First day of cutting hay

[slowzuki]

Well we had some fun last night, anyone have any tips for preventing the conditioning rollers from plugging when the rubber has come off them?

 

[slowzuki]

You knew it was clogging as soon as the hay started spitting over the top. This is a NH 489 haybine. I got home to find the other users of it broke the cutter bar at the ball joint. We found a junk bar with a good ball joint on the end so I only had to pull it out a couple of feet to replace it.

Notice I have the unit picked up as high as it will go to try and clear the plug out the back. My hand is pretty bruised from yanking the lock pin in and out and hitting the lift cylinder!

 

[cowboydoc]

Two words, disc mower. Seriously sorry to see that. I can relate to it. Before the disc mower conditioners came out I spent many a day digging out plugs. No way I would ever have another sickle bar mower.

 

[kensfarm]

The bottom roller looks good.. how much rubber is missing on the top roller.. all of it? My neighbor has JD disc mower/conditioner w/ the same problem.. rubber on top roller on one side missing.. that's where it starts to clog. Besides replacing it.. I'm not sure what fix could hold up to the constant spinning crushing motion. I know the rollers have to be lined up correctly so that the top & bottom rollers grooves match w/in each other.

I thought of maybe using some type of soft foam rubber.. 2 inches thick.. then wrapping ducktape around it.. it wouldn't crush the grass much.. but maybe it would help shoot the grass out better w/out it wrapping around the roller. I've seen the replacement roller cost.. lot's of $.

How did you guys untangle.. a knife and cut the grass horizontal down the roller?

 

[slowzuki]

I had a bit of heat stroke maybe or I was just too hot but I set the lock, and sat in the shade in the discharge with my pocket knife cutting and pulling. The top lump of grass gets a reverse roll to it and get caught in the frame. Did use the claws of a hammer too to pull on it.

On the top roller I just cut it down to the steel every time. I sure wish whoever borrowed the box cutter out of the tool box brings it back! That was much faster!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

You need to start watching the rollers more closely. Our top rollers are in the same condition on the same exact machines and I watch backwards almost as much as I do forwards. If the roller starts to wrap I just stop and back up one foot and it will clear itself out. If you don't catch it in time then you have what your pictures show. Also, I have found that if it is too wet then you will have a lot of these problems. I just got in from cutting 12 acres and did not have any problems other then a plug getting caught between the bottom roller and the axel shaft when I backed into a swath. Of course the weather has been better lately and the grass is drying well. I started around 1 pm and it was smooth sailing till I quit about 30 minutes ago. Around 8 pm the dew started setting in and the grass wanted to start to cling so I shut down for the night. Good luck and remember to smile as you sit in the shade cleaning that plug out (I have done it a few times this year already /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif)

 

[slowzuki]

Robert,

I'm travelling in the lowest gear, watching the entire time. We cut it completely free several times and within 10 feet it had wrapped again. I tried backing up but the conditioning rollers grab hay from the windrow behind and plug it worse! Best I can do it raise it and run it for 2 or 3 minutes, it will clear the side with the rubber still on.

We are getting a neighbour with a 13 ft disc bine to knock it all down, we'll have to do something about the haybine later.

Brought in 300+ bales last night after taking a bunch of the knotter apart to see why it was catching to pull the needles out of the chamber. The plunger stop wouldn't disengage.

Reset the knotter and the needles and it all seemed to work.

Another 300 bales tonight for fun, I hope we get the mower straightened out!

BTW, How do you know when you're going to fast for the baler? The windrows in lowest gear are filling the full width of the pickup and lifting those tines that guide it into the forks until they hit the top of the chamber there.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I don't know? With my 575 I can feed the hay as fast as I want double windrows or single and it won't cause any problems as the feeder tines keep up fine. My only indication that I am feeding too fast for my "tractor" is that the bales are not getting cut clean (you see a lot of loose hay hanging out the sides of the bales). The TN can handle the baler but not any faster then 3rd gear low in the 8x8 tranny. (don't remember the mph off hand) double windrows I drop down a gear unless it was a light field.

 

[Whiskey]

Slowzuki:

First I don't know anything about haying, now that being understood and what I'm about to say will put the machine out of work for a bit.....but, can you pull the "roller" or "rollers" and paint them with something like the bedliner stuff???

ok I'll be quiet now

 

[dixiedrifter]

I just got done cutting about 12 acres of hay with my MF sickle mower.

I had the sucker tuned up to heck and back and was cutting in 5th gear.

The added spacers in the final drive pulley let me run my tractor about 1800 RPM.

Wadding was not too much of a problem, only when I hit a fire ant hill and got dirt on the blade.

Backing up was usually all it took to clear off the hay and I could start back up again.

I am really looking forward to the day I get a disc mower, but I think I can make this one last 2-3 more years.

Long as I don't bust a knife lever (discontinued by MF) I should be ok on repairs.