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I have a PT-10 and used to have a MF-12. First things you need to look at will be the u-joints. Both mine were just gone over, took a u-joint each. The weakest or most worn part in the PT-10 on mine was the vertical shaft for the bell crank that changed front to rear motion to left and right for the sickle. That took new bearings and a shaft. The next loose thing is the bearing on the end of the pitman rod where its on the pulley. There's supposed to be a counterweight outside that bearing to smooth the operation. Over the years, I replaced bearings on the rollers too. The sickle is likely fairly rusty from being outside, but I've never had mine inside and I didn't have much trouble getting it going each summer. Its important to watch all the guards and sickle sections to see they slice as clearance between sickle sections or rounded guards will plug with grass. It takes a shim on the outer guard to achieve that. Which is mentioned DEEP in the manual, so deep it took me years to find it. Hay dries quicker if you keep the windrow as wide as possible. Saves a day over making the windrow the right width for the baler. Bale in the same direction you mowed and the baler will pick it up like a piece of carpet. On the baler, timing is everything. If the needles are out of time, they are scrap after one baling cycle. I was able to keep my baler inside all the time I had it. But it had been outside on a dealer's lot before I bought it. Those slides for the plunger will be rusty and stiff. Chains will be stiff. Lubricate chains (as well as the chain on the PT-10) with a good chain lube, oil won't stay as long. Check the guides for the twine for grooves. Grooves will snag knots in the twine. The knotters need lots of grease and some places the manual called for removing plugs and inserting zerks temporarilly for greasing. Knotters are a bit tempermental about the twine and some just worked better for me than others. The twine knives need to be sharp and timed right. The bill hooks can't have grooves worn in them and tie right. Get books for both of them. You will learn many things from reading them that we have all forgotten. I baled thousands of bales a year by my MF-12 and it missed about one tie per 100 bales. I mowed all of that with my PT-10. And after I fixed the bearings in the bell crank shaft it ran quietly. Took a few sections each year from hitting rocks and other debris. I stuck with rivets, but screws do make changing easier. There are skid plates under the PT-10 to set the mowing height while the springs balance a lot of the weight so the skids don't cut ruts. Gerald J.
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