This isn’t bragging, It’s more of a confessional, a clearing of my conscience, as I prepare for another harvest season. Forgive me, father, for I have sinned...
I used a hose clamp to hold a bearing inside its housing, after the lock collar came loose and wouldn’t “lock” the bearing to the shaft any more.
I used magnum-sized zip-ties to hold a hydraulic hose into the coupler on a tractor, when the tractor’s coupling mechanism didn’t quite have enough strength to stay coupled.
I put a 5/16-inch nut on an 8 mm bolt..
I duct taped a headlight into a bezel broken by a rogue tree branch.
I used a steel fence post borrowed from a fencerow as reinforcing to welding done to the frame of a field cultivator.
I Vise-Gripped a hydrostatic cable to the control lever on the side of the hydrostatic pump, so the combine would have “forward” and “reverse.”
I know I’ve done things with duct tape, baling wire and zip ties that would make Rube Goldberg envious, but... I can’t remember the details. Sometimes the human brain blocks out experiences that are embarrassing, humiliating, or prone to lawsuits.
Of course, all these “repairs” were okayed by customers desperate to finish a field before a storm, etc., with the customer’s full and often enthusiastic approval.
Sometime, if we want to get into some REALLY scary territory, I’ll discuss the patch jobs and innovative repairs I’ve foisted on my own vehicles and equipment...
