2012 And Beyond

Yeah, I have been gone…away…missing…..is anybody reading the blog anymore?  If you are you must be desperate for reading material!…

Well a lot has happened since the last post…two more job changes, one relocation, an addition to the family…The rebuilds are one down and the other almost done. The IH 37 Disc…well there is always hope I can get it done this winter…

But some good news…I am hopeful to have a bona fide all-crop harvester discussion board set up in the next month or so. So that means this blog will be replaced by the forum…We have relocated back near the farmstead so I am no longer a “exiled hobby farmer”.  The parts business is being restocked at the farmstead which will be of great benefit.  Also planning on  a LOT of new parts on the shelf…so things are looking up; this will probably be the last post here.  Look for a link to the new discussion forum at www.allcropharvester.com soon….

 

Grain Drying for the Rest of Us

Hello everyone!  Yep its been a few months since my last meaningful post. So I guess I better make this a good one! (dont hold your breath).

I have been spending most of my free time working on the first rebuild. It is a “pay as you go” R&D project more than anything, so it wont be lighting fast. I have two other rebuild projects lined up, and will start working on them in earnest once winter breaks its icy grip.

In my Don Quiote-like quest to get into small scale grain production, one issue I have been studying is grain drying.  For the amount of acreage I would be doing the smallest grain bin at around 3000 bushels is way too large.  I am not the only person with this issue. If you look hard enough on the internets (they have them on computers now! – apologies to Homer Simpson)  you can find folks who have put together homemade small scale solutions. Here is one  and another.  Although not designed explicity for drying. some folks have had success drying a gravity wagon of grain with grain aerators (not fast enough for me).

Being the kind of guy who doesnt have the time for engineering, I have been searching for a “turnkey” solution. I did finally find something, first brought to my attention by Glenn Roberts at Anson Mills in SC: A peanut wagon. These wagons are a box on a trailer with a perforated false floor.  A drying fan is attached when full and the peanut are dried in situ. This appox 300 bushel unit would be perfect for me.  All I need to do is sell a bunch more parts ;)   Any thoughts?

Rebuild Page

Now have a webpage that tells about the rebuilds I am embarking on.  Includes some pictures. Enjoy.

All-Crop in the news

A customer of mine, Ryan Renko of Edwardsville IL, shared with me a recent outing with his All-Crop 72.  There to report was a local newspaper.

According to  Ryan, Mr Libbra who ran the the rest of the acreage with his Case-IH 2388 , examined the performance of the 72 in the beans and declared it was doing a better job of thrashing and cleaning than his machine.  Just more ancedotal evidence I have come across that supports the idea that these machines can still be a valuable tool for the small-scale farmer.

On the rebuild front, not a whole lot more to show. The machine is completly torn down, and I am going to drop off some of the larger parts to a sandblaster this weekend for a quote.  We have rebuilt the cowling over the concave:

We are now rebuilding the concave itself. Hope to have a pic up soon…

Summer 2010 Wrap Up…

Yep its been a long time since I posted, is anyone still reading this? LOL!  Summer is the busiest time hence not much doing here.

Well, I got my meager 2.75 acres of wheat taken off in July. I used an All-Crop 72 that I had fixed up for a customer. Since the customer wasnt ready to  pick up, he gave me permission to “test drive”.  I had put in a rebuilt cylinder, new belts, new sickle bar, new concave bars and rubber and a host of other “odds and ends” that added up quick. Cleaning the machine was the worst part. The last owner pushed thru a bunch of oiled/tarred straw thru the machine to preserve it. Then let the straw sit in there… for God knows how many years…what a mess.  Since the wheat I was going to harvest was food grade  I had to get ALL this crap out.  Thought I did. On the first go around in the field wheat was being sprinkled ground pepper-like  with the oil rotted crap. By chance I found the responsible hidden glob behind the wind valve…The fan was blowing it on the wheat. So out came the power washer again.  Another issue was I couldnt run the combine with the finishing screen (more on that later), and so I hand shoveled the dirty grain from the gravity wagon into my 66 which I used as a winnower.  Worked great…after learning the best way is to keep the the RPMs as low as possible.

On the shoe hanger is a couple holes used to mount the finishing screen to.  One was worn thru, the other was wearing open. When all done field testing the combine (sans finishing screen), I had to deal with this issue.   Keep in mind all this work is being done on a weekend trip to the farm 4.5 hours from home, and I had to knock this out that weekend.  It could have been patched by welding but I didnt know anyone who could do it on the drop of a dime.  And I have no welding skills. So the only thing I could do is replace it.   Boy what a job in a pole shed over 100F!  (rain was threatning).

Well, glad thats done!

On the business end, I finally put the order for 250 grain elevator cups. These are spitting copies of the original. If you want some best put in your reservations.  Not sure when I will make more. At least 60 are already reserved. To get them with the link riveted it will probably be around $15 each.  Cup alone $9.00.

We are also starting our first All-Crop “rebuild”  But it would be more accurate to call it a “remanufacture” . Turns out I cant leave any bolt untouched, so this will be far more than an “overhaul”.. will post pictures as we progress…right now we have the 60A  almost down to frame.

Stay tuned…

Disc Axle Brackets

The brackets that hold the wheel axle to the disc frame were in disrepair. Each of four bracket sets have a upper and lower section that lets the axles swivel as the disc was raised and lowered. The existing brackets on the disc are not listed in the parts catalog I have, but are listed as valid parts for the disc at the dealers; go figure.  Here is the upper bracket of one I removed; (the lower bracket had gone missing):

In my search to replace the above “old” bracket (“Old” in the sense it was an old piece of iron on my machine–it may well be a “upgrade” from the original) I found availability scarce and expensive. So I went back to the part numbers used per my parts catalog and obtained those parts to replace all four bracket sets:

Will get these on the disc over the Easter break!

Is it live or is it Memorex?

In this case its LIVE! Finally got the gang mounts fabricated. Pictured is the last know NOS and one of its clones.  Next up get the Timken bearings  I want to put on them.

AGCO dumps Orange and another year closes

Many of you probably have heard of AGCO’s decision to disown its Allis-Chalmers roots by dropping the AGCO (Allis Gleaner Co)brand and the persian orange.  Well, this post sums up my thoughts on that decision:

http://thegatheringoftheorange.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-tune.html#comments

As the year comes to an end, and the recession not withstanding, Yaz-AllCrop once again has done better thsi year than  the year prior. We added a lot of new parts this year, and we hope to make some new exciting announcements for next year. But I won’t count those chickens until they hatch.  One thing I can let you all know is that we have started on a major website overhaul so watch out for that.

Thanks  for all the support and encouragement in what has turned out to be a “interesting” year both personally and professionally….Here’s to 2010!  

Tom

All-Crop 72 Part Manual Download Now Available

Unlike most politicians, I try to keep my “campaign promises”.  I said last year I wanted to get the All-Crop 72 parts manual scanned and available for download, and I finally got it done. Acquiring a scan-worthy original helps…Click here to get to the download page.

Resurrection of the small farmer?

The emergence of the organic farming and “local food” movements has helped to actually increase the number of small farms.  Some of these farms need harvesting equipment, but alas as the equipment manufacturers followed the “get big or get out” siren song, they abandoned the small scale harvesting business.  Its not that there was no demand for pull-type pickers and combine, just not enough to sustain their business model.   Todays small scale farmer who needs harvesting work is left with scavenging older small scale machines with limited parts availability (with a few notable exceptions wink*wink) , purchasing older larger equipment, or hiring out the work to custom operators.  All of these options have their pluses and minus’s but I do wonder how sustainable they are in the long term.  Ever so slowly there  are less and less small workable machines to choose from with even fewer parts availability. “Overkill” notwithstanding, the older, large self propelled machines can be money pits assuming the parts can be found and don’t cost  your firstborn.  These self propelled machines also have a LOT more to maintain than a pull-type. Think engines/clutches, etc. Getting a custom operator to do your 15 acres is nothing to be counted on ad infinitum. 

With that in mind I have been toying with the idea of rebuilding All-Crop harvesters, the model 72’s in particular.  I would think it would be more cost effective to build all new sheet metal and angle iron for the frame and seperator instead of tearing one down, blasting and putting back together. Salvaged would be the castings, grain tank, gear boxes; basically those parts that would be expensive to reproduce. I would think the rebuilt machine could go for $6-10K.  Question is, would there be any takers? I have heard “your crazy”, and perhaps I am.   But as time marches on the alternatives look less and less appealing for the small farmer when it comes to harvesting.  But heck, maybe I’m just fishing for an excuse to do one..What do you think?

On a happy note I have finally landed a job in town after 5 months of searching. Good to be back in the saddle again.