A Problematic Start To Corn Harvest... (Ep. 44)

WE FINALLY PICKED SOME CORN....THEN IMMEDAITELY HAD A MASSIVE BREAKDOWN ON THE s670. The crew takes advantage of the rainfall overnight to pick some corn on a farm up north of town. The first few minutes of corn #harvest were nothing short of unproductive. Both combines and corn heads started shooting error codes left and right. After picking a little bit, the s670 tore its cleaning shoe auger drive belt, which was more complicated to fix than Andy projected initially. It doesn't help that the maintenance process sometimes involves breaking things even further. By the time they recruit the help of a mechanic, the last of the soybeans reach harvestability, so they begin the final push across the soybean acres. They hope to finish up by this weekend. Thanks for watching!
Andy is a 6th generation farmer from Central Illinois. On this farm, Andy works alongside his father, Marty, his uncles, Chris and Jeff, and his sister, Katie, to grow corn and soybeans on some of the finest dirt in the world. Andy and his family are deeply rooted in the area, operating a large farm that traces it origins back into the 1800s. Although some tracts did not stand the test of time, Andy and his family still grow corn and soybeans on fields that have been in the family for longer than even the oldest members of the farm have been alive. We do, we have, and we always will take tremendous pride in calling this piece of paradise our home. Andy was a Bronze Tablet graduate of the University of Illinois in the field of Crop Sciences, following the same path as his father and late grandfather.
It would be misleading for Andy to claim that this life is one that came by chance; rather, as a member of two multi-generational farm families, it was simply in his blood. His passion for agriculture traces back to his early youth--some of his fondest, earliest memories being of days spent riding in the combine with his father and grandfather. Although his understanding of the lifestyle was much less complex in the beginning, the love he has for farming, and its industry has only appreciated through time. As this dream blossomed into adulthood, Andy now works relentlessly, and tirelessly, to chase his own dreams and to build a farming operation of his own alongside his family.
We, as a whole operation, are handymen, electricians, mechanics, landscapers, accountants, economists, caretakers, stewards, and, most importantly, farmers, and we take an incredible amount of pride in our work. There is no challenge too overwhelming, no situation too stressful, and no problem too difficult for us to take on, and we want to take you along with us. Welcome to our farm and welcome to our lives. You have the best seat in the house to watch the everyday chaos of farming unfold--we usually only get concerned when things aren't going wrong!
Follow Andy on Social Media for Live Updates:
Twitter: / atrippyfarmer
Facebook: / adolefarms
Instagram: / atrippyfarmer
Twitch: / atrippyfarmer

[@allanhyde4207]

So much information I have to watch your videos twice. Even after long days of harvest, I still enjoy watching more Harvesting before Hitting the sack... Crazy🥴

[@aTrippyFarmer]

It is neat to see how others do things! Thanks for watching.

[@panchiscopaz]

Next time you need to replace that belt, take the out the electric motor by removing the 3 bolts with a 10mm wrench. Then you can move the big screw by hand and open the pulley on top. Then install the new belt and when you are ready to install the variable speed fan belt, your top pulley should be wide open so you can fit the belt over the lower puller. After you have it in, screw the big bolt by hand until the belt on top pulley touches and it becomes hard. Install the motor back, run the system on low idle and start to increase the fan speed from the cab. Give it a couple seconds to it to tension the belt. Go inspect everything is ok and go back, give it full throttle and adjust your fan speed to 1250 rpm. Hope it helps next time you need to change that belt.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Thanks for the tip. The only part that really messed us up was the motor. We should’ve done as you said, then we could’ve reseated the fan belt easier. Hopefully I won’t have to do it again for another few years, but I will keep this comment in mind. I appreciate you watching!

[@redclover51]

It is quite an experience navigating with speed limit traffic. Be confident , be safe.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Often, other people pose more of a threat to you than you do to them. Things can go wrong very quickly, so you’ve always gotta be paying attention. Thanks for watching!

[@deepwoodguy2]

You have a really, really great sense of humor, makes your videos REALLY great to watch, and learn. thanks....👍👍👍

[@aTrippyFarmer]

I appreciate the compliment. Thanks for tuning in!

[@jackmullin160]

Big shop vac

[@henrylopez5252]

A line from season 2 of Cobra Kai: "Snitches get. . . . Immunity!" Lol

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Depends on who you snitch on!

[@AureFreePress]

Have a great Saturday Andy 😊

[@henrylopez5252]

I remember in the spring, you had just over 1k subs. Someone commented about Millennial Farmer and you responded, "who's that?" The other day, I saw u interacting with him on "stories" Thanks for feeding the world!

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Thanks for being here for so long. I really do appreciate it. I’m happy to feed the world, but farming is also a job-the income does matter to us as well.

[@Marshall_Weber]

Awesome Video!!

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Thanks for watching, Marshall.

[@AureFreePress]

Hiii... Thank you for the great video.. Enjoyed it ♥️♥️♥️

[@aTrippyFarmer]

I appreciate you watching!

[@AureFreePress]

@@aTrippyFarmer Hi Andy.. I grew up on a farm before moving.. I miss the farming life so thank you for helping me fill that void ❤️❤️❤️ Have a great Sunday!

[@davidraaf3865]

My uncle would say,"the rain didn't settle the dust"!

[@aTrippyFarmer]

There is still a lot of dust that needs settling.

[@remigagne450]

To clean the clogged rotor, how about a shop vac? That's what I'd have done.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Some others suggested that. The rotor wasn't clogged, per say, but it was completely packed full of corn from that shaker belt breaking while harvesting. We didn't want to burn off more belts trying to run it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@davidfrandson4996]

One way to get away from the auger bed would be to consider a different brand of combine.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

My wallet hurts just thinking about that...

[@CJ-jb2rs]

hey big fan of your vids, keep it up!

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Thanks!

[@NotFastYet]

Hey man I love the videos I been trying to make a few myself but we are super busy here in North East Arkansas we have rice corn and peanut harvesting going on. Anyway awesome videos

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Thanks for the kind words. I encourage everyone to make some videos if they want to spend the time. We all are unique in our own way, and people love to experience other facets of life. I appreciate you tuning in, and I hope to see some videos!

[@robertjohnston3900]

On a harvesting crew Bane would be the grain cart guy.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

As a grain cart driver, I feel as though the combine drivers share similar personalities with bane. Very irrational and difficult... haha. Thanks for watching!

[@moneyandtimefreedom3352]

Can you explain the oil wells on your property in a video?

[@aTrippyFarmer]

If they were ours, I would. Other than the fact that the sit on our farm, we do not own the mineral rights on that farm, and the wells have been there for longer than we’ve owned it. Thanks for watching!

[@zeusmacafee5097]

You really had to make fun of lexion. Class builds a machine that could whoop Deere or case and you know it😂

[@aTrippyFarmer]

It was all in good fun. The big Lexions can really eat through crops. I’d love to try one, but there aren’t many around!

[@2009deerejohn]

I always love ribbing other brands of equipment like when you were giving the Claas fans some grief, that was good stuff:) I know most of my career in excavation I’ve run EOTJD, or “equipment other than John Deere” and have a particularly deep seated loathing of Cat stuff but I will admit it’s pretty neat that you can go to the Cat dealer and they have the random obscure part you need for 30yo machine on the shelf some how and that’s pretty cool(Napa could take some lessons) but that’s not nearly as neat of a trick as what the John Deere dealer can do, see you go there to pick up a parts order, enough stuff to comfortably fill a milk crate we’ll say, and you look at the invoice, scan through it, past the $20 bolt, $20. One. Bolt. And you get to the total and your like wow, I have $3200 with of parts in a milk a milk crate, in like a dozen small boxes and a bunch of plastic bags. Now if Caterpillar could perform that kind of magic then they would really have something;-)

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Every company has its strengths and weaknesses. I am glad that people can find success with different equipment/methods. Deere probably isn’t the top-dog in excavation if I had to guess! Thanks for watching.

[@2009deerejohn]

aTrippyFarmer As an operator I think Deere dozers and excavators are hard to beat, Volvo makes the beat wheel loader and it’s hard to beat Case for a backhoe although Cat makes a strong contender. I can’t say if it would be better to own Deere over anything else and as my late Gramps always said: It’s all junk when it’s broke down;)

[@richardlug6139]

A shop vac would have cleaned the corn off that shoe a lot quicker.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

I thought it would be a lot of corn for a vac. If it happens again, I will try that. Thanks for watching!

[@richardhaughey532]

That brown belt is Kevlar a lot better than the black belt. There also a green belt that is better than the black belt.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Well now I wish we had the green belt. Thanks for the information!

[@donaldbrown5931]

Have you guys thought about a air system on your bean headers?

[@aTrippyFarmer]

I hadn’t even seen an air system until I got on KZbin. I could see the value in them, but there aren’t many in central IL.

[@donaldbrown5931]

aTrippyFarmer ok thanks have a great day!!👍🏽

[@danielsfarms6547]

shop vac the corn out and don't unplug the motor plug, just unbolt the green arm and take the two green arms halfs off the nut. (just did ours 2 days ago). at 8:58-you said 40 bushel now I know how your corn and beans have such good yields. just joking have fun

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Darn. I wish you were there when we did that so we wouldn’t have broken the motor. Yield monitors aren’t the most trustworthy. Thanks for watching!

[@mikeyoung8126]

I love your videos I love farming just wish I could afford to have a farm myself so where are you in Illinois I am close to Alton

[@aTrippyFarmer]

I am very fortunate to be a member of a multi-generational farming family. It isn’t impossible to start one from scratch, if you save your money and build the right relationships. It may not be the exact same as ours, but you can piece one together over time. Maybe you could start by finding a local farmer to work with, possibly trading labor for equipment usage? I appreciate you tuning in, and I hope that you can farm someday, too!

[@mikeyoung8126]

aTrippyFarmer Thank you for the advice I used to farm on my grandpa’s farm before he passed away then my grandma sold it and I was not happy about that

[@wayneburnett8532]

Lol!! (Sorry dad peed on ur truck 😅)

[@aTrippyFarmer]

We will call it a ‘pre-wash.’

[@stevespiering5366]

Should have taken the arm off the bottom of the cleaning fan adjust arm

[@aTrippyFarmer]

In hindsight, that was the correct way to go, but we didn’t know. Thanks for the tip and for tuning in!

[@rileymousseau4272]

Shopvac?

[@wilsonandrade6246]

✌️✌️✌️

[@itzgwnthomas807]

The reason that the belt is brown is that they have Carbon in it, if i' m correct!.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

I figured there was a legitimate reason for the difference. Thanks for sharing!

[@tricogustrico]

You have mountains so how can there be Mt lions. but then you may have cougars.

[@aTrippyFarmer]

Okay okay. A big cat. Cougar, maybe?

[@echutch]

Batman Begins maybe?

[@aTrippyFarmer]

One of the best movie series of all time!

[@massimopecile9666]

5:45 not really, soyabeen dust destroy bearings and grind a lot more than corn, i have a case hi who have 5000 hours only in corn and its new, a 4000 hours nh who run half in soyabean and its a lot more consumed, maybe rocks in the header come in (small ones, like 1,2 cm large) dirt, just its worst for the machine

[@aTrippyFarmer]

I don’t disagree, but I have seen it much differently on our farm. A majority of our combine-based breakdowns are in corn. The weight and volume of corn is much harder than that of soybeans. It very well may be different for you and other people, though. Thanks for watching!

[@massimopecile9666]

@@aTrippyFarmer maybe the sieves and elevator have much more consume, but in corn i dont have to tight elevators chains or feader chains to because of less dust, everyone has is own church i guess

[@locos759]

Shop vac