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The first thing that we do, when it
comes to checking out the condition of a wheel line,
is to get out and walk it.
Not on a four wheeler, not in a pickup truck, but actually
to get out and walk along the line,
and look at the condition of everything.
One thing that we can look at, is the condition of the wheels.
If you have a place where the spokes have come loose,
and maybe a nut needs tightened.
In this case, where there's only one,
I don't think it's worth popping that thing off,
and the headache of reattaching it.
But if you have several of those on one wheel,
you know that you may be headed for trouble.
But wheels that are bent, wheels that
may collapse during the course of the season,
now is a great time to change those.
As you go along, and you're checking out the pipe,
watch for anything that may have happened over the winter.
It may be cracks, it may be bends,
maybe you had hunters out in your field
during the wintertime, and you'll
have bullet holes in your pipe.
But if you can spot those at this time,
it's a great opportunity to get the guy with the pipe press
out, he can get your pipe repaired,
and get them ready to go for the irrigation season.
Another thing that can happen, even when
a wheel line is staked down for the winter,
is sometimes the pipe can actually twist.
And it looks like it hasn't gone anywhere,
but sometimes the pipe will actually
be twisted like a Tootsie Roll.
And that can be difficult to see unless you're actually
out there looking at your pipe.
When you walk by the sprinklers, check your leveler,
see got what plays in it, check your sprinkler.
And then also think back to what kind of problems
you had last year with this wheel line.
It might be good, if it's been some time since you've
replaced sprinklers, to take it apart, and look
at the washers in the sprinklers.
And in the leveler, see if it is time to replace them all.
Just to save time later on when the sprinkler might blow out,
or a continual leak.
And also the bearings influence the uniformity.
You can also do a really quick check of the nozzle,
even without running water through it,
you can see if the hole has been distorted,
if it looks like maybe it's a little bit larger than it's
supposed to be.
And those are pretty inexpensive to go ahead and replace,
when you've got a moment to be able to do it.
I guess you can look at the drains
too, make sure that they're not missing.
These type of drains, you've got to take the pipe apart
to look at them, but know if it's time to replace them.
You want to replace them when you
have time, and scheduled time.
Not in the middle of irrigation.
And sometimes, over the course of the winter
a mushroom drain will just magically disappear,
and you'll just have a hole in the bottom of your pipe.
And those are pretty easy to catch if you just look at it.
And even sometimes, these couplers, some deer
or something come in and pop one loose.
Cattle, if you have cattle grazing out in the field.
Yeah.
A couple of things we would need to think about,
is make sure our valve openers are in good condition.
And primarily, that means the gaskets are in good condition.
So you check those, make sure they're flexible,
they haven't been damaged by rodents during the winter.
Make sure your clamps are good.
This is a gasket that is often neglected,
and it can leak, and be miserable to change,
and it's a loss of water, which is loss of production.
This is an example, here's a gasket that's older, brittle,
see how it just starts falling apart?
So they don't last forever.
And you need to check them.
Here's an example of one that the mice have chewed on,
so rodent damage is always an issue.
Whether you keep it in the shop, or out in the field,
rodents are there.
One other thing that doesn't need
to be replaced very often, but they do need to be replaced,
is the leveler.
So that these turn freely.
And there's a washer and an old ring there,
and they don't wear out quickly, but they do wear out.
So that's one thing to check.
And just think back to the year before,
did you see leaks in your leveler?
Here's an example of a sprinkler that
started out with three washers.
These are both rain birds, and now it's
ended up with one partial washer.
So you're right, you're right in there.
Yeah, right in there.
You see that?
And that impacts the rate of rotation.
And it also has leaks in it.
Here's a new sprinkler, you can see
there's three rings there of washers,
and it turns easily and smoothly.
And then that makes for a more efficient and uniform
irrigation.
Also, the nozzles here are new.
If we look at a nozzle the same size, from a worn sprinkler
it could be bigger.
And then this sprinkler is down to one washer
left on the bottom.
And my thought about sprinklers is, if you're walking the line
and you've had problems with a couple, I would check a couple,
and if it's been quite a few years,
and they all look worn about the same.
It might be time to change them all,
it'd be several hundred dollars, but it's better
to change them than lose a sprinkler
in the middle of the day, and have to shut down your line.
Find parts, find tools, and ruin a couple
of hours of productive day to replace one sprinkler.
So sprinkler maintenance is important,
as the same would be true with gaskets and drains.
And you can't look at those.
You don't know how they're operating
until you put water in them.
But if you've had problems, it might be time
to consider replacing them.
An important piece of equipment to look at is your hose.
This one's got some cracking in it, weathering.
Where it kinks over.
Knowing the age of it, and looking
at the weathering in it, you could decide whether or not
you want to replace this.
This would probably be good, because I've seen worse.
But same with a hose, you'd like to replace it before it fails.
And so you can just watch those, and replace it
when it's necessary.
The area of the wheel line that often causes problems
for growers is the mover.
And there are a number of things that we can look at the mover
to make sure that we have more of a problem free summer.
And Neal, what are some things that we can think about?
Well, it's a good time to start the motor, that
may mean putting new fuel in it, if you run it out,
or if you start it with fuel.
Store it with fuel that's good fuel, and maybe
a stabilizer in the fuel.
Definitely check the oil, probably holds around a quart
of oil.
So it's not a big job to change it.
These motors, as little as they run during the irrigation
season, should last 30 years.
I know some that are pushing 50 years.
And so it's just a matter of maintaining them.
Got a filter, you've got hydraulic oil to check,
these things don't necessarily need to be replaced annually.
In fact, they probably go quite a few years, but definitely
something to consider.
Make sure you've got the right amount of oil in there.
And the way you could tell that, is
if you start getting leaks in any
of your valving or your hoses, it's
a good time to check your oil.
Check it always, but there's a good chance
you might need to add oil at some point,
if you've got leaks.
What else have we got here?
You can do a quick check of the drive mechanism,
just make sure all the gears and sprockets are in place.
Check your chains.
The chains don't seem to wear out,
but they do tend to get brittle due to the hard water,
and the lack of lubrication.
And they eventually turn into some sort of a petrified chain
that will then snap.
And so there's ways to lubricate those.
And also, check the chute, some grease, and the grease zerks
that are here on the motors.
Up underneath the wheels, and usually
there's something here near the center as well.
On the wheels, the wheels of the mover
are really important to make sure that it moves straight.
It's important that the wheels are all the same size,
that they are the same shape.
And it'll help the wheel line to move straight
as it goes across the field.
But it's also important to pay attention
to these cleats that are on the wheels,
and make sure that they're all present at the mover.
Because if the mover is slipping as it's trying to move,
your wheel line is going to get out of alignment
really, really quick, and it's really quite a pain.
So just make sure that all those parts are there.
Just another thought, is if you've changed and messed
with your alignment, just sight down
and get them close to being aligned with these axles,
so they're perpendicular to the stinger in the middle.
And this is also a great time to check for mice, and for voles
that may have gotten up into your motors
and created nests, chewed on wires.
If you can see anything that is going to be an issue down
the road, now's a great time.
If it won't start, or if there's some sort of an issue,
to pop this off, and get it into the shop before you need it.
Yeah, it seems obvious, but you want
to make sure your cover has good attachment points, stays shut.
Small engines don't like to be irrigated,
so it's good to keep that to make sure that's in place.
A five gallon bucket may work, but it may blow off too, so.
So the final thing to mention is the wind braces.
And I think it's very important, even
if you're close to irrigating, but you're not
quite ready to turn water in, to go ahead and leave the wind
braces and the T posts intact.
Just because those fluke wind storms
can come along seemingly out of nowhere,
and you end up with your wheel line
over in the next farm or the next county.
So I recommend leaving those in place
just as long as you can, and right
before you're ready to move it, go ahead and displace those.
Make sure you get them all, you might forget one
and then you can twist a pipe.
And when you're ready to move it,
if you need to do some alignment,
that's the time to do the alignment too,
just before you irrigate.
So that's a few things to look for before you
have water in the ditch.
And you can check out your wheel line.
And I think the important thing to note
is that it's way better to be proactive than to be reactive,
and to be a little bit ahead of the curve
to replace and address things before the crunch is on,
in terms of needing to get water on a field.
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