The upcoming harvest season is a race against time where every minute counts. Mechanical downtime isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a direct threat to your year’s profit. That’s why you need a thorough pre-harvest inspection, maintenance, and repair of all the related agricultural machinery.
This guide provides a straightforward pre-harvest checklist to help your machinery run smoothly and make the harvest effective and successful, enabling you to maximize uptime and secure the value of your hard work.
Your 6-Step Pre-Harvest Checklist
Thorough maintenance and the timely replacement of worn parts are key to unlocking your machine’s full potential. This detailed pre-harvest checklist will guide you through the essential inspection and repair procedures to ensure you’re ready for a worry-free harvest.
1. Start with a Deep Clean: You Can’t Fix What You Can’t See
Maintenance always begins with a thorough cleaning. A clean machine makes inspections easier, repairs more pleasant, and instantly reveals hidden issues like cracks, leaks, or wear. Use an air compressor and pressure washer to remove all caked-on grease, dust, and last season’s crop residue.
- Engine Bay and Radiator: Clear all debris from radiator fins to prevent overheating.
- Hydraulic Systems: Clean all hoses and connections to easily spot any “sweating” or leaks.
- Threshing System & Grain Tank: Empty these areas. Leftover grain can attract rodents and other pests that can chew through wiring and belts, causing serious damage.
- Stone Trap: A critical first step. Always check and empty the stone trap before you begin.
2. The Heart of the Machine: Engine, Fluids, and Drivetrain
Your engine and hydraulic systems are the lifeblood of your operation. This is the most important step for preventing catastrophic failure.
- Fluids & Filters: This is the cheapest insurance you can buy. Don’t cut corners. Replace the engine oil and hydraulic oil. Install new, high-quality filters, including the engine oil filter, fuel filter, primary and secondary air filters, and all hydraulic filters.
- Belts and Hoses: Meticulously inspect every belt for signs of cracking, glazing, or fraying. Check their tension and replace any that look questionable. Examine all hoses for soft spots, bulges, or abrasions that could lead to a blowout.
- Drivetrain: Inspect your drive shafts and clutches. They must be in excellent condition to transfer power smoothly and prevent the entire harvest from coming to a halt.
3. The Business End: Header and Feeding System
This is where your profit enters the machine. A poorly performing front end means grain is lost before you even have a chance to thresh it.
- Cutting Components: Sharp, undamaged cutting parts are non-negotiable. Inspect and replace any worn, bent, or broken sickle sections (knives) and guards. A clean, swift cut is critical for reducing shatter loss and ensuring smooth feeding, especially in light or tough crops.
- Feeder House: Check the tension of the feeder house chain and inspect the slats for wear. A loose chain or worn slats can cause slugging and blockages. Also, check your feeder latch to ensure a tight connection with the head, preventing crop loss gaps.
- Skid Shoes: Inspect your skid shoes for excessive wear. These are sacrificial parts designed to protect more expensive components on the header. Replacing them is cheap insurance.
4. Inside the Beast: Threshing & Separation
This is where the magic happens—and where worn parts can lead directly to grain loss out the back.
- Rasp Bars / Cylinder Bars: These bars do the heavy lifting. If the edges are rounded or worn smooth, threshing efficiency plummets. Pro Tip: If you can’t read the part number on the bolt head anymore, it’s a sure sign it’s time for a new rasp bar.
- Combine Concave: Your concave is indispensable. Inspect it for bent or broken wires and damaged bars. Consult your operator’s manual to ensure it is properly leveled and zeroed. An uneven concave leads to poor threshing and damaged grain.
- Accelerator Rolls: Don’t overlook these. If the grooves on the accelerator rolls are worn smooth, they can’t effectively propel the crop, leading to poor separation and higher grain loss.
5. Finishing the Job: Cleaning and Grain Handling
Once threshed, the grain must be cleaned and moved to the tank without damage or loss.
- Sieves and Cleaning System: Ensure your sieves (or chuffers) are clean and the bars are in good condition. Check the bearings and bushings on the entire shaking system for any play or wear.
- Elevators and Augers: Inspect your grain elevator chains and paddles for wear, and lubricate them properly. Critically, check your unloading auger flighting. If it has worn thin, it can slow down your discharge rate and damage grain, costing you time at every stop.
6. Final Checks: Safety and Operator Comfort
Long hours demand a safe and comfortable environment to keep you alert and productive.
- Brakes & Tires: Test your brakes thoroughly. A locked-up brake caliper can easily cause a fire. Check tire pressures and inspect for deep cuts or weather cracking.
- Lights and Signals: Harvest often runs into the night. Check every single light—headlights, work lights, hazard lights, and turn signals. Ensure all legally required signals for road travel are operational.
- Operator Cab: You’ll be living here. Replace the cabin air filter for clean air and confirm the air conditioning is blowing cold.
- Safety Equipment: Check your roll tarp for any holes or tears. Most importantly, ensure your firefighting unit or fire extinguisher is full, accessible, and in good working order.
Your Final Pre-Harvest Parts Checklist
The following guide highlights the most critical replacement parts for your core harvesting machinery. Use this checklist to inspect your fleet and order the necessary components before the work begins.
Harvester
Your combine works harder than any other machine during harvest. Ensuring its core systems are in top condition is essential for maximizing yield and minimizing grain loss.
- Filter Kit (Engine, Hydraulic, Fuel): The single most important preventative measure for protecting your engine and hydraulics in dusty conditions.
- Rasp Bars & Concaves: Replace worn bars and damaged concaves to ensure clean, efficient threshing and prevent grain damage.
- Sickle Sections (Knives) & Guards: A sharp, complete cutting system is non-negotiable for reducing shatter loss and improving feeding.
- Belts & Chains: Inspect all belts for cracks and check chains for proper tension to prevent a catastrophic in-field failure.
Tractor
From pulling grain carts to operating implements, your tractor is the backbone of the operation. Its reliability is non-negotiable.
- Filter Kit (Oil, Fuel, Air): Guarantees clean fluids and air for the engine during long, high-load hours.
- Radiator Hoses & Thermostat: Replace aging hoses and the thermostat to prevent sudden overheating, a common cause of downtime.
- Starter Motor & Alternator: Ensure reliable starting and sufficient power for all lights and electronics during late-night work.
- Fuel Pump & Injectors: Restore full power and improve fuel efficiency, especially when pulling heavy loads.
- AC Compressor: A functioning AC system is critical for operator comfort, safety, and alertness during long, hot days.
Wheel Loader
Your loader keeps the entire operation moving, handling grain, and clearing sites. Its power and speed are vital for efficiency.
- Filter Kit (Engine, Hydraulic, Fuel): The first line of defense for the engine and hydraulics in demanding, dusty environments.
- Starter Motor & Alternator: Essential for reliable starting between tasks and powering lights for night operations.
- Water Pump: A critical component to prevent engine overheating under constant, heavy use.
- Hydraulic Pump: Restores full lifting power and speed, crucial for fast cycle times.
- Cylinder Seal Kits: A low-cost, high-impact fix for weak or drifting hydraulics on the boom and bucket.
Need a Hand? Get Expert Help from FridayParts
Following this pre-harvest checklist can sometimes be hard and complicated. If you run into a problem you can’t solve, or if you’re unsure whether a part needs replacing, don’t guess; turn to FridayParts. Our expert team is here to assist whenever you need. From a single filter to a complete set of rasp bars, our team will help you find the right part as soon as possible, ensuring you experience a successful and uninterrupted harvest.
Contact us today or visit our website to browse our full catalog and get your machine field-ready!
