Little mice create big combine problems

This is the time of year when mice decide to find a warmer habitat for the winter. It’s amazing the places they can build a nest or leave their droppings. They sure are resourceful. We always worry that mice will move into the combines, haybine, trucks and tractors that aren’t used in the winter and chew the seats or the wiring.

This fall we removed our combine from the shed and noticed that the fuel gauge didn’t work accurately, so we added more fuel to get it to the dealer about 25 miles away for servicing. We had protected the cab from mice with Grandpa Gus’s Mouse Repellant (a product that smells better than moth balls) but they still chewed wires off behind the cab. The biannual inspection and repairs were completed and I drove the combine home.

With a six-row combine head, we have to be careful not to go on roads that have many guard rails because there just isn’t enough room. The state highway to Ontario is curvy but was recently widened and resurfaced. Almost 50% of the farms in this area are Amish, so there is a lot of buggy traffic. When I could pull over, I would let traffic pass. Otherwise, they’d be stuck behind me – there might be two to three miles of a double yellow line. But there are always impatient or stupid drivers. I once pulled over and let four cars and trucks pass. Being on a curve with a double yellow line, I started to proceed and a little car whipped in and out, followed by a semi truck. I think we should offer combine and tractor driving at our fairs to help educate people on the challenges of driving large machinery.

Still 15 miles from the farm, the fuel gauge in the combine went to zero about 3 miles before the village of Ontario. I wondered, do I proceed and hope the gauge is wrong or risk running out and having the machine die on a hill going over Wildcat Mountain? Probably not. So I stopped at a convenience store and decided to pump some diesel fuel into the tank. I felt a little strange maneuvering a combine into a pump bay, but running out of fuel wasn’t worth the risk. A combine without an engine is a cripple that can’t raise or lower the head, can’t steer, and won’t brake very well. Wildcat Mountain has beautiful scenery, but it’s not a place to rescue a combine.

The combine made it home safely and was parked in front of the fuel barrel, ready for another day of harvesting. Operating the combine is a refreshing job and I get the opportunity to see our yields right away. But first we needed to fill the fuel tank which holds about 150 gallons. I put the nozzle in a tank and walked around the machine. Then I heard Henry yell, “Grandpa! Fuel is leaking all over.”

We shut the fuel off, but it didn’t stop leaking immediately. The tank was only 60% full and still leaking, so we soaked up the fuel and decided to combine a closer field. I couldn’t think of why we would have a hole in a fuel tank that was perfectly fine last year. Then the chain that takes the corn up to the cylinder plugged because fuel had leaked onto the belt and it was slipping.

After an hour of unplugging the combine, we put it in the shop and tried to find the hole. Our combine fuel tank is under the grain bin and the hole was only visible in one little spot just behind the cab. After removing parts of the grain tank, the hole was still barely visible. Mice had chewed a hole 2-inches long and 1-inch wide in a spot fingers could hardly reach. What the heck do mice find appetizing about a plastic fuel tank?

Lots of ideas were presented by everyone in the shop because harvest time was here and there was no time to remove the grain bin and find a new fuel tank. Finally, a piece of steel screen was found and shaped to the hole, which was on a corner. The plastic was melted with a small heating tool to embed the screen into the plastic. We only had one inch of space to work on one side of the hole. After the plastic cooled, it was covered with a black window caulk which became pliable but not hard. The panels were pop riveted back into place and a small wheelbarrow inner tube was squeezed into the area and inflated with a little air. So far the repair has worked. Many thanks to Peter, Tony and Nate for their ingenuity.