Swather Repair

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As of yet there's no welding involved, but if God made little green apples there probably will be somewhere down the line.  I mainly put this here, if it's allright, to allow everyone to see old style hay cutting equipment, and maybe give a little tutorial on the maintenance of these machines.This is a Hesston HydroSwing model 1014, built around 1972.  It's 40yrs old, and still in the field every year.  It's only 16 years younger than I am   The unit can be steered by hydraulics independantly from the tractor, makes it easier to do turns and irregular cutting paths.  Pretty cool machine.The main cutting component, the heart of the machine, is the sickle bar.  A lot of people have gone to rotary cutting beds, but I still swear by this machine.  I can run circles around a rotary machine when it comes to operating costs, and I can almost keep up speed-wise under certain conditions.The sickle bar runs inside guards (the vicious looking tooth things).  The guards support the sickle bar, provide a cutting anvil, and protect the sickle sections.  You do not want your hand here while it's running After removing the sickle bar, something I do annually, the sickle sections are unbolted from the bar.I occassionally read on forums about guys trying to use the old style riveted sections.  IT'S A WASTE OF TIME AND INCREASES HEADACHES.  Switch to the bolt on sections, and your world is green with grass all the time.  I replace the sections yearly just to make for smooth fast cutting, although you could run them longer than one season.I would estimate that this machine runs me around 400 dollars per year to keep in the field.  That's less than one payment for a newfangled one."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Cool story Samm, thanks for sharing [Account Abandoned 8/8/16 Please Do Not Attempt Contact Or Expect A Reply]. See you on YouTube! -ChuckE2009
Reply:Originally Posted by farmersammI occassionally read on forums about guys trying to use the old style riveted sections.  IT'S A WASTE OF TIME AND INCREASES HEADACHES.  Switch to the bolt on sections, and your world is green with grass all the time.  I replace the sections yearly just to make for smooth fast cutting, although you could run them longer than one season.
Reply:We never had an anvil in the field.  Just used the drawbar to support the backside of the rivet and beat it down.Clearing a broken knife off the sickle bar for replacement was easy by just striking the rear edge of the knife to shear the rivets.  Usually only took a couple wacks with the up and down wrench to get the job done.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Those new rotary cutters are a mechanical nightmare.  Lots of expensive parts to replace in those things.  If you ever find something you can't cut with that sickle, change it over to the stub gaurds, aka no-clog guards and it will go through grass like **** through a goose. I picked up one of those Johnson sickle servicer tools at an auction for a couple bucks, and it makes dealing with rivets a pleasure.Miller 250x & Lincoln V205-TSmith Oxy-Prop torch
Reply:How many acres a season do you cut?
Reply:We too believe in sickle machines. If you ever run a forage harvester all the little rocks and gravel get thrown into the windrow by rotary cutters.Millermatic 252millermatic 175miller 300 Thunderboltlincoln ranger 250smith torcheslots of bfh'sIf it dont fit get a bigger hammer
Reply:Sickle bar mowers are great, unless you farm on ground like mine. Even under the most ideal no till conditions, one of my best crops is rocks. They grow better than weeds. Time spent replacing knives vs an extra sharpening or two with the forage harvester has made me never want another sickle bar mower. Now if only my soybean header had the same option...Lincoln Precision Tig 185Lincoln Power Mig 256Hypertherm PM 45Everlast 140STSmith O/A
Reply:Thanks Samm...Around here all I see are newer machines...they're aren't really any small farmers around anymore.  When the big boys cut alfalfa around here its usually with three or four swathers at a time.  All I can think is "Wow, how in the world would the little guy make a start of it now?".  Nice to see older, inexpensive equipment still doing what its supposed to.
Reply:I've been tempted more than once for a swing-tongue sickle unit like yours because the're so cheap but I think in reality I would have a hard time giving up my old mostly worn out discbine.  Seems lately my Timothy gets so thick it all blows down and I really have no desire to start one-way mowing.  I have a deere 920 right now, I got it because it was cheap but it's my first and last deere, atleast of that era, it pulls terrible hard, I've since found out that everyone else thinks they pull hard too.  I will go to an old new idea or new holland if this one craps out.
Reply:I can see why a lot of bigger guys wouldn't want the older machines.I cut 80x2 acres of Native Bluestem each year most of the time.  160 acres total on 2 cuttings.  And  I used to cut 80x2 acres of Haygrazer aka Sorghum/Sudan with it too.I was able to find a Hesston 1010 with a full length conditioner for the Haygrazer finally, and it MOTORS  through the crop   THIS IS THE HAYGRAZER with the 1010 mower.  5mph cutting speed   That's some bodacious hay right there   The machine I'm working on in this thread used to only be able to cut this stuff at about 1mph with the tractor running wide open to keep the reel and conditioner speed up high enough to digest the crop.  The 1014 shoves 14' of crop thru a 3 1/2' conditioner  The 1014 has been semi retired to Bluestem only now."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:I see, we don't have actual swathers here, some of my friends in the west call about anything that cuts hay a swather.  I take it your 1014 has short conditioning rolls where the 1010 has long?  Everything here has full length conditioning rolls period.
Reply:Sorry, I guess I should say "self-propelled windrower".  Yeah, out west its a swather. Attached Images
Reply:Originally Posted by farmersammAs of yet there's no welding involved, but if God made little green apples there probably will be somewhere down the line.  I mainly put this here, if it's allright, to allow everyone to see old style hay cutting equipment, and maybe give a little tutorial on the maintenance of these machines.This is a Hesston HydroSwing model 1014, built around 1972.  It's 40yrs old, and still in the field every year.  It's only 16 years younger than I am   The unit can be steered by hydraulics independantly from the tractor, makes it easier to do turns and irregular cutting paths.  Pretty cool machine.The main cutting component, the heart of the machine, is the sickle bar.  A lot of people have gone to rotary cutting beds, but I still swear by this machine.  I can run circles around a rotary machine when it comes to operating costs, and I can almost keep up speed-wise under certain conditions.The sickle bar runs inside guards (the vicious looking tooth things).  The guards support the sickle bar, provide a cutting anvil, and protect the sickle sections.  You do not want your hand here while it's running After removing the sickle bar, something I do annually, the sickle sections are unbolted from the bar.I occassionally read on forums about guys trying to use the old style riveted sections.  IT'S A WASTE OF TIME AND INCREASES HEADACHES.  Switch to the bolt on sections, and your world is green with grass all the time.  I replace the sections yearly just to make for smooth fast cutting, although you could run them longer than one season.I would estimate that this machine runs me around 400 dollars per year to keep in the field.  That's less than one payment for a newfangled one.
Reply:Glenn,do you not crimp or condition your hay? Or run a second pass with a conditioner?Bruce
Reply:Bruce:Around here it's like it's dry within 10 minutes of cutting....No seriously the only reason for crimping or conditioning is to speed drying and we don't need it.We can cut the hay one day, come back the second, rake it in the morning and bale it in the afternoon and it's dry as can be. It is amazing.So it's just sickle mower, rake and baler. Can't get much better than that.Cheers.Glenn.Sign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:Seeing those segments gave me a flashback to when I was a little curb guy,THOSE THINGS ARE SHARP!! Still have a scar where I almost cut my finger off! Well, maybe not "cut it off",but I still have a scar....
Reply:Originally Posted by curb guySeeing those segments gave me a flashback to when I was a little curb guy,THOSE THINGS ARE SHARP!! Still have a scar where I almost cut my finger off! Well, maybe not "cut it off",but I still have a scar....