New WM V sweeper

Do you ever wonder where those tasty almonds in your candy bar come from.  I know, I was in the field when they were harvested.

First a machine grabs the trunk of the tree and shakes it causing all the almonds to fall to the ground.

Next a machine that sweeps them into a pile that can be picked up and loaded into a truck comes in.  That is my part.  I work for a dealer who sells and services sweepers.  It is a dirty dusty job, but some one's got to do it.  And I get to eat almonds all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vB8rsDn0MM

split melon

This morning I managed to split my head open while crawling under a tractor to check the wiring.  I didn't think it was much more than a bump on the head until driving away from the job site I felt blood running down my head.  I drove home and got doctored up and I went back to work.

Turned out to be a productive day after that.  I tore down a Massey Ferguson 1030 that had an engine miss fire.  Compression on number one cylinder was zero!  I thought my gauge was broken until I removed the cylinder head to find a broken connecting rod on number one piston.  The little three cylinder engine actually ran on two cylinders to get it into the shop. When I drained the oil from the crankcase, I could feel the rod cap laying in the pan with my finger.  I don't know how it didn't get caught by the rotating engine when driving it in.

There is coolant in the oil, and the crankshaft doesn't look too good. 

I don't know yet if I will be able to fix this tractor because of parts availability.  The last one I worked on I had to make some of my own parts and this one is in much worse shape.  Cross my fingers because this would be a good paying job.

monday, monday

Today I worked on the wiring on an old almond sweeper. It went pretty well, but what could go wrong?  Simple boring job really.  I would rather work on something more challenging, but this kind of job pays the bills.