|
Kraig...Not sure I follow the part about throwing the hay at the existing stack, but my 214WS was having problems with grass hay in fairly light windrows not feeding well. The previous owner had replaced what's called the compressor with a bar and a set of straight 3/8" rods over the throat of the pickup as a protective guard. He baled nothing but wheat straw and felt the compressor just got in the way. I asked here what the compressor's function was, and folks said about what the manual said - it is used on light hay or thin windrows to help the hay feed properly. Well, on a lark, I took the 3/8" rod fixture off and put the compressor back on. Works like a champ. Even the lightest ends of windrows where it's hardly worth driving over picks up clean. In case you don't have a compressor, what it amounts to a set of springy flat strap fingers that mount on the bar over the pickup throat, and lay flat on the sheet metal that the pickup tines run between. There's enough springiness to let them rise for a heavy windrow, or stay flat and hold the hay down where the tines can move it into the auger for really light windrows, rather than the hay slipping up and over the tines. I never would have thought it would make such a difference until I saw it. My old Ford 503 side-delivery rake works pretty good, but it came with a detached full width reel-like thing that I'm told mounted over the bars, and was turned by a pulley. The previous owner said it "just got in the way" and took it off. I find that the rake will throw the hay up and over in a heavy windrow, and am beginning to understand that maybe the reel-thingy prevents that. I'm beginning to think that maybe folks should understand what some of these "spare parts" are before they take them off. Am thinking about putting it back on the rake and see if it maybe does what the designers intended. :) Chuck, WA
|
