JD #50 mid mount sickle mower

moonstruck

New User
Need a little help again and so far you guys have always come through with an answer for me. I got a #50 mid mount sickle mower with a 7 ft cut on my 3010. Two questions: 1. can I run a #21 crimper off the back of the tractor at the same time as I am cutting off the front? 2. The crimper is only 6 ft. but mower is officially a 7 ft. Am I going to have issue with hay wrapping at the edges of the crimper? Anyone have a real life experience with this combination? The crimper is coming up at auction and I don't want to buy it if it isn't going to work. Let me know. Thanks!
 
You will have problems with the difference in width on the machines.The crimper will wrap because of the swath being wider.
 
Maybe not. I know on our old MF mower the bar was 7 foot but the swath was 6 foot because of how far the wooden grassboard swept the end in.
 
I had a #50 and a JD crimper- the number of which I don't remember. It was good in alfalfa or clover, but a bear in long grasses like orchard grass or timothy. I liked the mower alone, but behind the tractor was a PITA because it would wrap up, and if the mower clogged, it would still wrap up. It mad me buy my first haybine. I went through two haybines and am now on my second discbine. Personally, I'd hunt for at least a haybine and not look back. Playing with the old stuff can be fun, but you won't get much work done.
 
It was common to run both at the same time years ago...thus the rear pto on some rear/trailing mowers. In a decent sized field, conditioning the previous swath allowed for a bit of wilting time before conditioning. Try it out- if the conditioner wraps, you could shorten the mower bar. Maybe try a longer grassboard first. Ever seen the flat tine windrower attachment for a sickle mower? Fashion a few strips for each end of the mower bar to narrow the swath.
 
Actually you are worring about nothing. The crimper IS DESIGNED for a 7' mower swath and would not work correctly for a 6' swath on a 6' bar, that is when it would plug. and those mowers were designed for a front PTO on the tractor to do just that. Now having never been around one as the side mount mowers were not used for field work around here I am not sure but I think there was a conversion made for them to use rear mount PTO on tractors not equiped with front PTO like the X30 series or earlier. Then I dought there was a provision to pull crimper behind. And the No. 21 crimper was the best model Deere made, the 22 that followed was not near as good.
 
One problem I see with your setup. On the New Gen 10 series, in order to get the front PTO to turn at 1000 RPM (which it needs to for this mower) the rear PTO has to be set on that speed also. On the 20 series you can run 1000 RPM on the front and 540 RPM on the back. If you can get your #21 crimper switched over to run on a 1000 RPM shaft, then it will work.
 
Thanks everyone for your comments. sounds like I should check the 3010 manual to see if it is possible to run both at the same time or better yet, save myself a lot of grief and forget the crimper! I still like to run the mower but I better save that for ditches and leave the hay cutting for modern equipment. Thanks Again!
 

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