rankrank1
Platinum Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2007
- Messages
- 749
- Location
- SW OH - near Dayton, OH
- Tractor
- 1978 Kubota L285, 1951 Farmall h, 1946 Farmall m, 1950 John Deere A, 1953 Ford NAA Golden Jubilee, 195? Ford 850, 1948 Case DC, 1948 Case SC
If you have a JD 5425 by all means use that instead. Based on hp requirements alone your 970 might pull a small mower conditioner but it will be a miserable experience compared to the bigger utility tractor. Granted a 477 NH isn't quite as big, but I tried to just move our 1219 Deere mower-condtioner out of the shed with my Ford NAA and it bent the drawbar it had so much tongue weight. To further the problem to actually mow with one you need to use either an equal angle hitch (JD) or have the drawbar pulled all the way out to proper PTO length specs (NH). I think between the tongue weight, overall weight, and marginal hp available it'd be a good way to tear up a nice compact tractor. You'll get a lot more hay mowed per hour with the 5425.
Nice catch on the JD5425 in OP signature that would easily be the best one to use.
Sorry to here about the drawbar on your NAA. I do know that I did some beefing up on my ole 1951 Farmall h before I hitched it to my Hesston 1120 mower conditioner (my Hesston is even heavier than the NH or JD sickle cutting crimpers from that era). My farmall hitch was well worn and needed some repairs anyway, but I had already seen how much the 1950 JD model A drawbar which is heavey duty drawbar and in otherwise good shape flexed so I was well prepared with my repair and beefing up mods on the Farmall h. I also have an old Jubilee (same as NAA) that needs lots of major work. I now know that I will need to beef that up as well if I ever decide to try it. I was surprised though at how well my ole well worn out Farmall h at 26 PTO hp handled the mower conditioner. Actually, the main thing stopping me from trying it on my little Kubota is the cheasey lightweight drawbar system on it and I have simply been too busy/lazy to improve it. If I had a 7' instead of a 9' then I probably would have already tried it.
For the record the drawbar on the tractor needs to be set so the end of the tractor PTO shaft is 14" to the center of the drawbar hitch pin. This is per SAE standards to prevent PTO joints from binding when turning.