Toms tractors and toys

Not look at what you did, you went and made me buy a crimper. LOL. After I read your post about mowing and crimping your hay I got in the mood to buy a crimper of my own. Trouble is in my neck of the woods there arent many for sale and I cant economically travel too far to get one. I looked on FB and found only one, it was 65 miles away and sitting in the weeds. Asking price was way more than I wanted to pay considering I only have 3 acres of alfalfa. Found two listed on C list but they were at least 350 miles away both sitting in the weeds and they were asking even more. All three were New Holland. I casually mentioned this to a neighbor and he said his late uncle used to have one and his cousin now owns it. He called the cousin and it just happened his cousin had to move it out of the shed it had sat in for at least 10 years and he would sell. I picked it up for a very reasonable price, just above scrap and it appears to be in very decent shape.

So in the end I owe you a thank you for making your post. I do not have it home yet but it is only ten miles away and will be pulled out next week. My sickle mower does have a rear PTO so it looks like I am all set up.

So what make and model? I've got an IH 2A that has been here since new. Paint was excellent for a lot of years but time has caught up with it. One of these years I would
like to paint it to restore it to its former glory.

We have three of the New Holland 404 'hay crushers'. They have a smooth steel top roller and a textured rubber bottom roller. They work very well and save a day in curing time when used in a fairly heavy crop. They crush the stems and deposit the hay on top of the stubble.

It is a New Holland. From what I could see in the dark shed the bottom roller is steel and the top roller is rubber. The hay will be cut in a week or two so I will have my chance to play with it then. Last time I ran a crimper was over 50 years ago so I will have to learn all over again if there is anything to learn.

There the real deal on sweet clover, that will speed up drying time 2-3 days on that, my dad raised sweet clover, on his sandier soil's.

Dad borrowed one from a friend of his. I think it was a brillion. had 4 smooth steel rollers If that plugged with the flat belt is sucked. Would have to get every last straw out before it would go again. Then he later got a 2 rubber rolls one I think an IH crimper. Worked much better and was a lot easier to unplug.
Now since the advent of mower/conditioners I can't see a reason to go back to a double operation .

I didn't see where anyone mentioned reconditioners in the last thread. There are a few different brands: Recon; Accelerator; Macerator, They are used to follow a few hours after a moco to crimp and fluff again. They go for around $22,000 but are supposed to pay for themselves in a year on a 200 acre operation where they sell to sophisticated buyers who purchase based on RFV.

Gary, I have a 404-400 crusher that my father in law used. Both rolls are smooth steel. Only reason it's still here is the scrap price is so low. I couldn't give it
away.

Well I hope it works as good for you as it did me. I baled one load of alfalfa grass mix on Wed. afternoon and baled two more yesterday. A good tedder does alot but the crimper sure did not hurt either. Tom

It is A new Idea not a New Holland. I got it home, one lower roll bearing is out. It is easy to get to, easy to replace but the pillow block is broken making the fix a little more spendy but I got it bought right so I still have a good deal here.