In the Shop

 Cool news for some of you, related to my previous post about using cell phones/smart phones to take pictures of farm equipment to help identify parts needed for repairs.

Rodney S., one of our regular readers, let me know that there is a smart phone app called "Case IH My Shed" that allows red equipment owners to enter their equipment into the app so that when each piece of equipment is accessed, submenus with filters, decals, frames and factory-installed parts pops up. A pop-out menu provides exploded diagrams with detailed parts numbers. Kris says once you identify the part you need you can order it online, specify which dealer to send it to, or tap the screen and have the phone dial your local dealers to see if the part is in stock. Cool!

Rodney also mentioned an aspect of that app that I use frequently on the laptop I carry in my service truck. Many times when reassembling equipment, it's more understandable for me to reference a blown-up parts diagram to see how pieces are supposed to fit together than it is to use the "repair" manual for that machine. So, if you forget which side of the assembly a washer goes on, or whether a certain bolt should be head-in or head-out, this app gives you access to a blown-up diagram with answers to your reassembly questions.

Sadly, that's only if you're working on red equipment.  If any of you know of similar apps for equipment of other colors, let me know and I'll pass it on.

 I'm going to refine a suggestion I made a while back in one of my blogs. I suggested that it would be useful when repairing machinery to take a cell phone photo of the part in question, so you could show it to the person at the parts counter.

That has created problems. Some folks assume that a photo is worth a thousand words, and now simply hand their cell phone to the parts person and say, 'Gimme that part." 

To help maintain the sanity of parts people across the country:

-The first photo should be of the machine's model number. The second photo should be a close-up of the serial number plate, with serial numbers clearly legible. 

-Then take a series of photos, starting at a distance before ending with a close-up of the part in question. That will help the parts person identify where on the machine the part is located. 

-Take time to look at the piece in question. Understand what it does on the machine, decipher how it is broken or why it isn't working correctly. There is an disturbing trend for folks to just take a cell phone photo and then hand their phone to the parts person at the local dealership with the assumption that everything the parts person needs is in that one, tiny 2-inch by 3-inch digitized photo. 

Cell phone photos can be an immense aid in helping get the right parts efficiently. Or, they can make things worse because the person with the cell phone photo has no information aside from that one photo to help the parts person get the right parts.

If you're technologically sophisticated, figure out how to use your smart phone or iPad to access the internet, look up a parts diagram of the machine you're working on, and point to the specific part you need on that image. It will have the specific part number right there, and all the parts person has to do is type in the number to see if they have it in stock.

Be forewarned: providing a parts person the exact parts number of a piece that you want risks having that person come over the counter and give you a kiss of gratitude.

 I'm not especially comfortable speaking in front of crowds, but wouldn't be ashamed to hand out printed cards with the following advice to this year's graduating class. Some of the advice is related to fixing mechanical things, some of the advice is about life in general, and some of it could go either way.

-"Economical" and "cheap" are not the same when it comes to buying tools.

-If a hydraulic leak stops, it's not because the leak magically fixed itself and everything is now "okay." It's because the reservoir ran out of oil.

-In the mind of a customer, one botched repair erases the memories of 25 successful repairs.

-Smoke from electrical wiring or electrical components is never a good thing.

-The wrench you lose or break this morning is the one you'll need this afternoon.

-Never look at your thumb while swinging a hammer.

-"Fixed" and "fixed right" are not always the same thing.

-Promise less than you deliver. Deliver more than you promise.

-Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.

-If you have to borrow a specific tool more than four times in a year, buy your own.

-When working on large equipment, never work under anyone who chews tobacco.

-Understand the difference between working for a friend and working with a friend.

-There is a difference between a job, a career and a hobby. Understand why you do each and don't mistake one for the other.

-Don't expect to toot the whistle if you were hired to shovel coal.

-You can always re-do repairs because machinery doesn't remember. It doesn't work that way with family members, spouses, friends, bosses and customers. 

-If you're the one who toots the whistle, remember that somewhere, somebody is shoveling coal to allow you to do that.

-Never say "never." Unless it's in regard to ethical or moral questions, and then have personal standards about when to say it.  

 Some might think I'm morbid, the way I religiously read the obituaries in our local daily newspaper each evening. I learned the hard way that it pays to know what's going on in our rural community.

A decade or more ago, I went to a customer's farm to do some work on his planter. His farmstead was always a showplace, and part of any visit there during warm weather included a nod and a wave to his wife, who always seemed to be working in their large, immaculate garden. As the farmer and I worked on the machine, just to be social and friendly, I commented on the nice spring weather and said, "It won't be long before your wife will be back out in her garden..."

He stopped and turned away from me, took a deep breath, and said, "Not this spring. She got cancer last winter and died six week ago."

So now I not only routinely read the obituaries, I regularly compare notes with other mechanics and our salesmen, just to stay abreast of who died, who got divorced and other potentially sensitive topics. Sometimes knowing how to fix machinery is only part of what a farm mechanic needs to know to serve his customers well. 

 No matter how hard you plan and prepare, the first day in the field often has hiccups. Here are some common problems we hear about at the dealership on the first day of planting:

-GPS guidance problems. It's a great idea to spend a half day driving up and down the road or around a field to check not only if GPS systems are calibrated and working properly, but to see if you remember how to operate the system. Practice setting A-B lines, curved lines, see if any auto-row-shut off/on systems are operating correctly. It's awkward to do that sort of testing with big planters, but well worth the time.

-software updates. Even if you didn't change planters or tractors, mysterious things can happen to GPS systems that are best fixed by software updates. Work with your GPS/guidance provider to determine if your systems have the best software.

-Software back-dates. Note that I said "best" software. Sometimes the latest and greatest software from the manufacturer has so many glitches and bugs that the smoothest performance comes from an earlier version of software. Again, work with your technology advisor to determine what's best for your situation.

-Test load, test plant. Some of you are fanatics about preparation, and I applaud you, because there are a surprising number of other, less organized operators who simply throw seed in their tender or planter and start planting. Or TRY to start planting.Those are the ones where I end up unloading seed tenders or planters in order to access whatever prevents things from working. I strongly advocate throwing a test sample of seed in seed tenders and loading it in to the planter, then test-planting a farmyard or small field. There's no substitute for actually running machines under field conditions to identify first-day-problems.

With a big planter, you may end up planting 15 or 20 acres around the buildings or in a field far from the road before you get the bugs out, but time spent chasing bugs will help you roll non-stop once planting weather EVENTUALLY arrives this spring.