Equipment

The man who taught me the basics of baler knotter troubleshooting said one thing that applies to many mechanical things. He said that most of the time there would not be a single, obvious problem, rather a number of things that were out of adjustment just enough so that the function of the knotter was sloppy.

Diesel-powered pickups have been around for a long time, but in the last 30 years or so, their popularity has simply exploded. Their application on the farm is well documented. Their power plants offer great low-rpm power, durability, reliability and fuel mileage.

Richard Schirado hated to waste a good swather when the header was shot, so he turned it into a self-propelled rake.

Remanufactured parts and components are a great way to save time and money without sacrificing quality. Remanufactured (or reman) parts aren’t just parts that have been repaired; they are built to meet or exceed original OEM specifications and are usually backed by a warranty that, in some cases, is better than new warranty coverage.

Remember hauling cattle as a kid? I guess I am showing my age here, but I remember helping Dad build a portable, adjustable loading chute in our shop when I was barely in grade school. It was long and heavy (probably too heavy, but that was Dad’s way).

The other day I got behind a fellow pulling a boat on a trailer behind his camper. We were on a fairly rough road, and the boat trailer was doing quite a bit of bouncing. As it bounced, one of the tires would squash almost to the rim on each bounce.