[AT] storing outside

[Greg Hass]

A few years ago I had a grain head for my combine that I had no indoor 
storage space for. In our area we have a lot of wind and even if you tie 
down a canvas it will be destroyed in a few months.  I came up with the 
idea of plowing a furrow around it and then covering it with heavy black 
plastic and putting the edges in the furrow and pushing  the dirt back 
in. That way the wind couldn't get under it and blow it away. I happened 
to mention it to our traveling on farm mechanic and he almost went into 
orbit. Seems as though another customer of his had done that and when he 
went to hook it up the next year all that was left was a pile of rust. 
Without ventilation and with the ground moisture and heat from the sun 
it was a total loss. In the end, I just stored it in the open on top of 
some fence posts for about 6 years. I didn't really see much damage, but 
I made sure all dirt and chaff was blow off before unhooking it. In my 
opinion, 95% of damage done by storing things outside is caused by dirt 
and junk left on the metal and not letting it dry out.
         Greg Hass