Ingenuity

 Ingenuity, a must on a 2 man farm operation. When something breaks it must be fixed.  Buying new every time isn't necessarily the best or most cost effective.  When a machine is worn, special parts have to be made to compensate for the wear.  This was the case for my swather.  The auger in header which moves the hay from the 14' wide cut into an 8' windrow has worn fins.  The stripper bars which are supposed to be within 1/8" of the fins show a gap of 3/4".  Ultimately the auger needs to be replaced but that's a long process.  So for the short term fix I have decided to weld some metal to the stripper bars to close the gap back to 1/8". You could take it up to a manufacture hand have them make it, but it's quicker and cheaper to do yourself.  Sometimes my fixes don't work as I think the should, sometimes they work better than I ever expected.