Farmers Equipment

So today was my second day at Farmers. Was going to do a post yesterday after work but my MMA class got in the way :) Anyways, I'm really loving the work at Farmers! I went from being a mechanics assistant at Northland to basically a full mechanic at Farmers. I even have my own service truck...complete with a welder and all!

So a little on the work I'm doing: this summer I will be one of three Korvan mechanics so between now till after harvest that's all I'll work on because I'm going to be on my own this summer and I'll need to know as much as possible about these machines.

The first day:

We had a machine that was having problems with the fuel system clogging up so we pulled the fuel tank and brought it to our fab shop. There the fab guy cut the bottom of the tank off, cleaned it out, and welded a new bottom on. I honestly couldn't see where the weld was after he painted it. Those guys know how to weld! So while we waited for the tank we checked the whole machine, top to bottom, making sure it would be ready to go for harvest. Then I did a basic engine service on the machine, so changed oil and filter, changed fuel and air filter, and such. Then we added a inline hand pump to the fuel line to it could be primed easier. And the on the front of the machine there is some sheet metal that was falling off because the rivets were broken so I drilled out a d replaced about 40 rivets.

The second day:

So today I finished rebuilding that machine, which consisted of: replacing fuel gauge sender gasket, re-installing fuel tank, reconnecting the lower coolant line, re-installing the exhaust system (both off then had to be off to drop the tank), adding coolant, checking all fluid levels, and then starting it up and letting it run for a while.

Then I moved on to the next project. Another Korvan 9000 with a bad motor so It needs to be pulled and a new engine installed. I got the old motor out and tomorrow I'll be starting on installing the new one.

So I'll try to keep you posted more often than I have been, especial now that I'm doing something.

This is a Korvan 9000, probably the harvester I'll be working on the most this year.

New Job!

So I'm starting at Farmers Equipment on Monday! I've been working at getting on there for quite a long tome now and I'm really looking forward to starting next week! In the mean time I'm not working at Northland so I'll be doing little projects around my place and hopefully get some more welding practice in at school. Looking forward to start logging some hours again tho!

More Work on Mike's Truck

Well I put in a few hours with Mike adjusting the valve lash on his truck. I'd done this on that Wisconsin I rebuild but it was cool to do it on a big diesel. Thanks Mike for letting me get the xp!

Hour Log

Week of 2/12/12 3.5 hours

Total Hours: 202.7 Hours

Hour Log

Week of 2/5/12 24.3 hours

Total Hours: 199.4

Update...

So I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been doing much lately. I will be starting here in the next few weeks at Farmers Equipment in Lynden so I have been demoted to "delivery boy" at Northland Diesel. I can't blame them, why would they want to train me for someone else? The main reasons for leaving Northland for Farmers Equipment are hours and commuting time. My rig isn't exactly a Prius (not that I want one) so the gas bill adds up fast with a Bellingham trip every day. Plus I will be getting in a lot more welding at Farmers. Anyway I'll keep you all posted as I move along.

Todays doing...

Well this was my ride for the day :) I spent almost the whole day running around Seattle area dropping stuff off for customers. Although I'm not a big fan of diesel cars I must say this VW Jetta TDI Wagon was a very good ride! One of the customers had a shop back in the foothills and that's where this 6-speed diesel really shined! Fun stuff =D

Wisconsin Motor...Take 2

So the Wisconsin motor that Lynn and I rebuilt the week prior ended up spinning a bearing again. I guess that's what you get or a cheap/quick rebuild job. But the good this is it lasted long enough for the owner to take care of a few customers so he wasn't in a bind for time. So this time we pulled the bad motor out and stripped it down. The crank was ruined from the excessive heat but luckily the crank in the spar block looked good so we mic'ed it and it was still in good shape. So we moved all the components from the bad block over and rebuilt the motor on the spar block. Once it was all back together we tested it out and it all ran great. So we ran it at several different throttle positions for about 2/3 of the day to break it in and then returned it to the owner. So far its been holding up well under heavy use.

Mike's Dodge...continued

So this is the day we got the motor remounted in the truck. For this stage I mainly just helped Mike by being his assistant, grabbing tools, checking bolt torques, and such. Once again Mike took his time to explain all he could to me while we were working and I learned much from his experience.

I really should have posted a lot closer to this project because I can't remember all the details.

Mike inspecting his baby.

The block just before we put it in.

The pics are a little backwards but here is Mike doing the final checks before we put the block in.

Hour Log

Week of 1/29/12 37.5 hours

Total Hours: 175.1

Hey guys...

Sorry I haven't posted in the past few days...I got a little lazy. Let my get a few notes together and I'll try to get a few good posts up tonight.