Random reminder

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 21

Random reminder

EACH TO HIS OWN

With our own abysmal ignorance of all things mechanical being exposed all too regularly, we have every sympathy with the plight of a North Canterbury farmer who discovered that the hydraulics system on his tractor was not functioning as well as expected. It was a day of scorching heat, when nearly all the rest of us were lolling about the beaches, or in shady hammocks sipping long cold drinks. But the farmer had a job to do. He took off the top of the back end of the tractor and quickly fixed the trouble. But being of a cautious nature, he had put a rag into the work to stop any bits and pieces falling into the bowels of the machinery. He took the rag out to make re-assembly easier, but his hands had become

greasy at the task, and a moment after the rag had been removed a ballbearing slipped from his grasp and disappeared into the cheerless cavity. The kiwi farmer ingenuity argued the use of a magnet, and he thrust about this way and that, trying to get the ballbearing back. The move failed. So off came the entire back end of the tractor. with the help of a neighbouring farm labourer, and the ball-bearing was retrieved. Everything was assembled again, but when tests were made, it was clear the hydraulics were not now faulty. They would not work at all. The team then discovered that the ball-bearing had not been replaced. More replacement work. But at the next test, the hydraulics again failed completely.

Back to square one. Ths back end was again dismantled and the ballbearing replaced in what seemed to be the correct way; they were guessing a bit, for it had been so long since they had started that some lapse of memory could be understood. Once more the whole thing was re-assembled. The assistant pushed the starting button, the tractor started up. Then there was a sharp explosion as large lumps of metal were ripped from the hydraulic casing. Play ended for the day at that stage — a day described by the assistant as one which started with a problem and ended in a disaster. Fanners ... they can have their rolling, verdant acres. And their problems.

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