on the ground to see under the tooth.

This section with the extra metal bar and all the nuts... I lost a nut.  Even using a magnet I couldn't find the nut. Once again something drops into the grass, and if I don't immediately look for it, it disappears. I don't know - it goes back to the alternative universe I was born in before coming to this universe after my head injury?    I had to go get another nut from elsewhere.  

It took me several hours to replace the dull teeth, and make a couple of bolt replacements. 

Other than re-greasing a few areas, my haybine should be ready for next year.

After I put the haybine away I hooked up my rake.  The rows I had cut on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are ready to bale and I raked 2 rows into one; in total 14 rows into 7.  Tomorrow the baling starts.

Also, I counted the number of rows I cut.  Earlier I thought - for some reason - I may have 26 or 27 rows.  Actually the total is 40 rows.

Another hay cutting problem

I thought I would be done cutting hay today.  But no, I had another problem.  Right after my tractor started today it quit.  Then I couldn't restart the tractor.  The tractor acted like it wasn't getting fuel.   Earlier I had filled the fuel tank completely full.  I checked and used the tractor's fuel priming pump.  Yes, the tractor had fuel.  I went over and talked to the repairman who fixed my tractor to get ideas.  Perhaps something wasn't completely connected?  He suggested a couple things for me to look at.  I did and they were fine.  The repair shop was completely busy on other projects for the rest of the week and couldn't take time to look at my tractor.  I talked with my neighbor Curtis for other ideas.   None available.

Great.  I'm not going to get my hay cutting done.  I waited a few hours.  Before putting a battery charger on the tractor, as my earlier start attempts was beginning to slow the battery, I tried starting the tractor again.  This time the tractor seemed like it wanted to start, so I kept it up.  And the tractor then started.

Once the tractor started it ran fine.  So I went to cut more hay.  By now it was after 5 pm.  I had three hours before dark and the dew came.  So I cut non-stop. I didn't get everything cut.  If my tractor had started when I first tried to start it, I would have got everything cut.   The last 10 minutes of cutting was slower.  I wanted to get to a corner before quitting and the going was slower and slower.  The dew was the reason.  When I had finished I checked the grass and it was very wet from dew.

What will tomorrow bring?  Will my tractor start?   I'll see tomorrow.

Tractor fixed. Toby jumps.

I got my tractor fixed today and got it back a little before 5 pm.  The slow down and occasional speed up cause... debris in the fuel tank.  And not what you think would be debris.  This was a gooey chalky substance.  It was strange.  The owner said he had to check it out after the employee discovered it in the fuel tank.  The gooey chalky substance moved about and would thicken and thin.  That was why the speed up / slow down was intermittent.   The owner and employee were surprised this was my problem.  How did this get in my tank?   When I put diesel in the tank?  Most likely not as then I wouldn't be the only person with this problem as other people bought diesel from the gas station.  When the RDO John Deere repair shop worked on my fuel tank and fuel gauge in June? They did something / dropped something in the tank?  Something that dissolved somewhat in the diesel?  Most likely, as this problem started to occur shortly after I picked up my tractor in June from John Deere.

After I got my tractor I started to again cut my hayfield.  I worked for over three hours.  Not a problem with the tractor.  It ran like it did before I had RDO John Deere work on my tractor.

I now have 14 rows cut. That should be half my field - even though when looking at the field it doesn't seem like half of the field is cut.  If everything goes right tomorrow, and if I am lucky, maybe I can get the rest cut tomorrow. Mostly like I'll finish cutting the day after tomorrow.

While I was waiting for my tractor to be repaired I looked out at the cattle in the pastures.  Wait a minute.  One of the cattle looks to be checking out other cattle.  Is that Toby?  He should be in the north pasture, not the middle pasture.  I went out and checked.  Yes, it was Toby.  So I had to go and check the north/middle pasture fence.  I found where he jumped over the fence.  It is amazing he didn't break the top single strand of old wire.  He did stretch it a lot when he jumped.   A few sections over I found where the wire came apart.  The wire didn't break.  Two parts of the wire were connected, and now the connection was straightened and then came apart. 

I got tools and fixed the wire.  I don't know how Toby was able to stretch the wire across several posts as to fix and straighten the wire I had to detach the wire from the steel fence posts in order to move and straighten the wire, even when using my fence stretcher tool to pull the wire.

Stretched wire.

Unconnected wire.

In the pasture I checked that the other cows and calves were in the north pasture.  Yes, they were.  Diamond's calf looks cute.

I also walked to the river.  I seen the beaver got back to the willow trees where he/she got to earlier. The beaver chewed off more of the willow trees.   Even though I had fixed the fence after the last time, I saw two new spots where it appeared the beaver may have gotten through.  I made more repairs to the fencing and I'll see if this finally stops this beaver.  I hope so.  Not a lot of some of the willow trees left.  On some other willow trees elsewhere I seen the beaver climbed a couple of the fencing and then chewed a few small branches.   This beaver is determined to get to my willow trees.

Another slow hayfield cut day

This morning I talked with an equipment repair shop down the road.  They said they could look at my tractor.  I wanted to take the tractor in when the problem was occurring.  So at noon I started cutting hay.  I cut three rows before taking my tractor in at 3 pm.  By then the tractor slowdown happened more often and for a longer time.  A worker listened to my tractor.  No solution jumped out to him.  He had a few ideas.  The problem for me is that they are busy - all repair shops in the valley are busy.  They will let me know by noon tomorrow if they looked the tractor over, or the status of when they can look it over.  If they can't look at it tomorrow I will get my tractor and spend time in the afternoon to cut what I can before taking the tractor back to the shop.   I've cut 8 and 1/2 rows now.  If I remember right it is 26 or 27 rows to cut the entire hayfield.

Slow going.

Second hayfield cut - off to a rough start

This afternoon I finally started cutting my hayfield.  

Usually by now I am done and have the hay put away.  Because the John Deere dealership can't seem to know how to fix my tractor, or order the correct parts, my first cutting was not until July.  That pushed me back for irrigating the field and then making the second cut.

Last year the second cutting was slower as I didn't wait long after I finished irrigating. That grass and alfalfa was moist inside the plants.  This year I planned to wait longer after I finished irrigating so the grass and alfalfa would be drier when cut.  This year the National Weather Service Climate prediction center predicted a dry July, August, September and October.  July was our fourth driest July as we only got .2 inch of rain.  Because I didn't want to re-lay the mainline irrigation pipes after the second cutting, I decided to irrigate the hayfield twice.  That took an extra 12 days.  I still have time for the second cutting.  Oh wait.  August turned out not to be dry.  We had 1.76 inches of rain so far, twice as much as normal.  And most of it was in the second half of August.  So the hayfield didn't need two irrigation runs, and the rain delayed me more.

No rain is in the forecast for this week so I decided to start cutting my field.  I waited till today to give Friday's rain a chance to somewhat dry a bit.  I would like to wait longer, but our temperatures are and will be below normal so the cooler temperatures make it longer for the cut hay to dry.  And the shorter days and less sunlight slows the drying down too.  Therefore I don't want to wait any more.

At 10 am the dew was still extremely wet and heavy.  So I went for a bicycle ride.  At 12:30 pm the grass that was in the shade was still wet.  So I decided to have a full breakfast.  Rascal slowed me down.  At 1:30 pm I went out to start work.  Oh wait.  Let me check if the haybine needs grease.  Yup.  I hadn't greased it after using it during the first cutting.  After a couple zercs I ran out of grease. Really? Now?  So I had to go buy grease.  I also decided to buy a new grease gun as the handle on the one I was using wouldn't stay in position when I loaded a new grease tube.

I didn't remember if I had filled the tractor with diesel after last using it.  I had a gallon so I poured that into the tractor.  Fuel tank didn't look completely full, and of course the John Deere dealership still hasn't fixed my fuel gauge.  I think there should be enough diesel as I wanted to get going on cutting the field.

At 3 pm I was ready to start.  It was very slow going to cut the field.  The field is not quite as tall as the first cutting, but due to the irrigation the field was dense and the grass and alfalfa were very green and moist.  And there are pocket gopher dirt mounds as some pocket gophers came back to the field. The dense hayfield made it hard earlier to see the dirt mounds for me to trap the pocket gophers.  The dirt mounds were wet so the dirt would cause the cut hay to clump and I would have to stop and remove it from the haybine.

I had to go slower than my first hay cutting in July.  There I was in the lowest gear and occasionally would have to stop the tractor from moving to process the cut hay through the haybine and its rollers.  This time I was in the lowest gear and would have to stop for processing almost every minute or two.  Even so, on a handful of occasions, I had to stop, raise the haybine, and pull out a large clump of cut grass and alfalfa that was stopping the cut in that part of the haybine.

Here is a later view of a clump of cut grass.  Earlier, usually the clump was much bigger.

When I would pick up cut hay it was heavy from all the moisture inside the grass and alfalfa.

The first cutting is of the opposite way so the haybine is closer to the fence.  The second go-around is in the right direction.  And I also pick up and cut where I had driven in the grass during the first go-around.

As you can see in the following photos the grass and alfalfa is not as tall as the first cutting in July as earlier the field was almost as tall as the haybine.  (And you can see the fence I plan to replace with my new fence rails.)

So the going was slow.  At this rate I won't be done cutting until Tuesday if things go well.

Things start to go downhill after a couple of hours.  The tractor started to occasionally speed up and slow down.  My memory is going.  I remembered this happened before but I didn't remember what I thought may be the reason for this to happen.  Then the tractor began to slow down more.  Am I running out of diesel?  I shouldn't be.  But as the fuel gauge doesn't work, I wasn't sure.  So I went and bought more diesel.  I put in about 5 gallons.  So, no, I wasn't close to running out of diesel.  I went back to cutting.  After a bit again up and down went the tractor speed.  Then I remembered.  The suspicion earlier - in July -  was that something may be in fuel tank and that object occasionally would slow the fuel down.  I suspect the John Deere dealership may have accidently dropped something in the fuel tank the last time they worked on the tractor and fuel gauge problem as this started to happen after they had worked on the tractor.  I was going to have them check this out when I took the tractor back to have the new tractor console repaired.  As the John Deere dealership had earlier ordered the wrong console back in June, I was still waiting - two months later - for the right console to arrive.  So, no, the fuel tank speed up/slow down problem wasn't fixed.  And I had forgotten about it until now.

I wanted to finish cutting a row.  But the speed up/slow down was happening frequently.  So I quit for the night.  I only got 5 and 1/2 rows cut today.  I have a lot more of the field to cut.  But tomorrow I will have to find someone who hopefully can fix the tractor problem.

Seriously, can I ever just cut the hayfield without a problem?