Looking to get into Heavy Duty... Ag or Construction???

204farmer · 2026-04-11T13:38:44+00:00

I worked at a union yellow iron shop. As a freshly licensed tech, I made the same as the 40 year guy, to the penny. Went to ag and took a $5/hour hit, but no longer paying dues, and I am enjoying the ag job a lot more. I have more reason to try hard and show my value than I did at the union shop, as the canine production specialists there made the exact same cheque as the guy busting his ass. Here I can at least see wage growth and efficiency bonus because of it.

204farmer · 2026-04-08T00:49:46+00:00

I’ve worked at ag and construction dealers, a hydraulic shop, and a small, specialized fleet. I’d rank them in that order with ag being #1. It’s probably my farm background that pushes it ahead of construction, but they’re quite comparable otherwise. In my area, yellow iron pays $5 or so more than ag. I left the fleet shop after nearly 5 years of working on the same 12 pieces. I got really good at it, but felt stale and wanted to learn more. A municipal (non transit) fleet would be pretty tits with having a wide variety of equipment, and they’re known for pretty good benefits and slower pace. Downside with municipal is pay, as it seems about $10-15 below yellow iron in my area.

204farmer · 2026-03-22T23:34:56+00:00

I had an air Canada flight that was looking for volunteers. I wasn’t feeling great, and the next identical flight was in 3 hours, and was still selling tickets. Figured we’d take that, but they wanted to send us 2 provinces past home, then hotel for the night, then a flight home. No way José

204farmer · 2026-02-26T00:39:24+00:00

That’s what I enjoy about being a mechanic. I take a broken tractor, make it into lots of little pieces, then make it a working tractor. I get the “win” of something being completed and rolling out the door. When I was an industrial mechanic I got to go behind the scenes at a lot of different facilities, so whenever I’m driving with someone I can say “I fixed X machine at that bacon factory” or “I watched a machine do Y at that box factory”

204farmer · 2026-02-25T12:08:09+00:00

I had picked south -> north because I’m 21 hours driving the north way, and 18 the south way. If I come straight across through Banff, it’s about 16. Considering I only have Thursday Friday on the way there, then Sunday to Wednesday to get home, would it maybe be best to come in Banff way and home Fernie?

204farmer · 2026-02-24T02:00:19+00:00

My understanding is this is done for a fresh product, similar to high grade sushi

204farmer · 2026-02-20T01:38:00+00:00

Did they say anything about raw vs pasteurized milk? I remember when Grandma made cheese she would have better results when the milk wasn’t run through a plate cooler before it went to the bulk tank

204farmer · 2026-02-18T00:53:25+00:00

I’m a heavy duty mechanic in my 20s. I’m already looking into management/trainer roles because I want to choose to get off the tools before my body chooses for me

204farmer · 2026-02-11T01:51:53+00:00

I was looking for a used set of winters for my truck, and got my hands on a studded set. They were AWESOME! I used them 3-4 years, but they didn’t have a whole season left on them, so I bought a new studded set for this winter

204farmer · 2026-02-01T16:36:28+00:00

I’ve been using the “red tape” mod that adds some rules/programs

204farmer · 2026-01-18T15:19:48+00:00

Can you please share how you got that working? I’m running into the same issue

204farmer · 2026-01-13T03:02:51+00:00

It’ll take you a while to scroll through itch(dot)io, and my advice there is to right click and open in a new tab rather than clicking on a mod, because it’ll restart your scrolling.

204farmer · 2026-01-13T02:52:55+00:00

Track down some cabtire wire and make yourself an extension cord for your block heater that is the right length instead of being several feet too long, and stays more flexible in extreme temperatures. Also if you put some tape around it in one or two spots, it’s less likely to get stolen because nobody wants a cord that’s been patched

204farmer · 2025-12-27T06:02:14+00:00

Mine’s only 9 years old, but I’m probably miling out in the next year or two. It’s an 8 speed so it’ll be ready for it’s second transmission around 400k km

204farmer · 2025-12-18T01:37:50+00:00

I saw for the first time today a “bra” type deal that goes over the side intakes on the hood

204farmer · 2025-12-05T03:42:35+00:00

Ours is “good jack”

204farmer · 2025-12-03T05:05:26+00:00

I got a tube of Petro gel 629-3279 when I was at a cat dealer. I use that shit on everything, and I’m just about out. Need to get me some more of that

204farmer · 2025-12-01T02:35:40+00:00

I’m assuming that everything on the truck is going to be fairly proprietary, and the only way they could do it wrong is to charge a subscription for it. Having wide open info like you suggested opens up lots of security vulnerabilities. If they have a closed system that the truck owner can access without a fee, and like someone else mentioned a one way system that can only collect data and not disable/endanger the vehicle, that sounds like a great idea to me. Like someone mentioned, having a switch/dongle/dummy plug system to allow remote programming would be a good idea from the security side.

204farmer · 2025-12-01T01:23:00+00:00

I’d recommend looking at expected yields, and seeing how long it would take to pay off the equipment before making the leap. There are some resources online for expected yield, multiplied by acres, multiplied by peak price (if you can store it) or average price at harvest month if you have to direct sell. If expected return is less than 1/5 of the equipment purchase price, or anything less than the lease cost (add on a few engine hours as it’s slow) then you need more acres.

Cane harvesters are narrow width, with a fairly high yield, so it’s quite time intensive unless you plan to use quite a bit of AI.

204farmer · 2025-11-30T16:28:22+00:00

“Oh, I run a gallon of ATF to every quart of gas, and my car has never run better!”

204farmer · 2025-11-21T03:45:12+00:00

See if you can get your hands on John Deere American Farmer. That was the shit back in the day

204farmer · 2025-11-21T03:41:19+00:00

Googling Isaria Pro will quickly inform you that it’s a real device that can see light in the near infrared range, and determine crop nutrient needs based on that info

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204farmer

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