How to get the olive harvester ready before the harvest

An olive harvester spends eleven months standing still and three weeks under strain. Almost every call we get in October is about tools that went out without a check: a rod snapped the year before, a corroded connector, a loose screw that has widened its hole.

It is ten minutes of work. Do it now, not on the morning you have to be in the field.

1. The carbon rods

Look at the comb against the light, rod by rod. You are looking for two things: the broken ones, which you see straight away, and the cracked ones, which show as a white line near the base. A cracked rod snaps on the first thick branch, and it almost always does it halfway through the day, far from the vehicle.

The rods are a spare part: you change them one at a time, without taking the head apart. Keep two or three spares in the box, because during the season you really do need them.

2. The rod holders

These are the two pieces the rods slot into, and they wear where the rod beats. If the hole has gone oval, the rod moves about: it works badly and breaks sooner. They are replaced in pairs, and it is worth doing when you change more than two rods at once.

3. The fixings

At 1,400 beats per minute screws work loose; that is normal. Before you start, go over all the ones you can see: head, cover, pole mount. Tighten them firmly but without forcing: these are seats in engineering plastic, and a screw pulled too hard widens the hole and stops holding.

4. The telescopic pole

Pull the pole out through its full travel, from 240 to 350 cm, and bring it back in. It has to run clean. If it grates, it is almost always dry soil from last year: clean it with a rag, never with abrasive paper. Check the lock: it has to hold when the comb pulls, because that is where it slips out and comes down on you.

A drop of lubricant on the sliding points is enough. The oil and grease kit is the same one you use for shears and chain pruners, nothing else is needed.

5. The cable and the inverter

This applies to anyone working with cable power. Unroll all 15 metres and look at the two connectors: green corrosion on the contacts is the number one cause of power loss, and it comes off with a dry rag. Then check the sheath along its whole length, especially near the connectors, where the cable bends every time.

Test the inverter with the car running before you go out: if the car battery is into its second winter, that is what will leave you stranded, not the harvester.

6. The battery backpack

Anyone with the backpack version has a different check: charge it fully, then leave it overnight and look at the level again. If it has dropped on its own, the battery has lost capacity, and you find out now rather than halfway through the second day of harvesting. Adjust the straps while it is empty: with five kilos on your shoulders for eight hours, where the weight sits matters more than it seems.

The final check

Put everything together, connect it and run the comb for thirty seconds with no load. Listen: a steady hum is fine, an irregular beat or a new vibration is not. If something is not right, write to us before you go out: in the middle of the harvest the workshop is full, while a tool that arrives now comes back much faster.

In short

• Rods: look for the cracked ones, not just the broken ones.
• Holders: if the hole has gone oval, change them in pairs.
• Screws: all of them, firm but without forcing.
• Pole: full travel, cleaning, a lock that holds.
• Cable: corrosion on the contacts and the sheath near the connectors.
• Backpack: charge, one night's rest, check the level again.