Combines Did you ever do something so stupid

Don't be too hard on yourself.Don't sound that much different than stuff we have all been through.Experience is a great teacher if we survive the experience.You've heard, "live and learn."My problem is the next time a situation comes up,it's just enough different from the last lesson I learned that I don't see the fix and have to learn again the hard way!

You mean like starting on beans with my F2, having the cylinder as slow as it will go and not being able to figure out why they're cracking. Then finally realizing that in my haste to change over......had left the cylinder drive sheave on from clover. Amazing how much difference that made. Bet I remember next time.

About half afraid to say this. Mine was not realizing the transmission for the rotor was not fully in gear and slipped to neutral and just as I pulled into green stem beans! Took a couple hours to clear the feeder houses, then I took a little longer to figure out what happened! Sometimes there is too much going on at once and you just dont notice something you should. Plus I have done dumber things!

You will have a hard time topping this one. Sunday evening my brother comes up to the bins with the 75 saying that something is screwed up on the unloader so we looked at it and noticed that the swing auger stub shaft was broke, so I let him start tearing it apart and I went over to run the 62 so I could get a truck load of beans to take to the terminal the next morning. Well I hit the button to engage the auger instead of the fold button and heard a pop right before I realized the boner I pulled. Yup thats right 2 broken stub shafts on the unloaders. Spend monday after working on sunday fixing both combines so we could get them unloaded. On the 75 we had replaced the unloader safety switch with the wrong switch which allowed it to engage before the auger was in the unload position and on the 62 the tires threw a clump of mud up under the safety switch which allowed the auger to engage and snapped the stub shaft. Uhm if anyone doesnt think there is a guy upstairs try working through the harvest season without taking that day for rest, it seems you will work twice as hard to get where you were going.

What don't kill ya makes you stronger Signed The Incredible Hulk

I'll get a bit coy here. This did not happen to me and I hope it never does! local combine mechanic, not neccessarily the smartest one around, was working on the left hand side of an l2. He had the engine quietly ticking over with the drive belt and pulley running while he messed around. loud and continuous screams brought everybody at a dead run to see what the disaster was. Mechanic was clutching a very badly beaten up hand with blood and gore everywhere. What the hell did you doIJ I just put my hand in here, he says as his hand whips around again between the V belt and the big drive pulley! That second time around really did some damage! He was off for about a month or more while his hand, arm, elbow and shoulder all healed up. Strangely enough, he never got much sympathy but there was a lot of hilarity.

Ok, driving Case 1680 in Steamboat Springs area, was cutting along side a hill (Well it was a hill in my books!!) I broke the cardinal rule when driven combines around hills and slopes is that you try not to point straight down the hill for long! this time I had full grain box, and turned down hill and suddenly realized that I was not driven anymore, as the combine was now in control and was driven down hill at an increasing speed! what does an 21 year old Aussie doIJ he hauls back on the hydro right! All that does is lift the read wheels off the ground and then you have no steering! and as this combine had rear wheel assist all the hydro's drive oil went straight back to he rear wheels and sped them up to 100+mph! now we have no hydro response, heading down hill at 30+ mph increasing, creeks at bottom of hill combine with full grain box! hmm next ideaIJ Arr, Ill drop the front (header) on ground, that should slow me down enough for me to jump clear! As front hits ground rear wheels doing 120 mph by now thump down on ground as well! something has to give! as rear wheels slow down they blow hydro motor apart! this then pumps all the hydro oil out, I'm still sliding down hill, now no oil and no hydro response again! front is slowing me down some, steering gone due to no oil But! as luck would have it the rear wheels turn due to no resistance from oil or me and the whole setup turns 90 degrees to creek and at about 50 ft from creek edge. One self climbs out of combine and goes checks out creek bottom so as not to soil ones pants! Rolf

I posted this on the AC page, but to admit my guilt... as a 15 yr old, rabbit hunting w_ dad, I had to relieve myself. This was before prostrate enlargement, so I could put out a stream the local volunteer fire dept could not match. I wet down the fence post which had a 72 all crop belt nailed to both sides of it. little did I know the discarded belt was now used as a corner support for the wire to the electric fencer gramps had just installed to keep his old bull at bay. I did receive an immediate lesson in electrolytic conductivity. The instant feeling was that of having ones privates stretched to eternity, placed on an anvil, and then receiving two blows with a 10n sledge hammer. Normally one emits a few ounces, I think I let out between 3 to 4 quarts, then dribbled another four or five for the rest of the hunt and the better part of the day. Dogs kept coming back to me to smell the results of the event. Dad cried tears and never spoke a word to me as everytime he tried his laughter doubled him over. It was quite a few years until I saw any humor in the event. A story he told every family gathering as long as he lived......

This mishap started the infamous "Boner Award" that now is passed around within our business....I was harvesting plots with a K2 a few years ago and low and behold a mouse showed up on the cab floor. I had left the K2 in the field the night before with head down and figured it got in that way. At any rate I don't like mice with me in the cab so in process of stomping the mouse I accidently smushed my AC inverter that was powering my laptop...what a deal. Mouse was killed as was inverter....it was funny then and funnier now. Cheers!