SPQ13 Phil

Today is the last day of the diesel program!

So I havent posted the last few weeks, things have really been crazy lately. I'm already working 6 days a week and my boss told me yesterday that we will be moving to 7 a week really soon. Harvest is about 2-3 weeks off and this is the time that a lot of small farms start asking us to get them ready for season...with only a few days to do so.

I'm currently working on a picker that has really been a mess. It started that my boss had tested the main drive pump and told me it was bad and sent me up to replace it. So I replaced it then did my pressure test. The pressure should never drop lower than 220 psi and the new pump was only at 150 psi. So my boss had me install a new pump (which is no easy task...I'm doing this in the field with no lifts or jacks and its not light) and it still wasn't making  pressure. So after talking to the head mechanic at OXBO I checked all three of the wheel drive motors. I found one that had a really steady streem coming out of the case drain so I pulled it and then pulled the pressure again. Still low...so I then checked the other two motors and they both had started poring out of the case drain as well. I'll be heading up to Canada again today to do some more work on it. Its looking like this picker is getting a whole new drive system though.

Well looking back at the past two years it has been quite the ride! I went from being a farm hand to a full time mechanic! Farmers equipment is looking to start a shop up in Canada at the end of this year and I'm in line to be the head mechanic up there. I really have learned a ton in the past two years and I'm really greatfull to everyone who has been behind me, pushing me forward. A big thank you goes to you Jeff!! You really have been a great instructor!

SPQ13 Phil

Still logging the Canadian hours...and still mainly services. Last Thursday I installed tote loaders on a 8000. They are a option for the 8000 blueberry pickers so instead of filling 50 lb flats you can use the 1050 lb totes. Yesterday I was working on a picker and the customer noticed the welder in my truck. He then started dragging out all kinds of broken farm equipment and wanting me to weld them back together. Its been really good to get back into the busy feel of things because As soon as June hits I'll be logging some crazy hours!

48 hours this week (school and work)
Quarter total: 309 hours

My new service truck

Logging a ton of Canadian hours on my new truck :)

SPQ13 Phil

This week I got a little brake this week from winter services to do some warranty work. It actually fit in quite well with school because it was hydraulic cylinders. Basically what it was is the front steer cylinders on the 7420 have always had a problem with toe in or out. In the past years there was a toe switch on the dash that controlled only on of the cylinders so you could line up the wheels again. Last year they changed it so that when you turn the wheels completely to one direction it would open a dump valve on the cylinder that would dead head first allowing the other cylinder to catch up to it so they would be correctly aligned. The problem that came up though is that some of the cylinders had a different stroke. To solve this OXBO gave us kits that we would replace the rod with one that had a thread on eye. We could then adjust the two cylinders like  a tie rod to make them line up true. 

Reflection on learning this week: This was the first time I had pulled apart a hydraulic cylinder and it was really cool to see how it worked.

46 hours this week (between work and school)

Quarter total: 261 hours

SPQ13 Phil

Another really busy week. I have been up in Canada Wed through Fri with no lunches or brakes :-/ It is nice to get back in the field and get back in the harvest mindset. Its been mainly services but I did have a few other calls. I had to swap out a pickers catcher rails, which is the catcher plates and the rail that they all attach to, on a older 1990's machine. The new rails that I installed were for a new picker so I had to do some modifications to the old mounting brackets and even build a new rear bracket for the rails. I had another machine that had a head weight brake off. It was just a simple weld job but while I was out there the customer complained that "the machine would sometimes not lift up". After a quick look I noticed that the hydraulic lift switch for the left side of the machine was running off switched power. I simply found a new power source and the problem was solved.

44 hours this week (between work and school)
Quarter total: 215 hours

SPQ13 Phil

Well it has been a busy week at work for me. I got my work visa last week and the plan was I was going to head up to Canada on Thursday to do some winter services. Well on Wednesday Our trucker called from Point Roberts and said he had a flat tire and his air gun couldn't break the lug nuts free. Well my service truck is the only one that can run the one inch gun. So I went up there just to swap a tire and it ended up being a 4 1/2 hour service call with all the traffic. I was then up in Canada on both Thurs and Fri just doing winter services. I also had to work on Sat to help get caught up in the shop.

48 hours this week (between work and school)
Quarter total: 171 hours

SPQ13 Phil

Week 3 of school

On Wednesday I went to Canada to get my 2 year visa. What is different about this one is previous years we only got work permits that were only good for 6 months. With the new visas we will be able to work year round so we wont be so slammed going into the season. Other that that is was a typical week in the shop. I did a few bigger jobs, one of which was pulling out a rear bolster or stinger of a 7420.

In class today we talked about lockout/tagging out equipment and making sure it is not functional until it was fully fixed. It reminded my of something that happened in our shop. We had a bench grinder that was missing some guards and so it was tagged out but left there till the guards could be replaced. However one of the other mechanics still used it so the plug was cut off the power cord. So as a joke the same mechanic just stuck the wires in the power outlet to run the grinder. The grinder then promptly disappeared from the shop. While the grinder was just tagged out because of missing guards it is a good example that simply tagging something out is not always enough to keep it from being used.

I have another story that falls in with what Jeff was talking about when there is a hydraulic failure and the operator makes things worse by still running the equipment. Last season I went on a call to a picker that the operator was complaining that the front wheel was locked up. When I arrived you could see big ruts down the rows and the operator proudly announced that even though the wheel wouldn't roll he could just drag it along with the other wheels. Sure enough the front wheel drive motor had grenaded and with all the driving he did it sent the metal to the other two drive motors. All three had to be replaced and they run about (if I remember right) $2,000 a piece.

Learning reflection this week: A good reminder to always be safe around hydraulic systems. Always take your time to make sure you do things safely.

40 hours this week (between work and school)           
Quarter total: 123 hours

SPQ13 Phil

This week consisted of mainly PDIs. One of the highlights of the week was OXBO gave a 2 hour class on the plus-1 computer system. All the new pickers are now coming with it and its really cool to see technology finally coming to the harvesters. I also worked on a '07 7420 that had been badly abused. What was hard about working on this machine was the customer didn't want a lot of work done to it because he didn't want to spend a lot of money so as I was working on it I had to skip over a lot of stuff that really needed to be done.

Next week will be a busy one because on Wednesday I'm getting my work visa for Canada and there is a ton of worked stacked up for us in Canada.

Learning reflection of the week: Make sure you have basic electrical down! As you start moving into sensors and computers you will get all mixed up if you don't have the basics.

40 hours this week (between work and school)
83 hours this quarter

SPQ13 Phil

Ok so the first week of school is over now. I've been keeping busy at work with servicing pickers and doing major repairs to get ready for season. We also have a bunch of new machines coming in that we have to PDI (pre delivery inspection). I got to take the new korvan mechanic out on a call to a harvester that blew a wheel drive hose on the road. He has been training in the shop for a while now and is a good mechanic but this was his first real service call.

I also spent some time working on my Bronco 2 with a wiring issue. There was a short in the turn signal circuit so after a lot of chasing it down we narrowed it down to a un-used circut so we just cut the wires and everything worked good.

Hours this week 43
Quarter total 43

Hour Log

Winter quarter hours 328.96

SPQ13 Phil

On my last post I mentioned Orchard Rite but didn't say what they were. Orchard Rite is a company that makes frost control fans. They basically will kick on when temperatures are near freezing, forcing the warmer air down to the ground causing the buds on the plants to not freeze.

Week of 3/10

44 hours at work
4 hours working on my personal truck

This week i spent a few days helping assemble a few packers. I don't work on implements much but it was fun working on clean equipment. Other than that it has been korvan services. I was informed that i will be trained to be the orchard right fan mechanic. So I'm really looking forward to that.

On Saturday i installed 5" turbo back exhaust in my truck and also welded brackets for my mud flaps.

Week of 3/3

34 hours

Things are going good at Farmers. Still just working away in the Korvans. My work visa should be ready in a couple of weeks and then I'll get to set up my service truck and start doing all the Canadian services.

For this weeks reflection it would be how important ppe is when you're on the job. Especially with all the fab work i have been doing lately.

Week of 2/24

36.88 hours

Been slugging away at the winter services. Things are going good, especially with my welding. The weld shop is still really backed up so I've been doing a bit of welding yet.

Seventh Week of School

35 hours this week.

Just been working away on the Korvans. Coming up soon we will be getting our work visas for Canada and that will start a bunch of Canadian hours.

Side note...the reason the steering gear box wasn't lining up was I had bought the wrong gear box. I-D-10-T problem...lol. I have since gotten the correct box and everything is working good.

6th week

39.22 hours this week.

Still staying busy, working away on korvans. The weld shop is completely slammed so i have been doing a lot if fab work on the pickers that they would normally do. Its been good to get some practice in with the welder. And i haven't posted because i have been staying after work to work on my personal truck. I replaced the steering box but it wasn't timed right so now I'm having to figure all that out...not to fun :/ Its been a good learning experience though.

New service truck!

One of the mechanics moved up to management so I'm getting his truck. It just got painted and the next step is putting all the decals on.

5th week

39.95 hours.

This week i spent a lot if time doing pdi (pre delivery inspection) on Branson tractors. It gets boring pretty quick but it was some good learning. I also learned how to run the dyno. At the end of the week we got another korvan in and now they are starting to stack up again.

Hour Log

135.86 hours so far this quarter.

4th week

39.6 hours this week.

I finished up the last korvan in Friday so I'll be working on tractors till we get more in.

Saturday me and a couple if co workers went up to the Pacific agriculture show. I wad planning to take a bunch of pics if the show but i wasn't thinking and left my cell phone because i wouldn't have service. So no pics but it was a very cool show. Farmers Equipment was there with their oxbo harvesters and they ended up selling 10 of them. Other than berry harvesters there was a lot of dairy farm equipment.

It was a good work week tho...and I'm really looking forward to getting some more experience on tractors.

3rd week of school

36.57 hours this week.

Not much has changed, still doing winter services. I had to do a bunch of cutting with a torch and welding. I really improved with both. I spent a whole day this week detailing a couple harvesters for the big ag show up in Canada next weekend. I got a free pass so I'll take a bunch of pics and post them for you all.

2nd week

21.69 hours at work.

Fighting the flu last week...missed 2 days of work.

Well didn't really do anything new this week, still working in winter services.  I got to work on the SprayVan, a internally built sprayer for berries.

I haven't really learned anything new this week other than building confidence and getting good hands on experience.

First week of school

38 hours at work

Still just working on the winter services. Just two machines left to service and then we have the bigger projects to start on. But everything is going good, still learning stuff every day.

Back to school

Well school is back at it. Since last quarter i have been finishing up the last of the winter services/rental returns. We now have just a few machines left so now is the slow time of year...just waiting for more machines to roll in. It doesn't look like we will run it of work before spring tho.

Anyway here is a pic of a wheel hub i rebuilt this morning.