[AT] Tractor and truck parts replacement

charlie hill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Thu Jun 4 12:11:06 PDT 2015


Grant your philosophy is correct and I whole heatedly agree.  Sometimes 
other things
just get in the way.  See my reply to Stephen.   I learned the value of 
doing that sort
of maintenance from a now deceased friend who used to move mobile homes for 
a living.
Flat tires were a way of life for him and something he really could not 
control on the trailer
axles.  He told me he spent enough time one the side of the road changing 
out trailer tires
that he couldn't afford other break downs.  His solution was this.  At the 
beginning of every
3rd winter he took the batteries, belts and hoses off of every vehicle he 
owned, both company
and personal and replaced them with the best replacement parts he could buy. 
It didn't matter
if they were good, bad or somewhere in the middle.   That along with regular 
service on everything
else kept him rolling.  I value his advice.  I just don't always follow it 
to the letter.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Grant Brians
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2015 9:58 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] Tractor and truck parts replacement

On 6/4/2015 3:18 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
> Agreed, Charlie.  I found the 150,000,000 rotation number pretty 
> fascinating on its own, before the dollar value entered the picture.
>
> I’ve been wondering… is there a reason you only did one side when the 
> first hub failed a couple years ago?  In matters like this I always tend 
> to do both sides at once, things like brakes, ball joints, etc etc.  I 
> figure if one failed the other must be pretty close, and, I’m already 
> there with the truck in the air and the tools all spread out.
>
> SO
>
Stephen Offiler's post about parts replacement made me think about an
experience this week here on the farm. Saturday, we were spraying
Organic bacterial fungicide and soap (surfactant) on the Spinach. This
is necessary now as the Downy Mildew has overcome the genetic resistance
of the Spinach variety we use and there are no remaining resistant
varieties available in the world as a result. Our spray rig is a nearly
antique tractor with mounted tanks, pumps and 40' boom - an
Allis-Chalmers 185 from 1974. I bought the tractor from another local
farmer who no longer grows vegetables, now only Apricots. This 41 year
old tractor is in good shape, but nearly at the end of the spraying for
the day, one of the front wheels literally dropped off the tractor! This
is not good.
      The tractor had clearly not been greased on the wheel bearings in
many years and we had missed that fact when readying it for service
after I purchased it. We had replaced all of the hoses and any parts
other than tires that showed wear, serviced all lubricants, cooling
system, battery, etc. But we missed this problem and my driver had not
seen the problem until 200' before the components completed their total
failure.
      I decided immediately, that as soon as I inspected the issue we
would purchase all new bearings and seals as well as the damaged hub. In
addition I asked the parts suppliers to make sure that we got the parts
for both sides and it will be back in service this morning when the
parts installation is completed.
      As it has gotten harder to get many parts from local stock for
nearly all machinery, trucks, cars etc., I no longer take a chance
unless there is a severe parts shortage with not replacing possible to
fail parts like the other side on this front end like I would have as a
teenager back in the 70's. I simply cannot afford the downtime or the
additional cost of repairs being done the equivalent of a second time
any more. Does this mean I never avoid replacing something that is a
judgement call? Of course not. But I like to think that I have learned
something in these decades and am now able to decide to perform a repair
once rather than more than one time because of having learned how to
make a more informed choice.
      Just my thoughts and as always where machinery is not used for
making a living or travelling down the highway, the equation changes....
For me as a commercial farmer, I no longer have that leeway most of the
time.
                Grant Brians - Hollister,California farmer of specialty
vegetables, herbs and orchard
                       And seed seller www.gourmetseed.com
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