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Will cutting hay too wet make a sickle bar plug up a lot?

Ed S.

Ed S.

Well-known Member
Location
Middle Tennessee
...'cause that seems to be what happened to me today. I finally got the New Idea 7' sickle working again (had to make a new pitman from a blank), and tried to cut a bit, but couldn't get more than 200-300' without plugging up.

When unplugging (PTO turned OFF!), I noticed the base of the grass and alfalfa was real wet, and I was pulling up some roots, too.

The key to the story is that we got about an inch of rain yesterday. It's been hot and humid (cloudy this morning, sunny this afternoon), and windy, so the lawn dried out quick, and I figured the hay field would be dry enough too.

Maybe not?

I'm going to wait until Monday to try again, but if someone can confirm the wet is my problem, that would help me sleep better. Still kinda new to all the nuances of haying.

es
 
Yes it will.......fought that earlirer this year with some brome.........if it is wet underneath it will plug up.......got to be dry.....
 
No, but a loose knife, dull ledgers, dull sections, or a mower thats out of register will.
 
(quoted from post at 19:46:03 08/08/09) No, but a loose knife, dull ledgers, dull sections, or a mower thats out of register will.
Click to expand...

Just put a new cutter bar (all new sections) in, and it's tight - register is good, too. Ledgers are original (to me anyway) and could probably stand replacement, but up until I had the pitman arm problems, she was cutting really nice.

I'm reasonably sure the wet is my problem at this point. Was just curious if that was other's experience, too.

es
 
The odds are in your favor that you"re right about that... even if it would cut it clean, if if you got an inch of rain and the base of the grass is still that wet today, with any kind of temperature at all, any hay you lay down is basically getting "steamed" from the ground up and will take at least twice as long to dry to bale... if it stays dry, you can cut monday and bale just as soon as you could have if you would have put it down when you started.
 
Well, I was hoping the weather would miss us this morning, but we got another 1/4" or so on the field. Supposed to be sunny all week, so maybe it'll be dry enough tomorrow. I don't have a crimper or conditioner, so I need all the dry days in a row I can get.

*sigh*

es
 
Did you have it tilted too far ahead? If it's tangled you might not be able to cut it real short. Has it dried up any?
 
Ohio,

When you say 'tilted too far ahead,' do you mean the pitch angle of the cutter bar (think airplane wing climbing or diving)? Or do you mean the sweep angle of the bar (think jet wing sweep-back vs. straight Cessna wing)? I did recently adjust the sweep per the book (it's actually supposed to be forward about 4-5" at the outer end of the bar).

I did try adjusting the pitch angle up and down while cutting the other day, and a flatter angle worked better than pitched up.

I believe the correct way to adjust cutting height is to adjust the 'shoes' at either end of the bar, right?

es
 
For anyone who wants to know how this turned out, I started cutting about 3pm this afternoon, and was still getting some plugging, but not as bad. It was overcast but the sun was trying to peek out and I had a nice breeze, too. The plugging diminished throughout the afternoon, and I think I set a record for number of circuits without stopping by the time I was done with the field.

Short answer: let the field dry out good before you cut.

es
 
I think it's the wet hay, last year made a first cutting with my NH451 & plugged at least once every round. Top was dry but down deep was wet. When I made second cutting & was able to shift up another gear & roll right through it.
 
Set the cut height as high as possible.I never cut before 10 am.Mowing in late afternoon seems to work best.Dull ledger plates will plug.You can change just the plates if you have a repair block.Slow ground speed can cause plugging.
 
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