Swathing In the Mud

rusty6 · Sep 19, 2019

Out checking the hail damage to crops this morning and saw what is what typical sight for the kind of harvest it has turned into. Four wheel drive tractor in the field waiting to pull the swather out of the mud when it gets stuck. You can not see the ground under the canola canopy to tell if it is mud or water until the wheels start to spin. What fun! At least these guys missed the hail storm damage.

Brendon-KS · Sep 19, 2019

Been there and done that. Self-propelled windrowers can be sort of helpless in the mud and like you say, when the canola is thigh-high and thick there's no way
of seeing what you're driving into. First indication of trouble is when the tires start bringing up mud then there's always the question of "now what - keep
going and hope it doesn't get worse or stop and back out?". Human nature being what it is most of the time you pick the former, sometimes with messy
consequences. Most windrowers have stout tow points on the back exactly for this situation.

rusty6 · Sep 19, 2019

(quoted from post at 18:24:25 09/19/19) Most windrowers have stout tow points on the back exactly for this situation.

I've been warned it can be risky towing these hydro machines out of the mud as it can damage the drive units. On my 2360 JD there is a cap on the gear drive hub that can be unscrewed and reversed to put the hydro motors into neutral. That way you can pull them out of the mud with the wheels free wheeling and no chance of damage. Its a bit of a hassle if you had to do this many times a day.

Brendon-KS · Sep 20, 2019

You're exactly right - pulling a windrower (or any hydrostatic drive machine) and turning the wheels without the pump running will likely cause damage. When
we've had to extract a windrower from a mudhole we always had one person doing the pulling and another in the windrower powering the wheels. This allows the
charge pressure to keep the closed-circuit hydrostat loops filled with oil which is what prevents any damage. It also allows the windrower to "help itself" and
lessens the pull required. If you're by yourself you don't have many options other than to unlock the planetary wheel drives to put the windrower in freewheel
mode.

Swathing In the Mud

rusty6

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Brendon-KS

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rusty6

Well-known Member

Brendon-KS

Well-known Member

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