Brown: Self-propelled machines have dark side

The term “self-propelled” is pretty self-explanatory, and it sounds like a good thing.

It has a place. Certain equipment is just not disposed to being configured as a pull-type rig. Grain combine, cotton strippers, and even swathers have some justification.

link Audra Brown

Down on the Farm

But there is a dark side. The problem is that despite the ease of use when operational, a self-propelled piece of farm equipment is really two pieces of equipment fused into one big, double-the-trouble machine.

There is the machine, the moving parts and tricky ideas that are built to accomplish a specific task. Then there is the motivation and habitation, duties that would normally be the purview of the tractor.

Any specialized machine has plenty of breakdowns and things that can and will go wrong. Tractors are no different. But if they are separate, a broke-down tractor can be switched out, and a broken implement doesn’t mean a useless tractor.

Self-propelled means more to take care of.

The implement maintenance might not change much, because if you need a machine to do that job, you’ll have it in some form, self-propelled or not. But do you really need that extra engine? And more tires?

Engines are known to require certain, regularly scheduled maintenance. One is less likely to neglect caring for the car that drives you to town, the pickup that drives you to the tractor, or the tractor that you drive all the time.

Engines you only see once a year? They are easy to neglect. Batteries go dead, wires get mysteriously disconnected, fuel gets stale …

At least most of them have a regular schedule. Even if regular means once a year, at least the combine and the swather get

predictably repeated care.

Then there are the rigs that really shouldn’t be self-propelled. Like the old well-pulling rig, or the old flatbed bobtail, or the old winch truck …

There’s a theme here. A collection of oddly configured vehicles, no longer suitable for professional service in their assigned trade, are collected by the farmer to handle the odd jobs that require special specialization.

The old one-ton pickup chassis that propels the odd contraption is only worth the rig grafted behind. Its battery is always dead, its doors and windows might work, A/C is one thing it’s never heard of, and don’t mind the smoke billowing from the hood. If you can’t see flames through the holes by your feet, all is well.

Audra Brown didn’t have to put the engine out this week, but someone did. Contact her at: [email protected]