New job, tractors!

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

As mentioned in another topic I'm still alive and kicking. After being unemployed for a while I'm back to work now for about two months.

My previous occupation for nearly 12,5 years was at a industrial rental company (welders, generators, compressors, lighting etcetera) at several positions.

That came to and end so I had to go look for something else.

Long story short, I found a job at a agricultural mechanization firm. They were looking for a mechanic and we came to an agreement.

Besides being Claas dealer (tractors, combine harvesters, silage equipment) they also do maintenance on some others tractors and machinery.

 

Since I started working there I've done several jobs and learned a bunch. Good news is I actually enjoy what I'm doing again and have a lot less things and people riding my you-know-what.

 

Below some pictures of what I've been working on.

 

Brand new water tank. Needed some extra lights, snorkel on top, removed the pneumatic braking, switched around a few hydraulic functions and made a control box for the added functions.

 

Snorkel.

 

Simple control box.

 

Combination as used for dust control.

 

Brand new Claas Arion 630. Had to be stripped and painted (externally) in company colors. From the original green and red to black and blue.

 

Brand new Arion 630.

 

Taking fenders and hood off.

 

Bare tractor.

 

New color.

 

Later the rims were painted black

 

Added some valves and hoses for extra hydraulic couplings at the front of the tractor.

 

Also set up for dust control.

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by sjoemie himself

[953 nut 54,383]

13 minutes ago, sjoemie himself said:

Good news is I actually enjoy what I'm doing again and have a lot less things and people riding my you-know-what

                That can be as important as the money.         

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

Besides these jobs I have done a bunch of sevice work to several tractors. So all new oil, oilfilters (engine and transmission), new fuelfilters, airfilters, cab filters and so on.

 

250hp tractor on the engine (pto) dyno.

 

Clever tool to drain oil out of the planetary geared hubs without making a mess.

 

Finding and repairing a leaking tank. Had to drain half of it first unfortunately. 

 

 

Nearly new (50 hours) wheel loader needed full service and a few extra work lights.

 

 

So far it's been a pleasure to work there. Lots to learn and no day is the same. I'll keep you updated!

 

 Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark 

[Daddy Don 905]

Great work glad you are doing what you like to do. 

  

[Pullstart 62,193]

Mark, awesome score of a job you’ve got going there!  Congrats!  

[SylvanLakeWH 25,166]

[ebinmaine 66,582]

On 3/17/2023 at 7:47 PM, 953 nut said:

     That IS MORE important than the money.         

I've had jobs that paid well, and ... Were terrible. 

 

As long as you have enough moolah to pay the bills, the happy is absolutely paramount.  

 

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

So I thought i'd give a little update here. Still working with tractors and machinery. Below a few pictures of what I've been working on.

 

The owner of this narrow/vineyard tractor wants a front PTO installed.

 

Before:

 

Started tearing it down today. Radiator, oil-, diesel- and intercooler had to be removed aswell as the dieseltank.

 

 

 

These are the parts that will have to find it's way into the nose of the tractor.

The make of the PTO is Sauter which is a high quality German manufacturer. 

Below you see the wiring, hardware, mounting plate, driveshaft and coupling, PTO-gearbox and the front protective cover.

 

I hope I've got everything, except the dieseltank installed by monday.

I'll update when progress is made.

 

[OutdoorEnvy 1,510]

Lots of work for sure.  You must really know your stuff!  Hope it goes smooth for you

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

1 hour ago, OutdoorEnvy said:

Lots of work for sure.  You must really know your stuff!  Hope it goes smooth for you

 

Thank you! Actually I've only started working here about three months ago. That's all the experience I have with farm machinery really.

The fact that Sauter provides a good installation guide and I have very knowledgeable colleagues helps a bunch!

[Pullstart 62,193]

Wow!  It’s practically a truck, on a tractor!

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

9 hours ago, Pullstart said:

 It’s practically a truck, on a tractor

 

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. 

Do you mean the PTO setup?

[Pullstart 62,193]

1 hour ago, sjoemie himself said:

 

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. 

Do you mean the PTO setup?

The whole tractor without the body, looks like an auto engine compartment.  Lots of stuff going on under that hood!  

[Tractorhead 9,059]

It becomes heavy duty in size and weight.

 

Nearly all parts are that heavy like in Trucks, with the right Tools it might be easy going, but evil is allway’s in the Details.... trust me 😎

 

Keep going and have lot of Fun.

 

👍

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

Soo it's been a while since the last update so here's a few pictures for ya'..

 

First off a mini loader that needed a new headgasket. Making room to get at the head.

 

After tearing in to it and finding water in the exhaust manifold the decision was made to pull the head. This is not a good sign.

 

After removing and inspecting the head I found to small cracks in the head near one of the valves and one leading into the injection port.

 

After getting quotes for a new head and other necessary bits and bobs the customer decided to go for a completely new engine. Got that in today and hopefully going to put it into the loader tomorrow.

 

Cute little 16hp 3 cylinder turbah diesel. What's not to like!?

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

Together with a colleague I assembled this Claas Disco mower. Total width is 9m 20cm (about 30ft), requires about 250hp and costs around $80/90.000 (just the two rear ones!).

 

Unboxing extra large.

Note: the conveyor belts on the back can be lowered to make one large swath in the middle behind the tractor. Also when mowing next to a ditch the mowed grass can be directed away from said ditch. Makes it easier to collect the grass afterwards.

 

Our stand-in tractor was a little on the light side.

 

All polished up and ready to go to work.

 

This is the tractor the customer will use to mow grass with.

 

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

A relatively small job in between. This self feeding, self propelled feeding mixer needed two new hatches welded/installed.

 

The hatches came as a kit and had to be fitted and welded in place.

 

Strange looking vehicle. I assembled this hatch and my coworker did the other side.

 

Again, strange looking thing but we got her up and running again. Off to feed the cows. Another satisfied customer.

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

Last but not least, this tractor had gearbox issues. When in neutral it still moved forward when applying throttle. Diagnosis for tractors of that age/that many hours: broken springwasher inside the transmission.

These 'Gima' transmissions use hydraulics to power a clutch pack to engage a group & gearset and a set of spring-/thrustwashers to disengage it. When the spring breaks it doesn't disengage properly causing excessive wear on the clutch disks of the clutch packs. When that happens you can't select/engage gears anymore.

 

Long story short: the gearbox had to come apart. Making room for acessing the gearbox.

 

Tractor split in half with help of trolleys and jacks.

 

Gearbox emptied out and cleaned with pressure washer.

 

 

All parts spread out on the workbench.

Clutch disks can be seen in the center, clutch housing and shaft front left, hydraulic pistons top left. Gearbox inner casing and input shaft on the right.

 

Gearbox assembled and moved closer to it's destination and preparing to sandwich it between the rearend and the engine.

 

Note the Loctite gasket/sealer on the mating surface. That stuff is the bees knees! I can look up the specs if someone's interested.

 

Most of the plumbing back together. Quite a few hoses, lines and wires to reconnect. 

 

All back together and ready for a testdrive and calibration of the newly installed gearbox components.

[ebinmaine 66,582]

VERY cool !!! 

[c-series don 8,529]

It amazes me how you remember how all that stuff goes back together! I get scared just looking at the pictures!! 

[Pullstart 62,193]

Thanks for the update, Mark!  Awesome stuff!

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

5 hours ago, c-series don said:

remember

Well.. gotta be honest here, remembering is one thing but having detailed drawings is what's really helpful these cases.

Claas provide very detailed drawings and schematics of all the components and how they go together. Also, for the plumbing atleast, an assortment of different colored ty-wraps/zip ties really helps.

 

@all thanks for your input! I'll see if I can find some more pictures.

[Tractorhead 9,059]

It appears you have some Fun at Work.

 

Thats the importanst Thing after the salary.

 

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

Yeah it sure is fun, most of the time atleast 

 

Update on the mini wheel loader: she lives again!

Engine out by nine, engine in by one.

 

Out with the old..

 

Nice and shiny!

 

Everything back together

 

Ready to go again. Front tyres should be replaced if you asked me but customer wasn't interested in that for now.

 

Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark 

[sjoemie himself 3,049]

Tiny update from the workfloor. It's been two weeks since I'm back from my vacation.

Shot a nice picture in the shop this afternoon.

 

Two brand new tractors and a youngtimer.

 

Got a Fendt 309 Vario in the other day. Filter was changed not that long ago but this was what I found when I opened the filter cannister.

Yes those are leaves and even some small branches in there. 

 

Last but not least I did a modification on a rear axle. Due to a aftermarket GPS system the customer could'nt reach the factory grease zerk so I relocated it with a bit of hard-line. Now awaiting the @peter lena seal of approval