Crazy week getting ready for fields

This last couple weeks have been crazy on the farm getting ready to start the field's.  I had to fix this 945 Deere mower the shaft spun 3 of the 5 bearings. I had to get our new holland rake we just got ready the controls were broken. The new holland chopper we have had to have all the knives sharpened and a few replaced and the head needed bearings replaced. The Deere 8450 to drive the chopper had to have a major service done to it. The New Holland chopper we use needed bearings replaced in the head and the Metalert stop system needed work so I had to get all that done. We got the first 150 acres mowed ,tedded,raked , chopped, put in the bunker then stacked and packed. It's go time on the farm.

Steering on a John Deere is more complicated than I thought

I took this steering wheel apart on this John Deere 4430 this week. It has all the hydraulic steering components located in the dash. The bottom of this has a her gear driven pump that pushes the fluid to the main pump in front. This in turn makes the whole thing steer. I also worked on the Kubota and finished it this week after I finally got the clutch in from Canada. I also got the other 4430 I tore apart last week finished and the new 8sp auto installed. I also replaced a starter solenoid on the Deere 4430.

This week John deere 4430

This week I had to break apart a JD4430 and rebuild the 8 speed powershift. I rebuilt a tractor that hasn't ran since last year.  I took the engine apart replaced the cam valves ect. Then I built the 8 speed transmission as new.  I also took the clutch  out of a Kubota 385 loader. I replaced all the plates in the autoshift and writhed in the hydraulics.

The last 6 months of my diesel adventure

Well in the 6 months since I graduated with my AA degree in Diesel Technology (the only person in my class on the president's list I must add with above a 3.8 GPA for the full 2 years) I have been very busy. I got a killer job at a local organic dairy farm as the farms mechanic I also drive milk truck for them 1 day a week to Seattle and back. My responsibilities are basically make sure nothing breaks. We have 3 milk truck's ( Freightliner and Kenworth) , 2 newer silage dump trucks both International, 26 assorted John deere tractors every size you can think of, a couple Kubota , Case, International, Ford tractors and a ton of implements. Implements like spreaders, rakes, discs, tillers ect. I am being taught very well by a 74 yr old man ( probably the hardest working man I've ever met in my life) named Lance. He has been building and working on farm equipment for 40 years so I know I'm in good hands. I've been getting ready for spring planting season so the farm is busy with work repairing all the broken tractors. In the last month I've rebuilt engines and clutches split while tractors in half to get to the quad gears in the manuals and the power shift trannys in the 8 speed automatics. I've done almost every aspect of building these tractors. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.. I'll keep up on this blog more often .I hope my teacher Jeff Curtis is proud of what he taught me.