More Stir-Ator repair

I got the Stir-Ator going again.  Now if I can just get the blog software to behave!  Remember the bent pulley mount?  Repaired it. Straightened the guide arm.  Put it together and it all worked.  But you see that little curly wire in the background of the photo of the pulley mount?  THAT was going to cause trouble.

The wire got loose enough it caught on the trolley as it moved and pulled in two. Since that fed the track motor the machine stopeed moving ... but continued to run. Long term we need to install an update kit.  But that will have to wait until the bin is full so we can stand on top of the corn and work. I got it fixed Sunday afternoon. But while doing that I spied this

The big pulley in the middle is going to need replaced. When you take off the nut holding it on everything falls off. It's going to be fun.
If you have a Stir-ator you don't need a hobby

Used to be we said we didn't need a hobby, we had a Do-All. During harvest I tend to feel that way about a Stir-Ator. We tried some corn at Mom's and it was too wet. So we put it in the bin to put a little heat on it. Well, the !@#$!! mice had gotten inside the dryer fan control and made a mess out of things. I rewired until I reached a point of needing parts I didn't have and called an electrician. What has that to do with this? While they were working on the fan we found the Stir-Ator wouldn't start. Finally figured out the problem was in the fuse box bolted to the bin roof. They suggested a solution to get by until the bin was full enough to stand on and work on things. The only risk was it bypassed a shut down feature on the Stir-Ator. But it ran. So when the wheel jumped off the track (sorry for the poor photos, all I had was my cell phone) the machine did not stop.

The result was some things got really tight. Like this guide arm that is supposed to be straight.

And this pulley bracket that is supposed to be square.

But it DID shut down ... when it pulled the electric wire in two. Of course that is all overhead as well. I'm not really sure where the break is, if it is in the troublesome fuse box or in the box on the Stir-Ator or in the wire between the two someplace.

And of course this is 18 ft off the floor in a bin with 2 ft of corn in it. Which means a 20 ft ladder just does reach. Well, it doesn't reach everything. But that also means fighting a 20 ft ladder inside a bin with 2 ft of now dry corn in it. Remember walking in dry corn? You sink almost up to your knees.

I got the mechanical repairs all finished and was getting ready to start on the electrical when Mom stuck her head in the door and asked if I wanted to go downtown and eat supper.

I have to finish the electrical part tomorrow.