Finally I can maybe dare to have another go at the blog, though I doubt my dignity will ever recover from the pic of me in the pushchair.
No1 son has finally been unleashed in the Fastrac, unfortunately for him with the very worst bit of kit we possess. The grass topper he was sent out with has been a heap of scrap since day one, its most infuriating habit is breaking shear bolts, several an hour. This has led to me vowing to replace it the moment it suffers some sort of terminal failure. It is torturing me by surviving despite all the odds, the gearboxes all leak and are now full of grease, the drive shafts are all twisted, the frame a mass of rust and weld, is made to cut rashes not grass and yet it survives. It will have to be used for yet another season.
N 1 son seems immune to breaking it or the Fastrac. All that has happened to him was a dodgy draft pin sensor which the dealer diagnosed after 15min and one phone call. I was left to do the repairs. It took a roll of insulation tape to cover the exposed wire and 5 min with the welder to repair the worn pin holder that caused the trouble. It is great having an enthusiastic and careful driver, he is much better than I was at his age, how do you think I learnt to weld and repair stuff but it has its downsides, it left me at a loose end so I had to start combine servicing. I don't mind oil changes, grease and header repairs but this time I had to tackle the straw chopper fixed blades. After turning the plastic coated adjuster for 5 min with nothing happening there was no other option but to crawl inside to see if the bolt was turning, combines are not renowned for ease of access and the Axial flow is no exception, after closing and covering the sieves I had to slide under the chopper housing, No3 son turned the adjuster and as expected nothing happened, I had got in OK but on the way out a bolt got my polo shirt then me. After repairs to my back I got the cordless and drilled through the adjuster handle and put in a roll pin. Blades went in easily after that. Next time the header.
My work on the combine has fascinated No5 she has a Ladybird (ladybug for US readers)wheely bug that is red and black. Dads combine has now been named dads ladybug.