Another inch of accumulated moisture from Tues-Wed's snow & rain (total since planting is now 18 inches), the trk was just barely getting around the field with one hopper dump off the combine. Sunday I was cutting around the edge of slough & one side of the combine sunk in the mud, I was 3/4 full. Fortunately the unload auger was pointing to the field & the trk was able to pull under, but it still took Big Red to get the combine out.
If we could go more than a week without rain, maybe the soft conditions will subside, but in the short term I'm hoping this will work to keep the combine cutting crop continually all day. Most fields are within a mile of a bin to unload. The tricky part to learn is backing up to the auger to unload with no outside mirror on the left side of tractor cab.
It's not warming up much & looks to be cloudy till Mon-Tues. I use two hopper bins with aeration that I fill up, dry grain for 4-5 days, then move grain to non air bins. The hopper bins are presently full, so that'll give me some practice in the coming days to figure out how to do this safely & quickly and hopefully the hiredhand is a quick learner too.
I rigged up this air gauge on the supply line to keep track of air pressure. The pressure doesn't drop to 60lbs for a couple hrs which keeps the maxies off, but I should install the bolts in the brake pots so the brakes never come on period. I thought maybe the gauge would also be helpful to see how much air is maintained for the air ride, but is doesn't. The air gauge down on the lower left of trl frame is a weight gauge, it shows about 10lbs empty & 54lbs is about 2/3's full (15mt or 550bu), which is what I filled it to hooked on the trk for a legal load. I intend to just put one combine hopper (320bu) + whatever additional volume it is while unloading on the go. Then tractor/pup zooms to the bin to unload.
The ride height is connected to the center axle. I'm not sure yet whether to disconnect leveler rod to prevent loss of air while travelling & keep leveler rod in a fixed position?
The yard is pretty wet too! I spent a few thousand last fall for pit run fill & grading after a wet summer's hauling out making ruts everywhere. I got nearly all my grain out during the winter so I didn't tear up my yard this summer... trying to get harvest in might destroy it again.
My guard dog is a bit camera shy.
