Tobias Lenska, a third-year apprentice in Agricultural and Construction Machinery, walks through a 4,500-hour inspection: draining oils, replacing filters, reinstalling bolts. He explains why his tractor and car licenses matter for test drives, and how the job demands technical skill and teamwork more than strength.
Chapters
You do so many different things throughout the day and then you have to ask what's the thing you do most? Ja, moin, ich bin Tobias Lenska. Morning, I am Tobias Lenska. I'm a third-year apprentice in Agricultural and Construction Machinery. I'm mainly in the workshop and one of my main tasks is carrying out inspections. All the oils, all the filters. It's now the major inspection, 4,500 hours down. And now we have drained the hydraulic oil. I've also just drained the engine oil. Next we'll unscrew the plug here, then the remaining oil which is still in here and in here, we'll drain it out so we're sure that all the oils are completely changed. Then we replace the hydraulic oil filter here as well and the transmission oil filter here. The hydraulic oil flows through there, just like with the other filter. Let's get out all the dirt sitting down there. Here's the new filter, we'll unpack it, then install this one. Then we can screw the plugs back in and top up with new oil. Well, I don't come from an agricultural background, I just did some as a part-time job. When I was at school, I worked on a farm and tinkered around a bit with the machines, made sure they were up and running, and that's where my fascination for agricultural machinery came from. And because I've always had a passion for machinery, I just knew that I I would pursue a career in agricultural machinery, so I can work on them all the time. I wouldn't say that you need a lot of strength for this job. You just have to know which tools to use. So I could loosen these bolts with a longer lever tool. I have a tractor driving license. I got that when I was 16 years old. I started here shortly afterwards. I didn't get the tractor license for the company, but for myself. Car driving license followed by a trailer driving license. It means you can do more here. After an inspection, you need to do a test drive on the road, and you need a tractor license for that. Working on the machines, of course. When a tricky job comes up, then I need to know how it works best or how I can get it working again in general.
Leon, can you hold this tyre a second?
I would say the biggest challenge in my job is— Ever done it before? I think we did that once. Always remember which bolt came from where and refitting them if in doubt. So you never end up with one bolt left over. Of course, having one less is always better than having one too many. To be good at my job, you need a very good technical understanding.
The good thing here is that you can't confuse the hydraulics line because one connection is smaller than the other.
Then craftsmanship should not be overlooked, of course. The relaxed approach with my colleagues and always having some fun and banter with them.
Leon, get your hand away! You're covered in oil! Leon! Leon's got a leak!
I'm happier as a team player. What's going to happen now? But I can get on with work on my own too. Teamwork is very important. That I am now allowed to work on a machine, it's just generally a lot of fun.
