Swather for Bryce

Swather, Haybine, Mower Conditioner, I am assuming these are all the same. I realize Haybine is a New Holland name.

Anyway, it would be real easy for Bryce to find a "Used Up" Swather. Can we give him some things to look for and "watch outs".

1. Is the wobble box in good shape? Maybe someone has a good way to check them.
2. Bryce mentioned driveline and bearings. Yup, good place to look at.
2a. Look for wore out sprockets, bearings, belts, U-joints, gear boxes and seals, etc.
3. Are welds cracked, especially in the area around the wobble box. I fixed one 990 where the wobble box literally "fell off" the machine and laid in the hay. Not only were there welds that came loose but many other welds in that area of the machine were cracked through.
4. Look for cracked welds or structural metal cracks from the tongue on back. The NH 489 had a reputation for this where the tongue attached to the machine.
5. Make sure the machines frame is straight. I have seen bent frames from hitting abrupt dead furrows in the field or obstructions on the edge of the field. The chains and belts did not track, the roller chains would roll off the edge of the sprocket.
6. Check the rivets on the head attachment to the sickle. On my neighbors 990 the sickle head rivets would always loosen up. Finally he just welded them.
7. Check spindle attachments. Are they cracked or show any sign of distortion? I have also seen these "fall off".
8. The NH rubber rollers have a rep. for the rubber coming off the rollers. Check these.

Anyway, that is my list. What can others think of?

Paul

check that all shafts are straight and chains line up. We bought a chopper wagon at a consignment auction one of the sprocket shafts was way crooked and chain didn't stay on under the load (ran fine empty).

Be sure the tine bars on the reel all turn properly (had a mower that one of the ends was bent and that bar didn't turn)

Check the heavy lift/tension springs for cracks and wear, had some snap already going down field(once one goes the other goes quick)

all guards on sickle are in place and not busted.

The cutting bar isn't twisted

look for "unusual" wear points, say a gear that rubbed a guard. This is a good indicator something is a miss.

All parts there, seen many times machinery sells without the PTO coupler for the tractor.

Swather and mower-conditioner would not be the same thing. A swather would just lay it in a winrow while most mower conditioner's are setup for laying in a wide swath and having conditioner rolls. The wider units will lay it in a winrow but they are mostly used for hay that is to be chopped for haylage or silage as this area of the country that wet cut winrow could not be gotten to dry down to baleing condition. We don't use swathers here for hay as it needs to be thru the conditioning rolls. And all grain crops are cut standing. Mower-conditioner and haybine are the same thing.

Thank's for that clarification Leroy. Paul

I use a JD MoCo - if you go that route (which he said he was going "frugal" for now, so likely not) make sure it isn't leaking oil or lube. The disc portion has gears that run bathed in light gear oil below. If that has run dry none of that will last long. Mine has flail conditioners but the ones with roll conditioners can be pricey to replace. I'm not sure about the weather there and if they have to condition. We do here.

A MoCo would be a good goal down the road - they will cut just as fast as you can stay in the seat. They need lots of horsepower, though. More than the old H has.

One thing I will say is that any unit that can be run by an H likely will be in better shape for its age than something that takes a lot of horsepower. The tractor bogs down long before you do lots of damage (other than running into something, etc). The gearboxes are usually good on them and such. They can have a lot of hours on them, but if they were run with 30 horsepower the hours were a lot easier than 100 horse tractors. If it needs U joints make sure the PTO shaft isn't needing replaced or repaired as well. I have an old rotary mower than has a very worn shaft on it. The square end tubing section is wollered out enough that the shaft clicks around in it. Repair isn't always easy and reacement shafts aren't cheap.

If they have touched up the paint they have touched up the welds, too.