Thursday, March 7, 2024
Last Monday, the 4th, our friend Gene Williams who works for RK Transport Company delivered our new JD S780 combine. It had been sitting at Hutson, Inc. in Ireland, Indiana for several days, waiting on a dry day to bring it home. For this delivery, Gene drove it here so that he would not have to remove the duals. (RK Transport now requires the duals to be removed in order to haul a tractor or combine. Until recently, most farm equipment dealers had their own delivery trucks, but now most dealers in this area use RK. Gene used to operate Hutson’s truck, but now works for RK). It was a nice dry day Monday afternoon to allow Gene to get it here. It is always an exciting day when a new machine arrives!
Here comes Gene with the new machine.
Gene is very experienced and a cheerful fellow to be around.
Since this new combine’s delivery, we have been using every opportunity to read the Owner’s Manual (bigger than a Sears catalog) trying to get familiar with the new features. It will mostly operate like the 2019 model with which we are familiar, but with some new details. It is fun for me to get up-to-speed on a new machine.
Yes, it’s a thick and heavy book.
Getting familiar with the new S780
The green paint shines nicely on a new machine. We will work diligently to restore that shine to ‘like new’ after every harvest season. We want it to be “Andyclean“!
There are a couple features not yet installed on this new combine, and we must wait a few more weeks for what JD calls “performance upgrades” to get fabricated and delivered to the dealer. They will come here and install a special adjustable spout on the outer end of the unload auger, and also some electric clutches on the cross augers in the grain tank that will allow me to stop the augers in the tank to fully empty the long unloader arm. All those things come with accompanying software updates that will have to be loaded into the appropriate brain boxes on the combine. Also, since we have changed brands of combines, Hutson will also convert the attaching parts on our MacDon draper header from CIH to JD to make it compatible. When the wheat crop comes off in mid-to-late June (typically around Mom’s birthday– June 20 or so), we will be eager to put this machine into service alongside the other S780!
John is working today at Vincennes University, the site of our Knox County Ag Day celebration. He is on the county Farm Bureau board. School kids from the county will go there today for a farm animal petting zoo, and other farm-related activities. This evening, the county Farm Bureau will host a special pork-burger supper, sold for $1, representing the farmer’s share of the cost of the meal. There is usually a huge turnout for this meal, and it is a time for neighbors and friends to ‘catch up’ before the busy spring planting season.
Have a great day.
