the chopper update

As you read this week the chopper arrived back here from its trip to a co-operative farm a couple hours away. The guy that brought it back said that it was too slow, so he didn't think they would want it next year.

Garry and Maxim were getting it ready to chop that hay (and mostly weeds- that's why it went back on the ground instead of feeding the cows) a few days ago when the discovered that the control box that powers the electronics- you mount it inside the tractor- did not come with it. At first Garry was sure he had seen it when the machine came back, so they hunted around first, in the shop, near the machinery, finally Maxim phoned the guy from the other farm. Late yesterday afternoon Maxim went out the the highway to meet a marshchutka with a guy from that farm who brought the control box. This morning Maxim went home for the day (he returns tomorrow morning) because he has relatives visiting from Moldova there, they leave on Saturday, so this morning after breakfast, I went out to give Garry and hand getting the chopper hooked up and the hay header on so he could chop this afternoon.

The first thing Garry had to do was switch the tractor from using the three-point hitch to the drawbar. Our North American tractors have both available to use, but here he has to switch to the drawbar to pull the chopper. The first thing was to take off the arms for the three point hitch.





Then he has to fasten the drawbar part between the two remaining pieces, so he sat on the ground holding it up,











he told me it works better if he puts the pins closer to him in first, then the ones closer to the tractor. He told me he can do this changeover much faster now, it used to take him at least 30 minutes.












The final step is to tighten these turnbuckles, so they do not loosen and have parts fall off, and get lost. He said they had this happen a number of times last year when they first got the tractor, but now he knows to take the time to make sure it's securely fastened. He said the parts are always in stock at the tractor parts store, so he assumes that it is a common problem here, because there are not a lot of parts in stock.






Then he went to put the PTO shaft together, and it seemed to have lost its bumps and was smooth and square (unlike when it left.) Although it went together Garry said it banged around alot when he was chopping. He's not what happened to it that could have come back like that.







Garry found the control box in the shop, luckily Maxim had not left in the car when he got it last night, since he took off in a hurry when Garry said he could go home this morning. Garry then hooked up all the wires and put the control box in the tractor, with the use of a number of wrenches.












There was a little problem and some smoke and some melted insulation on these wires
when Garry hooked everything up, but eventually everything worked just fine. The tractor at the other farm had a different voltage setup, 24 instead of 12.










Finally Garry drove over to the hay header and matched up the two parts, so he could get the pins in to use it. Then he was ready to go to the hay field, although he waited until after lunch.






Garry came back once with a broken chain, he had it fall apart again in the field and figured out the cause- someone had put something together backwards while it was gone. He was finished chopping the ragweed back into the field before 4 pm. His eyes were a little sore, the pollen is a problem here in the late summer and fall. Then he had to feed the cows and get the heifers in the barn at 6:20, with Maxim gone he has all the work to do himself.


Here are Victor's guests Peter and Alice, they spent the whole day with us in the village, walking, reading and relaxing, they even checked out the barn and milking this afternoon.
Tonight it is the smoke creeping inside from the many fires from garden and yard cleanups today that is making my throat sore.