First day of cutting hay

slowzuki · Jul 12, 2004

I cut about 150 bales or so yesterday to test out the mower, of course we had thundershowers and a down pour later in the afternoon!

Still waiting on a tire / rim for the kuhn tedder, dealer seems to be having trouble finding one.

The conditioning reel on the NH 489 has lost some rubber so the hay gets badly wrapped there but other than that it worked well. Didn't hit any rocks despite being the first time I've mowed these fields.

Got to look into get a drum mower or small disc, worrying about busting the borrowed haybine makes me drive too slow!

Robert_in_NY · Jul 12, 2004

The 489 I use has the same problem with the rubber missing in the center of the top roller. I found that when you first start to see the hay wrap just push in the clutch and back up a few feet and she will clear herself out. Only had a problem with it in very tall, thick hay. The lighter hay fed thru without problem. Still isn't as fast as a disc mower though but it gets the job done till I can afford the disc mower I want.

slowzuki · Jul 12, 2004

I ended up just letting it partly clog and it seemed to stay at a certain level of clogged.

The other problem is the valve in the tractor leaks down so every 30 seconds I had to raise the mower or it would eat dirt. Mildly annoying, I should put a second line on the cylinder to make it double acting so I could put a pilot check on it.

Ken

Woodbeef · Jul 13, 2004

Try adjusting the skid shoes on the cutter head. This should cure the problem.

Robert_in_NY · Jul 13, 2004

As woodbeef said, you are out of adjustment. I left mine down all the way and only had to raise it at one section of the field where there is a slight ridge. She didn't dig into any dirt unless I happened to not spot a woodchuck den in time. As for the clog, mine would start at the middle and spread till it wrapped the entire roller and when she got tight you had to shut her down and cut off the hay (nice 10 minute job that gets real old) so now I just keep an eye on the roller and if she starts to wrap I am putting her in reverse. I think I will give my dealer a call and see what new rollers will cost today. Have fun.

slowzuki · Jul 13, 2004

I'll try adjusting the skid shoes, thanks! Let me know what you find out about the rollers, I'm curious too.

Still no tire for the tedder so I had to rake with the catch arm left off. Ended up more like rolling the windrow than tedding. If the rain stays away I'm gonna bale tonight. There is 4 days of rain forecast after this so I'm pretty sure the baler will break tonight /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

At least I didn't cut the other 2500 bales. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

PS I saw the neighbour who I thought had the PTO shaft and tire for the tedder and see he has the exact same model tedder...... I'm thinking one of his employees borrowed the parts and didn't tell him.

Robert_in_NY · Jul 13, 2004

The top roller with new bearings and such will run around $800- $850 (I can get it a little cheaper but this is the list price) I didn't price the bottom roller but would imagine it is around the same price as I don't think there is much difference if any between the two. So I don't think I will bother to replace mine anytime soon as the machine isn't worth much more then that on trade.

HayDR · Jul 13, 2004

You might want to check with Red Rock Rubber and see if they refinish those rollers.

slowzuki · Jul 14, 2004

The tire didn't come for the tedder so I rolled the windrows with the rake. The core just couldn't get opened up though.

My gf and my sister figured they'd get some practice with old time methods and grabbed some forks. In an hour they had about 1/2 acre spread.

I drug an old broken basket type tedder out of the bushes and took it back to the garage.

Used the highlift jack to round up the baskets a bit, welded a few arms back on, replaced some missing pins, haywired a tensioner onto the belts, banged a driveshaft off the broken bushhog and attached it, all in about 45 mins.

Headed out and it actually worked. It was missing the tires but it did the whole field with only a bit of scalping.

If we get some wind today I may be able to bale, I don't mind losing the bales but I need sumpthin to test the baler on!

slowzuki · Jul 15, 2004

Well, ran the baler last night on some less than perfectly dry hay, summary, 16 bales, one broken shear pin, one flat tire, discovery of bad flywheel bearing and wallowed out key way and shear pin mount.

The bad bearing and wallowed out keyway let the shear pin break way too easy. The bales were coming out tight and even despite my messy windrows.

The slop in all the parts in there let the shear pin "smear" rather than just break.