Farmers often spend days cleaning combines, grain carts, wagons and trucks before they’re put in storage. This year’s favorable weather conditions have many farmers on the downhill side of harvest, so here are some storage prep considerations:
Depending on location, some bulk fuel distributors don’t switch from summer grade diesel fuel to winter grade diesel fuel until late October. Combines that get parked with tanks full of summer grade fuel benefit from having winter fuel treatment added to their tanks to ensure the machines will start if they need to be moved during the winter.
Rock traps, lower clean grain elevator sumps and unloading auger sumps are frequently overlooked when combines are cleaned. If a combine spent time parked outside during harvest rain delays, or was pressure-washed after harvest, those low points will have enough moisture in them to create rotten, foul-smelling muck by spring if they aren’t emptied before storage.
If combines are pressure-washed, avoid directing the high-pressure jet of water at electrical connectors, fuse boxes and computer panels. Some operators use pressure washers only on the outer sheet metal, and clean inner areas with compressed air to avoid water damage to electrical components.
Carefully use compressed air to clean inside or around electrical components. Fine, talcum-like dust often seeps into fuse boxes and operator-accessible computer panels. That dust attracts moisture during storage that can corrode sensitive contacts and circuitry.
If electrical systems misbehave or are erratic after pressure-washing a combine, open all operator-accessible electronic panels and boxes and let them air dry for a day or more. If moisture from washing can get into those components, air drying will usually solve the problem. Factory-sealed “wedge boxes” and electronic components should be opened only by trained personnel.
Some modern combines have onboard refrigerators, or battery-powered portable coolers, that aren’t powered when the ignition is off. It’s amazing what sandwiches left in an unpowered cooler become after several months in a dark corner of a shed.
Modern combines and tractors have GPS and other computerized systems that draw milliamps of power even when the ignition switch is off. Many now come from the factory with battery disconnect switches to prevent those systems from draining batteries during storage. If older combines have had GPS and other sophisticated systems added, installing a $100 to $150 battery disconnect switch can prevent dead, possibly damaged batteries when it’s time for the machine to come out of storage. The same applies to older tractors with aftermarket GPS systems.
