Hay Equipment Update 8-10-2014

I thought I'd do an update on my hay equipment rather than my NH68 only on this post.

My oldest boy was with me and we had a very busy day of it.

Massey Ferguson MF32 sickle bar mower:

Pulled the knife section out of it today - very easy, once we figured out the knife came out towards the tractor and not the opposite!

The knife bar looks to be in very good shape and most of the sickle sections are fair to good shape. All of them are bottom serrated. The guards, except for two of them (27 in all) look pretty old and though worn, seem to be OK. The ledgers on all of these guards are serrated.

I've read the MF sickle bars are the easiest to attach/detach compared to other makes and I have to admit I like that it pretty much is a - mount to the 3 point hitch and go vs. some funky OEM stabilizer, cable or other arrangement. However, mounting this MF32 has been somewhat a chore. We blocked it up to remove today and that seemed to help a bunch. Any secrets to easily mounting/removing a MF32 from your tractor?

I'd like to give this sickle bar a try over Labor Day holiday weekend, so time is short. I'm going to do a total re-do of this mower over the winter, new guards and knife assy, but in the mean time, what I'd like to do is sharpen the sickle sections, reset the hold downs - so they are doing their job. Where I have concerns are two fold. One is I've got sickle sections that are serrated - running on serrated ledger plates. Second, other than the two newer guards, the old guard's ledger plates, though not bad in shape are dull. Don't know if this is a good idea or not - but what I'm thinking about doing is using an angle grinder or just a big file and grinding what remains of the serrations off the ledger plates such that I'll have smooth, but sharp cornered ledger plates. Over the winter, I'll replace all of the ledgers. The grinding deal would be a short term fix/try.

JD 350 hay rake:

Yesterday we put a new belt on the rake, today we brought it out to the camp and unloaded it from the trailer. Once on the ground, we greased up every zerk and mounted it to the tractor. Nice piece of equipment. Ran the PTO - knock on wood, nothing made loud noises or smoked. I think this rake is field ready. It certainly is a simple designed rake - which I appreciate.

NH68:

Didn't get to spend as much time with the NH68 as I wanted, but I was able to have a look-see at the knotter chain. I took it off and it's pretty well used. If the parts list calls for 63 links, this one had 64. There was no offset link and the bottom line is this chain will be replaced with a new one. While I'm at it, I'll probably replace the chain from the main drive and the pick-up. The chain on the feeder forks looks OK.

Hopefully we'll make more progress next weekend.

Bill

You are aware of the timing issues with a baler chain that you removed, you need to go through the timing procedure when you put a chain back on and turn by hand to see the twine needles and the plunger are timed so as not to hit each other.

Grinding the ledger plates is a temp fix many people have done over the years. You seem to understand the results and expectations. If you are cutting thicker stemmed stuff it won't matter much one way or another, if you are fine stemmed and short grass then it will be a bit bothersome with rounded plates. Life goes on.

Paul

Hadn't read your message below, I see you have a handle on the knotter timing......

Paul

Serated both sections and guards together is all we ever ran for red clover, timothy, or alfalfa. Only the county road mowers used smooth sections and that was mostly wild grass. Never heard that nonsence about smooth sections to serated guards or the other way around untill on here the last few years. I started mowing 57 year ago with Dad's 5' David Bradley horse mower and then my first mower was a John Deere 6' No. 2 open gear steel wheel horse drawn mower, bought when I was 16. Then a Coop 7' semi mount tractor mower that was junk when I got it. Then an Oliver 7' 3 pt. followed up with a Oliver trail 315, then to a Case 555 mower-conditioner.

Round here, the big hay guys have the $100,000 equipment on the big alfalfa fields, the rest of us mow road ditches and wet meadows of various grasses and maybe a couple acre alfalfa patch, 2-3 cuttings.

Getting into different types of grass hay, especially the second cutting you find out quick what works and what doesn't, way different than mowing down alfalfa.

If all I cut were alfalfa, haying would be easy, anything with a course stem is easy to cut.

Hay is such a different thing across the country, its hard to say this way or that way is right. I'd likely fall flat on my face and fail miserably if I became your neighbor and tried my ways there. Would be a whole new game.

And the other way around.

Paul

Paul - thanks for the reply. Yes - anything I do would be a temporary fix until this winter. Just want to give the equipment a try and see where I stand with it and it's working condition.

Baler timing - we are studying it like a final exam is coming!

Thanks!
Bill