JD 720 Mo/Co questions

Have a JD 720 Mower Conditioner. My question to the people who are familiar with this machine is how low do you keep the setting on the cutter bar? There are four settings for height on the mower. The fields I cut are not rocky at all and relatively flat, is there risk to the knive guards if I set the height to the lowest possible setting?
Also, how often on average do these knives have to be replaced? It's not the bar with the rivet type, it's the individual knive type. The mower will leave strips of grass not cut, but the knife is not chipped or broken, but if you look closely they've almost warped up away from the bottom guard. Do I need to replace those? or is there some way to tighten the top non-clog guard to put more pressure on the knife??
It doesn't seem right I should be changing 6-8 knives before every cutting. Not when the machine is cutting low acre clean fields.
I don't know if I explained my questions properly
 
Operating all the way down does carry a risk of damage if there are any rocks.

Do you have an operators manual? There are adjustments to the holddowns. They should be down to allow a folded dollar bill to pass freely between guard and section or section and holddown. Imagine a pair of scissors, they have to be tight to cut.

Guard edges may be rounded like a piece of wire. They do wear out. If rounded, replace them.
 
I have a 820 with non clog guards. Have to use a feeler gauge to get the proper cut. If you see a jack bolt on top so you can add pressure to the sections then use the feeler gauge to set each one.(5 -8 thousands) I set mine at 8. Also check for proper tension on the belt that drives the wobble box. I've had to tighten mine several times over the past 10 years. If it slips it'll clog the cutter bar.
With proper set non clog guards those machines will cut very thick and even down crop easy. With non clog guards you won't have to sharpen. They self sharpen. I know nothing about the regular guard type for JD Moco's. Always use non clog guards.
 

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