Where is your combine? Tucked away in storage, out of sight, out of mind? Unless you already performed preseason maintenance and repairs, consider getting it ready for fall now.

Now … in winter? Yes, according to several service people, including Daniel Stansbury, general service manager for AgRevolution, an Agco dealership with multiple locations in southern Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. AgRevolution also deploys 38 mobile service vehicles.

Here’s an exclusive interview with Stansbury on off-season combine care:

I recently heard a farmer say he plants one field of corn early for harvest Sept. 15, partly to get “things that went bad over the winter” issues handled. How do you react to that? Farmers should not wait until a few weeks before harvest to find out what problems their machine has. You don’t want to start harvest in a panic.

Find those unexpected issues a year ahead by doing a post-harvest inspection. We offer the PM360 inspection program. That can save farmers a lot of headaches and frustration before harvest.

What are your top three tips for combine care before it is stored away for winter? Get your combine inspected by a dealer technician who will look at every component. A thorough inspection reviews all functions, checks all bearings for wear or failure, and runs the machine to check for vibrations or bearings that are running hotter than others.

Clean your combine, but not until after you’ve had it inspected. Use a blower to remove dry debris, but leave power washing for later. We love for machines to be dirty so we can see evidence of leaks and seeps. Once inspection is finished, wash the combine with a power washer.

Review your post-inspection repair estimate and schedule those repairs. Making all necessary repairs before the machine is put away means it’s ready for the next harvest.

Does it matter how much fuel is in the tank over winter? Store your machine with fuel tanks full to reduce condensation in the tank. Store DEF tanks low or close to empty. DEF has a shorter shelf life and can reduce in quality before next harvest.

Why make expected repairs now? There are significant benefits to making repairs now. You will have confidence your machine is ready when harvest rolls around. Plus, you can schedule repairs as you see fit instead of closer to harvest when technician scheduling may be more challenging. It can also save money since we can ship parts on stock orders and reduce freight cost. Plus, it avoids any issues with back-ordered parts not being available in time.

How do you determine how much life is left in key parts? Belts are gauged by visible cracks, hardness and whether they have burnt spots. With chains, we look for an hour-glass shape on chain rollers, side-to-side play and visible cracks in chain links.

We check bearings for endplay on shafts or any runout of a shaft. We run machines for 30 minutes and shoot all bearings with an infrared heat gun. If a bearing is running 50 degrees hotter than other bearings, we investigate to determine whether the bearings are on the verge of failure.

For augers, we look for fish-scale wear patterns, and we measure auger flighting thickness.