The Kind of Pictures You Really Don’t Want During Harvest

We were headed to the field with supper on a Friday evening during harvest.

I remembered that I’d forgotten silverware and being a considerate person and assuming the partakers of said harvest meal might prefer to have a spoon to use, rather than their fingers to eat potatoes and corn with, I swung into my in-laws’ lane to borrow some silverware from Mom.

Presently, our blue Peterbilt and my husband’s pickup pulled in. I didn’t think too much about it since they were cutting nearby. Then along came our other Pete and my cousin’s vehicle and my daughter came with the news that the combine had trouble.

The kind of news you really hope not to deliver or receive during harvest, but all too much a part of it at times.

The combine was on its way too, creeping slowly along. Apparently the final drive on the left-hand side was going bad and would have to be replaced.

The trucks pulled in, parked and shut down. No more cutting for this evening.

We sat up camp chairs in the shade of a tree at the edge of the yard and ate supper.

Once the food was gone, the harvesters turned mechanic began to dig in and go to work on poor, broken-down combine.

Duals must come off.

I didn’t stay till it was all taken apart, so I only have some photos and could have more interesting ones if I’d been there when it was all apart.

 

Saturday morning found us headed out with the sun to obtain a new final drive and get combine back together and back to cutting wheat!

The whole breakdown could have been much worse. My farmer man said there have been combines that lose duals when the final drive goes out, throwing them into the side of the combine and causing much more damage. We were very thankful in numerous ways that it wasn’t worse. We’d been cutting a good ways from home and Matthew had just moved back over to cut close to his dad’s. We were glad he made it safely back, glad it didn’t happen over at one of the other fields, glad he was so close to his dad’s and could go there to work on it, glad that he had two mechanic harvest hands to give him a hand. Much, much to be grateful for. Though of course, we’d have liked it if it wouldn’t have happened at all! It was probably the worst and most expensive breakdown we’ve had during harvest and still we were back up and running in pretty good time, thanks to good help!

Pictures of the combine cutting wheat are much more fun than pictures of the combine getting worked on! 🙂