JD1290 Conditioner- seeking parts place

John Deer 1290 Conditioner
I just purchased used JD 1290 conditioner. Its in good shape but need to replace several cutting teeht and guards. where is the best place to find these parts for this model?
and anyone know the process to safely raise the cutting height of mower. I see the two contact in back to raise it but not quite sure if I need to place a jack under there to lift it.
anyone experienced with this?

sorry conditioner is a 1209 not 1290.

any help on the questions is appreciated.

Short of a FEL large enough to pick up header so as to use transport lock the safest way to pick up header is with tractor hyd's.

Cutting height is set with the two skid shoes just behind the cutter bar. With the machine raised pull out the pins and set the slots to the height you want then replace the pins. Whenever you change the height you need to reset the float springs. There should be a pin to lock it in the up position, don't trust the hydraulics when you're under it. Sections and guards are commonly available. TSC has them. When I got my 1207 I just bought a new knife and wear plates from mother Deere.

(quoted from post at 18:44:51 07/01/15) John Deer 1290 Conditioner
I just purchased used JD 1290 conditioner. Its in good shape but need to replace several cutting teeth and guards. where is the best place to find these parts for this model?
and anyone know the process to safely raise the cutting height of mower. I see the two contact in back to raise it but not quite sure if I need to place a jack under there to lift it.
anyone experienced with this?

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Looks like some slob lost the operator's manual. The good news is that the nice folks at 1-800-522-7448 have the operator's manual on CD and hard copy. The parts book is free on the JD web site.
The "skid" plates are to only lightly rub the ground or the MC will pull hard, pull crooked and wear out the skid plates. The bulk of the MC's weight is to be carried on the wheels.

Thank you all for the advise. Th eprevious owner had it set for 2''. Was mostly looking to see who had first hand experience with changing height.
Am trying highest setting and will need to acquire some replacement guards- heads and luckily have a rivet tool to remove the broken studs off. have about 4 to 6 to replace.
Anyone have a favorite cutting height? I am going with higest setting to try to avoid rocks, etc and the hay is really thick right now.

any advice on how to adjust the guards below blades?

I have a 1209, my transport locks are 2 angle Irons, one on either side wired to cylinders to block them up. My op manual doesn't show a transport lock, should I have one?

If you observe linkage on 1209 you'll see that as you tighten floatation springs, it increases pressure on conditioner rolls. there is an adjustment on both ends to set lowest position of upper roll. On mine concitioner rolls are not in good shape so I raised the upper roller essentially not using the conditioner. I have trouble getting the float light enough on the header. After I had mine a couple years I found out theLH spring is supposed to be a spring inside of a spring since you have more weight on that side. I had to replace the inner spring on mine. I cut my first cutting with shoes in bottom position. It leaves a little more hay but the hay comes back more quickly. second cutting I use one notch up on shoe stop. I use non clog guards for my hay as it seems to work best. I also use JD adjustable tops for the guards on every other one. I had the regular guards when I got the swather but they didn't cut as well in my conditions. There was a serial number break in production, if you have the higher number ones you are lucky because if you go to replace a sickle, or the drives from gearbox you have to update to new serial number stuff and replace more than you wanted to. Swather has worked pretty good for me, I think it had lots of use when I got it, so I have also done quite a few repairs.