Taking on another frontline combine despite its age now 30 years old, you have to go through a long process of servicing and checking just about everything that moves! And there is plenty of that on these machines, once you are satisfied and confident your combine is harvest ready? You have the option of either putting it aside and waiting for the crops? Or you if you are like me you can then concentrate on getting your machine in the tidiest of order by sharpening up the paintwork! And fixing any cosmetically damaged or worn items!

This combine has chaff spreaders fitted on rear which is a good idea to spread the chaff over a wider area of ground rather than just a swath width! But over time the the plastic curtain which shrouds the bottom rear of the straw Walker hood takes a battering and splits.

I managed to get some secondhand fabric from a breakers to repair our combine and stitch it in, it wasn't expensive but improves the look of the combine .

In this area of south west England we don't use a straw chopper as the straw is a valuable comiditity with the various stock farms around, so I painted the chopper to improve the rear appearance of combine! Some people would remove it! But I think it adds a little weight to rear which helps plus it also adds a little protection to rear of hood.

Mid June now and after satisfying myself the combine is in working order I start on the tired looking paintwork ! Using a mild cutting compound and a electric dual action polisher! Doing an area at a time! It's time consuming but satisfying to see instant results as you go! Even the most tired of paintwork reacts to this process.

Once the paintwork is cut it's time for two coats of polish and a final coat of wax, a long process but this ensures the combine is easy to clean during and after harvest plus protects from further damage from the hot sun.

The cab interior was pretty good apart from the trim on the back panel had started to crack and flake off, which after 30 years is common for the foam to deteriorate ! a job for the future!

Apart from installing a new ignition switch in the control panel and fitting a rear view camera screen and wiring apart from a good clean it was in very good order.

All of the lights were working but the right hand side indicator gave us some head scratching to fix! But eventually it was diagnosed and repaired !

By the middle of July the combine was just about ready with harvest fast approaching as we experienced very hot weather and drought conditions which would probably bring our harvest forward a couple of weeks!