Combine Spelunking

The last few days I have been climbing around inside our two combines.  Before every harvest we have to complete a NASA checklist on each combine in order to make sure they are ready for harvest.  I think there are about 50 different places that need grease and about 10 different places that need oil or transmission fluid.  There are also about 100 different pulleys and 10 different chains to check.

Another thing on the checklist is to pull sieve and chaff panels from inside the combine out clean them.  The sieve and chaff panels are what helps to separate the grain from the straw and chaff.  While you are pulling the panels you also check to see if there are any cracks or holes that need to be welded or other issues that need to be addressed.

 

Before I crawled in I got my headlamp and gloves out.  Both of these things are essential to any successful spelunking expedition:

This is the inside of the combine with the panels taken out:

Towards the bottom of the picture you can see the top of the auger.  There are a ton of augers in these things and all of them need to cleaned out before harvest starts:

Now that we've completed the checklists we are greenlight for operation wheat harvest. Now all we need to do is wait for the right weather conditions.  I feel like a horse at the starting gate; I'm ready to run but the race won't start...

-Combine Mechanic Ryan