It's what I do. (a morning at work with nevin)

Nevin · #1 10-31-2009, 02:45 PM

Well, I just thought some of you might find this interesting and I haven't posted anything on here in a while, so I took a bunch of pictures of what I did yesterday morning between 9:30 and 11:45 while at work. Yep, a hair over 2 hours, all compressed into one thread, for your viewing pleasure.

To start off, I'll tell you what I do. I work at Kalona Tire, in Kalona Iowa. I am the "service call" guy, so if you have a flat tractor tire or something like that, you call and I come fix it. It sounds crappy, but asmy boss and I always say, "if you think tires are hard, you're just doing them wrong." I also work on plenty of cars, semis, whatever, so don't just get the idea that I do only this. However, yesterday morning this IS what I did. I took all the pictures with my trusty Motorola 2mp camera-phone, and also I took like 30 some odd pictures, so I'll link some and post photos for the others.

A customer called and ordered a set of four 620/70R42 Michelin Mach X Bib tires for his John Deere 9760 combine. He was getting stuck too often in this years wet weather and decided he needed to make a change. I am positive he'll be happy with the results. Here's a shot of his combine before.

The tires currently on the combine are Firestone Radial All Traction 23* size 520/85R42. A very good tire, but just not enough grip/flotation for what he wanted. So nevin to the rescue with some new tires.

Old tires closeup.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...yatwork003.jpg

Here are the main tools I'll be using. 3 bars, some lube, a hydraulic bead-breaker, a jack, some planks, a hammer, and some other odds-n-ends.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...yatwork005.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...yatwork004.jpg

So, I start by jacking up the combine and changing the dual on the right side. Piece of cake, I let the air out of the tire and slap the bead breaker in there for some sweet tire-teardown action.

And it's kind of hard for me to take pictures of myself while taking the tires off, so you'll just have to believe that I did it, so that said... here's the first tire off, and a shot of the rim. Those bars you saw earlier? Yep, that's what I used. Take note of the deep dish on the rim, and maybe you'll understand why they're really not so bad. Basically I can let gravity do most of the hard work, I just get things loose and then pry them out of the way. Then when I go to put the tire back on, I just push it up over the rim and jack the combine back up and "pick up" the tire in the process. But again, here's the tire off, and a shot of the rim.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...yatwork008.jpg

And after a bit of "doing what I do," here's one tire mounted, and the original tire still on the "main rim" in a side-by-side comparison. Easy to see why he wanted to change, huh?

So, now I have one on... time to get that dual out of the way and get to work on the main.

Here's the dual taken off in the foreground, and the main further back in view.

Long story short... I changed that one too! Take THAT, combine. Here's two new tires, ready to go to work.

Ok, now that side's done so I put the dual back on using my 1" drive, Chicago Pneumatic impact gun. Works like a charm. p.s. that's what I took it off with, too.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...yatwork018.jpg

So really, not much else to report on, cause I did pretty much the same thing on the opposite side, so really no need to explain things there. So, I'll wrap up with a few shots of the finished product.

From the front of the combine.

Sideview.

And a picture of myself standing beside the mounted tires. I am 6'4" in my work shoes, and I'm a bit taller than they are, but you get the idea that they are very large...because they are. They measure 24" wide, and not quite 75" tall.

And here's a shot of the service truck I used, all loaded up with the old tires, and ready to go to the next job.

Not a bad morning, and honestly things went pretty easy there. When I first started, I would have never bet that a day would come when I'd say that this was an "easy" job, but about 1,000 tires later, things really aren't too bad. A little bit of experience goes a long way, and I am by no means an expert. But as the title says... it's what I do.

Hope you enjoyed.

Sean486 · #2 10-31-2009, 03:18 PM

Thanks, that was interesting.

SomethingElse · #3 10-31-2009, 04:03 PM

holy crap man those tires are gi-normous!

ever crawled in one than rolled yourself down a hill? it looks like it would be fun

Nevin · #4 10-31-2009, 04:48 PM

Yes, they're big.

No, haven't gotten in one. lol Seems like a pretty good way to get REALLY banged up to me, hahah.

LetItSnow · #5 10-31-2009, 04:52 PM

I've got to show this to my boss. He's a Deere fan, and owns some 3-5 tractors at any given time.

I just like the 12-pack of Dewskis in the front of the cab.

SVXRide · #6 10-31-2009, 04:57 PM

Nevin,
Thanks for sharing! What do you end up doing with the old tires? Has anyone local figured out a way to turn them in biofuel?
-Bill

Nevin · #7 10-31-2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Nevin,
Thanks for sharing! What do you end up doing with the old tires? Has anyone local figured out a way to turn them in biofuel?
-Bill

My pleasure Bill. The old tires he traded in, actually. They still have a lot of life left in them as they were only one season old, so they'll be re-sold to another customer. And when tires are shot, we recycle them. They are usually ground up and used as playground equipment sidewalks, parkbenches, etc... or sometimes the rubber is re-vulcanized and used again on another tire.

Letitsnow: Yeah, when you need to be in the field you need to be in the field. Nothing keeps you going at 2am like a 12pack of dew. hahah

Landshark · #8 10-31-2009, 10:49 PM

cool.

all i do in the morning is drink coffee and grumble. then i go to work in the afternoon.

blackbolt94red · #9 11-03-2009, 07:03 PM

Oh man, that was great. Note, people that he never once complained about the mud.

Nevin, I'll never look at my cart of books to be re-shelved the same way again. If it's as wet where you are as it has been here, you might be doing more of those tires.

Thanks for the inside peek.

Bruce
from the Madison Public Library, Madison, South Dakota

Nevin · #10 11-03-2009, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackbolt94red

Oh man, that was great. Note, people that he never once complained about the mud.

Nevin, I'll never look at my cart of books to be re-shelved the same way again. If it's as wet where you are as it has been here, you might be doing more of those tires.

Thanks for the inside peek.

Bruce
from the Madison Public Library, Madison, South Dakota

Thanks for your response, Bruce! Honestly, I do hate mud. It and getting wet while at work are two of my least favorite things. lol I wear gloves while I do stuff, and I still wipe tools off to keep my gloves from getting muddy. But when it comes down to it, the job HAS to be done, and I'm the guy that does it.

MadMaxSvx · #11 11-04-2009, 07:06 AM

Thanks for sharing!
That makes me see things in perspective, the next time i have a flat tire in my car will be a lot less painful.

Green1995SVX · #12 11-04-2009, 09:54 AM

I don't like getting up in the morning.

MiataMania · #13 11-04-2009, 08:49 PM

I was actually driving through Arkansas a few weeks ago and saw a lot of these combines...I was curious about the tires they ran. Kinda neat that they are still 'normal' tires.

blackbolt94red · #14 11-05-2009, 06:42 PM

Nevin, people who don't live in or near farm country are pretty much in the dark about all the activity around here (and there) this time of year. Whats the max moisture content of the corn the elevator is taking? Maybe its a little higher than usual because everyones is wetter than normal here? Are some guys drying their own? Will everyone get into their fields before the first big snow? Are the beans done down there in Iowa? How's the corn? Did you have a good pheasant season or is it still going on?*
I live a good mile and half from Madisons big elevator and I can hear the dryer going all night........the grain trains coming and going all night too.....100+ cars at a time......you can't go anywhere without passing multiple grain trucks........its part of the heartland of America and I love it here.

Harvest time is a LOT of work and guys like Nevin help make it happen. You can bet that machine was working almost before Nevin got off the property. Its a busy time of year.

?Miata-Mania?, Im guessing in NC, is it still tobacco? I grew up in parts of virginia and if it wasn't horses it was tobacco. What were they doing in Arkansas, wheat?

*best cat toy ever is an empty shotgun shell stuffed with fresh pheasant tail feathers!!!

Nevin · #15 11-05-2009, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackbolt94red

Nevin, people who don't live in or near farm country are pretty much in the dark about all the activity around here (and there) this time of year. Whats the max moisture content of the corn the elevator is taking? Maybe its a little higher than usual because everyones is wetter than normal here? Are some guys drying their own? Will everyone get into their fields before the first big snow? Are the beans done down there in Iowa? How's the corn? Did you have a good pheasant season or is it still going on?*
I live a good mile and half from Madisons big elevator and I can hear the dryer going all night........the grain trains coming and going all night too.....100+ cars at a time......you can't go anywhere without passing multiple grain trucks........its part of the heartland of America and I love it here.

Harvest time is a LOT of work and guys like Nevin help make it happen. You can bet that machine was working almost before Nevin got off the property. Its a busy time of year.

I'm not sure if there is a moisture-max at local elevators. I'd guess maybe 25%? However, guys really didn't get going HARD around here 'til monday/tuesday. Since they've started, the corn and beans have been good moisture-wise, but the ground is just still soft. Most reports of corn I've heard are 17-20% which is entirely reasonable. There are lots of beans getting out, and corn is getting started, but folks around here really need a good 2 weeks of weather like we've had lately, and things would get wrapped up pretty good I think.

Also, its a good year for yield, and alot of beans coming out around 70 bu./acre, and corn is pretty common around 175 bu./acre. I guess we'll just see what happens.