[AT] baling hay and other excitement

[Cecil Bearden]

> Here in central OK, we are trying to bale our wheat crop.  Since hay 
> is so expensive, everything green that can be baled is going into a 
> baler.  Dad cut our triticale about 10 days ago and it was rained on 
> twice right after cutting.  We had a couple of dry days, so I made a 
> deal to use my neighbors 4 year old 6410 JD and his 2 year old 467 JD 
> baler.  My neighbor raises Bermuda grass hay for horses.  A real 
> premium hay.  He retired from the Air Force and bought all JD 
> equipment.  2 tractors, both with loaders, a JD Bat wing mower, JD 
> baler, JD zero turn mower, JD lawn tractor for his place in town. Then 
> he build barns to put it all in.  Morgan Barns.
> For the past 3 years he has had local kids to help with driving the 
> tractor and other chores.  They seem to never last because they don't 
> take care of the equipment, or have to go on a date when hay is down.. 
> I made a deal last Friday to mow and bale his hay if I could use his 
> tractor and baler to bale my hay.
> Well, Saturday morning I looked at the hay and the forecast and he 
> called and asked if we wanted to bale hay.  We decided to start about 
> 1pm.  He showed me how to run the baler while Dad turned the 
> windrows.  We had a flat on our hay hay rake, so I had to fix that 
> while he went ahead and baled.  I got on the tractor about 3pm, and 
> baled 2 bales.  I got used to the computer on the baler, and just 
> ejected a bale, and was closing the baler gate when smoke blew out 
> from both sides of the hood just in front of the cab.  I shut it down 
> on 1 second and then heard the oil flare up.  As I flew out the cab 
> door, I saw the flames inside the hood.  I turned around and grabbed 
> the brand new fire extinguisher on the baler and then unlatched the 
> grill guard and pulled the hood up.  It was a water based 
> extinguisher, but the steam when it hit the manifold put out the fie 
> and washed the oil off some.  I called Dave and told him that we had a 
> problem and he was just driving into the field in his brand new Ford 
> F-250 power stroke 4wd..   He was grinning from ear to ear when he got 
> out of the truck and I told him what happened.  I was really anxious.  
> a 60K tractor and 20K baler had almost burned...  Dave looked at the 
> tractor and we found that the oil line to the Turbo had been chewed on 
> by a rat and blew.  He said he had cleaned out a rat nest in front of 
> the cab that morning.  He called his JD mechanic on speed dial, but 
> got no answer.  I was still apprehensive, but Dave did not seem too 
> excited.  He just looked at me and said " Sure glad it happened to 
> you, I could not have moved that fast!"  I was flabbergasted. I had 
> just had a fire in equipment that cost almost as much as my house, and 
> this guy was not shaken.  Next question was "Can you fix it?"   I got 
> a god look at the line and figured out that it could be fixed and he 
> took me back to the shop.  Dave had to go out with his wife and 
> friends that evening for dinner, so he had to leave.  He said "If you 
> can't fix it, just lock it up and we will call the dealer Monday 
> morning.  Let me know."
>
> I took off the hood supports removed another shield, took off the 
> line, cut off the crimp collar and cut the line, put on 2 hose clamps 
> and tied them on the line with baling wire to make sure the line did 
> not slide off, rerouted the line and in 30 minutes I was baling 
> again.  I called Dave and told him I had it going and he said "well I 
> figured it was in good hands."
>
> I have done some repairs for this guy, over the last 4 years, but 
> never really got to be real good friends with him as I was working.  
> My Dad would talk with him as he passed on the road, but we never 
> really got to share work like most neighbors.
> I finished baling without any other incidents except running out of 
> net wrap about 7:30 pm.  Next morning, I blew out all the fine grass 
> and other hay from the baler, and then gave the tractor a bath with 
> the pressure washer.  It took about 2 hours.  When I took the tractor 
> and baler back to his place, he was impressed with the clean tractor.  
> I found another huge rat's nest under the cab.
> Dave gave me the keys to the barns and gates and said"  Whenever you 
> need it just come and get it"
>
> Sunday night it started raining.  I have some high moisture bales in 
> the field, but they are baled.  I would have never got it baled with 
> my old baler..
>
> Cecil in OKla



>
>