haybines

[Duffster]

Unless you got our old one. Wore out rollers with rubber coming off made you curse every second. I'm glad I got a discbine with a flail!

That won't be any better when it is not maintained and wore out.

 

[dan_d]

Basically what you need for a sickle bar to operate well, regardless if it's in a mo-co or standard mower is as follows:
....
-make sure the sickle has the right register

"register"?

 

[ham]

Well I am retiring from the New Holland haybine world. Seems like I just can't get through a full season without a major breakdown. The engineers were lacking I think in allowing you to easily repair them and I looked at a brand new 488 the other day and other than the main PTO drive line the difficult spots to fix...are still difficult.

If you have nice soft grass. Smooth ground. No badgers or groundsquirrels and you are a bit of a mechanic the go with the hay bine, otherwise the discbines are the wave of the future...now...if I can just find a real fine small discbine worth the money.

Note to all cynical answers. I went slow. I greased. I set it correctly. I had the dealership do repairs as well as myself. They are like helicopters...made to shake themselves apart from the day they leave the factory.

 

[slowzuki]

Maybe but I don't have those darned 3000$ of rubber rolls that come off the steel every 10 years. As soon as a small patch goes they are garbage in the long grass hay we have here. I've spent more time under a 489 cutting hay out of the rollers than I've spent mowing with one I think. All the time prepping spare sickle bars to slide in when the teeth get damaged etc.

No sir, I spent lots of time maintaining the 489, she just isn't meant for our rough fields. The disc mower conditioner was a high hour, high acreage unit but she works like a top.

That won't be any better when it is not maintained and wore out.

 

[Verticaltrx]

"register"?

Register is the relation of the end of the sickle stroke to where the guards are. In general the sickle should move from center of one guard to the center of the next. If it doesn't then the register is off, it is adjustable on some mowers. On others if it is off it means something is bent or worn.

 

[dan_d]

Makes sense... thanks!

As for the rest of the adjustments, once it's all said and done how much clearance should i expect to see between the knife and the bottom of the guard slot? I assume not very much, but i was looking at a my bar yesterday and noticed that in some cases the knives are sitting pretty much in the middle of the guard slot and i'm guessing that's not a good thing...??


Dan

 

[204saskman]

We have been using a discbine this year and have been using haybines for the past to many years. There is nothing like this machine and i would never go back to a haybine. We have cut 750 acres of hay this year and the only thing we have replaced is the knives and it has been awsome. We cut anywere from 4-12 mph depending on the field(rocky and full of mole hills). Try one once and youll never look at a haybine again. Ours is a new holland 1431 discbine.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Makes sense... thanks!

As for the rest of the adjustments, once it's all said and done how much clearance should i expect to see between the knife and the bottom of the guard slot? I assume not very much, but i was looking at a my bar yesterday and noticed that in some cases the knives are sitting pretty much in the middle of the guard slot and i'm guessing that's not a good thing...??


Dan

The knife should physically be touching the bottom of the guard/ledger plate. If it's in the middle of the slot it is too high and won't cut well at all (also a major cause of plugging.)

 

[5030]

My only comments are as follows....

Despite the comments that will come, I prefer my sickle bar MoCo over the discbine, especially in twisted first cut hay that occurs here almost every year.

I also prefer SCH Double Cut bars and guards, no hold downs, just a guard, knife section back bar and ledger and with the SCH, the ledger is a ball bearing affair. No sliding wear.

Most all combines run SCH as standard equipment. Combining is always dry stalk cutting, maximum wear and maximum feed, whereas hay cutting is higher moisture. If the SCH is up to dry stalk cutting under maximum feed conditions, it's good enough to handle any hay situation.

One thing that destroys guards in rough fields is the angle of attack that the guard is in. I tend to run my guards in a flat or slightly downward position. I don't believe I've bent a guard in the last 3 years and I do lots of contract fields..... of course I watch where I'm mowing too plus I'll walk a field I'm not familiar with prior to cutting.

if you just put hay through rubber (meshed) rollers and not limbs, barbed wire, old tractor parts, rake teeth or other trash, the rollers last a long time. I have the original rollers on my 920 JD and it's 15 years old and they are still almost like new, but then, I'm careful. Replacement rollers are costly and adversely affect my bottom line, so are cutter components, come to think about it, all parts are costly. I prefer to farm smart and make money.

I like the MoCo because it's not power intensive as well. With the price of fuel, I try to keep my per acre cost low, it bolsters my bottom line. I don't want to be blow'in balck smoke because the engine is working it's gonads off, I prefer crusing along and using less fuel, enjoying the climate control and listening to the CD.

Finally, the MoCo is easier to work on. especially changing cutters in the field. I keep a complete knife bar ready to go so if a problem arises, it's just a matter of sliding one out and sliding in another, a couple bolts and it's off to the races, about 15 minutes. The disc mower is a whole different story.

I still have all my fingers...I nevr get between the knife section and guard, never.

SCH solid ledgers are 4 sided so you have 4 different square ledger surfaces to choose from.

 

[Verticaltrx]

if you just put hay through rubber (meshed) rollers and not limbs, barbed wire, old tractor parts, rake teeth or other trash, the rollers last a long time. I have the original rollers on my 920 JD and it's 15 years old and they are still almost like new, but then, I'm careful. Replacement rollers are costly and adversely affect my bottom line, so are cutter components, come to think about it, all parts are costly. I prefer to farm smart and make money.

I agree. Our JD 1219 MoCo is over 25yrs old and the rollers are in perfect shape, it's had thousands of acres of hay through it over the years. We also make sure to send only hay through it (mostly) :thumbsup:

The biggest gripe I have with disc mowers is the lack of ability to pick up downed or lodged hay. I haven't seen anything that beats the reel on a moco for getting every last bit of hay up and cut. With our disc mower (616 NH) you have to really angle the cutter bar down in those conditions and even still you end up with a fair bit of uncut hay laying on the ground. The disc mower is nice for new or unknown fields where there could be rocks, stumps, etc however.