Perhaps due to an unexpected surge of nostalgia triggered by mowing our daughter’s pasture two weeks ago, I bought an old hay rake. A couple of hours with a power sprayer the day I brought it home peeled off most of the algae and lichen that had been growing on it for a couple of decades. Now it has a more uniform coat of rust, kind of a cross between “old junkyard and your granddaddy’s farm” sort of patina. Classic elegance, you know.

While cultivating a closer relationship with the New Holland Model 56’s working parts, I gave one of the two drive wheels a good shake. It shook. That’s not good. Neither classic nor elegant. Too much slap or wobble or play or ever how you want to say it is often an indication of worn bearings. At least, that’s what my big brother tells me. And he’s pretty dang smart, so I listen.

Having watched a friend re-pack the wheel bearings on our horse trailer about a dozen years ago, I thought I could handle doing the same on one old hay rake wheel. No big deal. Thirty-minute job. Riiiigghhttt…

I’m no mechanic but I can tell you pretty confidently that metal parts that have lived together for many decades in the great outdoors develop very strong bonds with one another. Bonds that are not easily broken. In fact, the bonds are sometimes stronger than the parts themselves. The retaining pins, bearing retaining nut, U-joint, and axle all held to their places as if defending their native lands.

But, after a few hours of repeated applications of penetrating fluid, well-regulated assaults with two sizes of  hammers, judicious use of the proper punches, and a newly acquired ball joint separating tool, I managed to disconnect the requisite parts and pull the small axle out.

Sure enough, the cup bearings showed signs of excessive wear and wobble. But they are held inside the axle housing with parts gripped by even more corrosion bonds. Lacking the proper tools, the desired level of skill, and greater patience, I just sanded the respective parts to remove the rust and corrosion, rubbed on a fresh coat of bearing grease, and put everything back together. Happily, I discovered that I’d managed to nearly eliminate the wobble. Only took me five or six hours.

It was a lot of work that included significant frustration, but I managed to accomplish a significant level of improvement without breaking any of the basic parts.

It was not lost on me that there are elements of this world that can develop a corrosive hold on us: bad habits, vices, addiction to pleasures, preoccupation with short-sighted pursuits, self-destructive behaviors, toxic relationships, sins of various sorts. I think it’s pretty rare that we set out to get ourselves so wrapped up in things that are actually harmful. It just happens. Kind of like the way those once shiny and new parts eventually became bonded by rust and corrosion. Getting ourselves loose from those requires a combination of human determination and divine power.

It’s generally more effective to just avoid those things and never let the bonds build up like that. But, when circumstances demand, it turns out that the Great Physician is also a pretty good mechanic. A few shots of that Holy Spirit Penetrating Power can cut us loose from the deepest corrosions…. if we’re willing to let go.

H. Arnett

6/27/2023