Wonder Twin Powers, ACTIVATE

Got our Hesston 1070 salvage unit running

Now we have two of them working


For the first time, I went mowing "double barrel" with our youngest daughter... and we need to cover ground, because the weather has not cooperated so far this summer.

I have some mechanical comments about what I learned in this process, but how about some action shots of Zan and Jayna... the Wonder Twins?

This is a farm-made drive mechanism, based on a greaseless heim joint (teflon coated). This is on "Zan" the mower we have been using for a few years now.

The heim joints cost 18 bucks from Amazon. As opposed to the custom original part, based on a tie rod end, which costs 250 bucks.

I have about 20 hours on this one, and it's still tight. I did drill it for a grease fitting, but it has never loosened up enough to take grease.

I run witbout the pan skid underneath. I've found it to be a liability. Twice over the last six years, the skid has dented up and interfered with the drive mechanism, either breaking the end section or the tie rod thingy...

We run on wet ground, on dry years, the ruts are like concrete speed bumps.

This heim joint is robust, I've inspected the ground after mowing and found the occasional spot where this has hit the ground... and yet, it still runs

Zan broke out his reel drive a few years ago. I fixed it by welding a PTO yoke onto the stub shaft, grinding the ears to fit tightly in the tube and putting a 3/4" bolt through the yoke... with a piece of water pipe welded into the yoke to hold the bolt tightly, and a reinforcing collar welded around the tube. It has worked for five years now, but the big drive sprocket has a little runout to it.

Jayna came to us destined for the crap yard because of the same thing... the previous owner tried a fix that failed catastrophically, unwinding the end of the reel center tube like a toilet paper roll...

This time, I talked to a friend at work that has a metal lathe... we worked together to get some thick-walled 4" tubing, (4" OD, 3.5" ID) which he turned down to 3.83" OD... I cut out the ruined end of the reel, leaving a fishmouth... and slid the new tubing in far enough to align. On the stub shaft we installed two steel pucks about 1" thick...which were welded onto the shaft and turned to fit tightly inside the 3.5" OD of the splice.

Everything was aligned... and holes were drilled through the splice tube into the pucks, and tapped for 1/2"-20 thread. Reinforcing collars were welded on... and the holes in the collars were reamed with a taper to match the taper of a lug bolt.

After assembly, four lug bolts connect the stub shaft to the tube. Just sprayed some blue primer-paint over the whole shebang in the end.

My friend's work was dead on... the drive sprocket is perfectly aligned and square to the reel.

I cut the shields on both mowers, so I can see the slip clutch bolts/springs. They can be finicky, and there isn't much extra thread on the bolts...the nuts often loosen, and can fall off, if you don't keep an eye on them.

Looks like some really creative fixs. Good job.Swaths show
they are doing a good job. And Larry on the corner would love the blue paint touch.

(quoted from post at 14:28:45 09/04/21) Looks like some really creative fixs. Good job.Swaths show
they are doing a good job. And Larry on the corner would love the blue paint touch.

Click to expand...

I may have been overzealous with the blue paint... I was a little manic, this project has been a couple of years coming together.

One other comment that I have is that I've finally figured out what is the best way to put guards on these machines. Hesston made a full cast guard, which is similar to the old New Holland style. I put one of these on each end. They protect the end sections and prevent plugging fairly well. And, the are easy to install on the ends, since you can slide them on.

In the center, I use the gaurds with separate top clips. The first haybine that I had (Zan) is setup with full guard with top clips.

When I rebuilt Jayna, I wanted to see if I could get a decent cut with stub guards, and, I wanted one machine that was less "pluggable", to do the center points of pieces and such.

Well, after baling off the ground that we cut with the two haybines, I'm happy to report that there is no discernible difference in the stubble. It seems that you CAN get a good cut with stub guards. However, I did take a lot of time using shims and such to ensure that the top clips on the stub guards are running tightly to the tops of the sections.

I'm also happy to report that we're covering some ground and catching up on our haying.

The old timers used to say, as far as hay quality goes, "If you can't get your hay by July 1st, then wait until September 1st." We're putting that to the test here, and, on fields that were seeded with a mix of brome, canary grass and birdsfoot; that appears to be holding true. There is a nice green undergrowth in the first cut.

and thanks! I'd like to say that I've learned a few tricks from the people here. So I always like to report back what I've learned in my MacGuyvering around the farm.