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Bought my second 1209 this winter. Had a NH 489 and hated it primarily due to it's enclosed driveshaft and hard turning when converting from road position to field position. The leak is easy.....leave it be and add oil...or taking the side cover off is no problem but your shaft seals are probably what's worn and that is another story. The rollers should mesh evenly and they should not touch. Their timing and spacing are adjustable. The actual spacing is determined by you, your hay crop, and how much conditioning (stem smashing) you want. You don't want too much or you'll tear up your leaves; too little and you don't smash the stems and drying is prolonged on stemmy crops. If you are doing bermuda grass you don't need the crimp. You should be able to rotate the machines with a large screwdriver inserted in the driveshaft yoke and moderate hand pressure. If it won't do that something is amiss. It should rotate quietly and smoothly. The bent roller will wobble, rumble and give you uneven conditioning. Again if using small stem crops, you don't care about conditioning. I have the hydraulic piston for position control. Really handy, but you need dual remotes to run it. I paid $1500 for mine and had to do nothing but service it. Thought it was high, but now that I have used it several times, it is a good deal. HTH Mark
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