Official Post Padding Thread

[Musket Man]

Somehow I got a job running "Swamp Angel". Im still not quite sure how this happened. I thought I was just hauling a tractor for my dad and next thing I know I ran the grader 2 days and the mud cat today. Made a ditch thats got to be close to a mile long. Had Swamp Angel in mud and water a few times today that would have buried a regular Cat and she went right through! Pretty amazing what you can take a mud Cat into and not get stuck! Alot of guys put regular track shoes on them and farm with them here. You cant beat them for farming really steep places. I guess the guy likes me cuz now I have a job helping him plant and harvest corn or something. All I know is be there at 7:30. lol

 

[marcusvdk]

That looks like fun

 

[NVBird'n'Big]

Looks like a lot of fun!

 

[Musket Man]

Its not as fun as it looks when 1/2 of it is a bunch of sloppy mud you cant do anything with and is filling up with water while you work and the other 1/2 is so dry its powder and wont do anything either and your supposed to make a ditch that will hopefully run water. lol

 

[Hymer]

hmmm

 

[Againstthewind]

pretty cool to pick up side jobs or whatever wherever you go. Sounds like it is getting to be a pretty big undertaking.

 

[packmule]

Looks like a fun task. Can't talk them into pipe instead of a ditch?

 

[woodtick]

Looks like a fun task. Can't talk them into pipe instead of a ditch?

There just starting to figure out irrigation in that country! Pipe will come in the 22nd century

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I have shares in our local irrigation co. and it is over 100 years old.....and still thinks that ir is living in the last century, as do most of the old farmers. It is calculated we lose around 25% of our ditch irrigation water to seepage, evaporation and all the 100 year old cottonwood trees that line the 100 miles or so of canals & ditches. We have started to put some of it in pipe, probably take another 100 years to finish it.

 

[Musket Man]

Can't talk them into pipe instead of a ditch?

That would be alot of pipe! It gets alot of sediment washing down from above it so it would prob plug up a pipe. Ditch will prob have to be cleaned every year. There are a bunch of drain tiles and other ditches that drain into it too. I looked today and its already running water in the lower part. No wonder why it was so wet! He only got 11 hours out of me today, tomorrow he might get 12. lol Brand new Case IH quadtrack and the DEF system is having problems. If it has 1 more problem Im going to tell him to trade it in on an older 1 that actually runs! Pretty new notill seeder and work on that almost every time he refills it too. More problems then the older stuff I run here and I think there are trains that are shorter then this contraption he is pulling around the field. LOL!

 

[Againstthewind]

All those emission control devices and things like seem to cause problems pretty regularly. I heard that you are supposed to idle them a little after you shut down to let the system cycle through all the extra filters and stuff or something like that. I don't know much about it other than call the mechanic, but we have run into the same type problems with newer equipment. That's not a lot of help, lol. I am still trying to figure out how not to turn the truck off when I am playing with the keys and driving.

 

[Musket Man]

The mechanic doesnt even know what to do. He says its all new and they are just starting to see these problems and dont know how to fix them yet. The filter if you can even call it that is so small (seriously a 1/2'' around by 3/4'' long screen) that anything will plug it up. The system has to stay perfectly clean to work. How are you supposed to do that on a farm tractor thats in dust and dirt all the time? If it gets to plugged the whole system will shut down and the only way to get it going again is to have the dealer come out and reset it. Its a bunch of bull!

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Sound like the repair business is the one to be in!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Againstthewind]

Agreed, sorry for the trouble. The old ones are probably the way to go. Designers need to go back to the keep it simple, stupid rule. Every time something gets added on it just makes things more complex and things go wrong, a lot. Its probably all for regulations coming out, which is a whole other issue. How are you supposed to plant plants to combat global warming if you can't get your tractor to run?

CC is right, too. If I had mechanical aptitude I would go into the repair business. That seems like a good deal, except for the on-call 24/7 deal, that kindof stinks.

 

[Hymer]

Boomer!!!!!

 

[Musket Man]

The whole system is on there because of emissions regulations. Its not something Case IH wants to put on it. I think it started this year that all new tractors and combines have the DEF system. The new trucks have had to have it since 2012 I think. It basically injects ammonia into the exhaust and that kills the pollution in a diesel exhaust. Not that that is a bad thing but its a very complicated system and I expect it will take a few years to work the bugs out of it. It seems to do ok in the trucks but they are operating in a fairly clean environment, not in the dust and dirt a tractor or combine runs in and its impossible to keep it that clean. Would think they could put a big filter on it like a fuel filter and it would work alot better. After draining some off the bottom of the tank and cleaning the screen a bunch of times it seems to be running ok today.

 

[packmule]

Bugs are out of it, the DEF just crystalizes if it sits in equipment to long or in warm environments. I only put a gallon or so in at a time as advised by heavy equipment mechanics and truck dealer.

 

[Musket Man]

From what I have seen the last few days the bugs are not out of it. This tractor been running 12-15 hours a day for over a week before it had problems. Its not from it sitting.

 

[packmule]

How long had it sat prior & where did the DEF came from?

 

[Musket Man]

IDK how long it sat before this but the tractor is nearly new and I think they used it for harvest in August maybe even into September. The DEF comes from our local distributor and they bring you a tank thats in his shop.