Don Rudolph
Well-known Member
Chuck Machinist asked me to tell this story:
About 25 years ago, when I had a full time business and farmed nights, weekends and holidays, I was chopping corn after work on a field about 1/2 mile away from the silo. We were blowing with a DC3 and Gehl Super 99 blower. A lifelong friend of mine was unloading while I was chopping with the 1070 after work one clear, cold night in November. Now you need to understand that my good friend seems to have a black cloud that follows him wherever he goes. Also, the old DC had a leaky radiator. So, having a leaky radiator meant draining it every night and refilling it the next day with water, which was done. On this particular evening my friend said he had an early day coming up and could he leave early? Certainly can was my response. I'll bring the last load home and unload it, leave the DC running.
As I brought the last chopper box toward home, about a 1/4 of a mile away I could see something glowing cherry red in the dark night. When I got to the silo the head and top of the block was red hot, but the DC was running perfectly. I jumped off the unloading tractor and pulled out the mag switch. Nothing. The ol' DC just kept right on running. Then I pulled of all the spark plug wires. Nothing. Kept right on running. Finally, I shut off the gas at the sediment bowl, and after what seemed like forever, the DC shut down. Still glowing in the dark.
What had happened was my friend had only put the drain pipe in hand tight. In the morning I found it laying on the ground right under the radiator. It had stayed in long enough to unload about six loads of corn silage, but then must have vibrated loose and fell out, draining the water out of the radiator.
Bottom line = completely ruined engine on a foot clutch DC. Lesson learned.
About 25 years ago, when I had a full time business and farmed nights, weekends and holidays, I was chopping corn after work on a field about 1/2 mile away from the silo. We were blowing with a DC3 and Gehl Super 99 blower. A lifelong friend of mine was unloading while I was chopping with the 1070 after work one clear, cold night in November. Now you need to understand that my good friend seems to have a black cloud that follows him wherever he goes. Also, the old DC had a leaky radiator. So, having a leaky radiator meant draining it every night and refilling it the next day with water, which was done. On this particular evening my friend said he had an early day coming up and could he leave early? Certainly can was my response. I'll bring the last load home and unload it, leave the DC running.
As I brought the last chopper box toward home, about a 1/4 of a mile away I could see something glowing cherry red in the dark night. When I got to the silo the head and top of the block was red hot, but the DC was running perfectly. I jumped off the unloading tractor and pulled out the mag switch. Nothing. The ol' DC just kept right on running. Then I pulled of all the spark plug wires. Nothing. Kept right on running. Finally, I shut off the gas at the sediment bowl, and after what seemed like forever, the DC shut down. Still glowing in the dark.
What had happened was my friend had only put the drain pipe in hand tight. In the morning I found it laying on the ground right under the radiator. It had stayed in long enough to unload about six loads of corn silage, but then must have vibrated loose and fell out, draining the water out of the radiator.
Bottom line = completely ruined engine on a foot clutch DC. Lesson learned.
