Breakdowns on the ranch are just a part of life. Late in the irritation, I mean irrigation season, most of the time you are just trying to get by until you shut the pump off for the year. This was the case yesterday for me. I’m watering a crop of triticale and keeping it going until the freeze comes and puts it in dormancy. When I went to check on the pivot yesterday, I found that it had shut down and wasn’t doing me much good. Thinking that the last quarter of a tank of high dollar diesel I have been stretching for the last month had finally ran dry, I did not expect to see the driveline from the power unit to the wellhead in two separate pieces. The universal joint had decided to leave the chat, taking with it the flange yoke and the slip yoke on the driveline. I opened my trusty toolbox and got to work. I’ve had to replace these u-joints before, and unlike working on your car or pickup, this one is about two feet off the ground and easily accessible from all sides. The four bolts that I needed to loosen to remove the broken flange yoke came out without fanfare and with a little help from my favorite persuasion device the slip yoke slid off the end of the driveline.
I was beginning to think that I had hit the lottery with my good luck getting these parts off the machine that had been there since it was installed some 25 years ago. I started feeling a little cocky with myself thinking that a quick phone call to the parts store would solve my problem and I would be back in business before the end of the day. You want to make God laugh? Just tell him your plans. Apparently the good lord wanted me to visit with a lot of folks on the phone yesterday because I played a good long game of parts hide and seek.
My first call was to our local store that usually has almost everything that I need. When I gave the part numbers to the guy on the phone the silence was deafening. That was my first inclination that we might have a problem. After striking out there, I called up to a couple places in Scottbluff where our hired man was headed to take a sick side by side to the buggy doctor. After three different attempts at three different businesses, I struck out. No store in that town had the parts on hand. It was going to be a week before they could be delivered to their store and that meant a 200 mile round trip just for 3 simple little parts.
I then called a local equipment dealer who directed me to the local welding shop. The welding shop thought they had the correct parts on hand, but upon further review they realized they too would have to order in the pieces. I told them I was going to make a few more phone calls and see if I could track the parts down, if not, I would bring the broken pieces to them and see if they could order what we needed. My final two phone calls proved to be fruitful. A phone call to the auto parts store in Ogallala provided me with updated part numbers. I’m sure they had to blow the dust off the cover of that old parts manual and oil the binding before they could open the book, but at least we finally were able to track down the numbers needed. When I asked them if they could get all the parts, they told me it would be a while before they could gather them from the far reaches of the nation. I decided to take the updated part numbers and make one more phone call. A small bearing and gear supply store in Ogallala took the numbers, called his supplier and told me they would have my parts in about two days. Best news I had heard all day.
It’s truly amazing to me how the same part can have 500 different part numbers and take all day and multiple phone calls to track down. I was very thankful for the small town service provided by everyone I talked too, and their willingness to help track down the parts I needed. In the end, it was the work of two businesses that helped get the parts I needed in a timely manner. That’s all for this time, hope your mechanical adventures don’t take you on a global scavenger hunt! Keep tabs on your side of the barbed wire and God bless!