recent mower repairs

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  • June 20, 2013 at 6:56 pm #79955
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    At this time of year i am fixing a lot of little things that go wrong on any heavily used mower. I have had one or two customers a day for the mower shop for the last week. I have fixed a couple pitmans and sold a couple more. I have sold six new knives and sharpened and repaired a few more. One pitman head looked like it had been taken off the mower with a 16 pound sledge! I sold a latch pawl bolt to a friend today.

    Yesterday, I worked on a mower in the field that needed some Guards tightened, a new knife, and the outer shoe sole had fallen off. Needless to say this mower had started to plug right a way, but it is unclear how long they mowed without the sole. Very hard mowing conditions in this field with a heavy dense crop and lodged and wet in the bottom. I think this is were most of the winters barn cleaning went out of the spreader!

    After all my best efforts yesterday and today the mower still wasn’t working well. Hard for me to tell if it was just the crummy conditions or was something still wrong with the mower? I checked the timing and the lead and the timing was fine and the lead was fair. I checked to see if the bar was tight to the mower, but it is possible this is were some damage was done when working with out the shoe. Actually a little vertical piece of the shoe remained and probably worked as a little plow.

    I made a date for next Monday night to see if we can come up with lead or something else that is causing the bad performance. Part of me still believes it is just the bad conditions. I will let you know what I find out.

    Knock on wood, my own mowers are still working well in fairly dense forages and lots of bed straw. Bed straw is always hard to mow.

    June 22, 2013 at 8:03 am #79994
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Last night I was in bed about 9 pm. (don’t tell anyone) and the phone rings “Donn, my mower stopped working – can you take a look at it?” Needless to say a ran over there this morning about 6 am. After driving up a long dirt road behind the barn, thinking maybe i am lost; I break out into a beautiful sun rise out of the fog. I find Poor mower standing out in the field of heavy wet clover and rye. The mowed forage has all the signs of a struggle. Long wads of grass pulled in ever direct. The pitman shaft is seized up but I didn’t bring enough tools to get it out. Back down to the barn for a clevis and a large crow bar.

    Fortunately I was able to get it out and the only thing holding it was … Grass! I cleaned up the shaft put it back in and returned home. I only charged 17$, 12 for labor and 5 travel and the farmer actually gave me a 20 and told me to keep the change. Fun and satisfying.

    June 22, 2013 at 4:53 pm #80002
    Does’ Leap
    Participant

    Hey Donn:

    I don’t know if you remember a couple of years back the trouble I had mowing my second cut. That spring we spred composted poultry manure – 2 tons/acre. We had a lot of wet weather preceding second cut and the grass was tall, rank, and heavy. My mower couldn’t handle it and we clogged every 10-15′. I still mow with the same mower with few modifications and haven’t had a problem since. From what you describe, it sounds like the same thing.

    Good luck.

    George

    June 23, 2013 at 5:25 am #80005
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Hi George, Yes i do remember that. It is a funny thing because a good mower can mow a tremendous amount of this “trash”, but I think there must be a limit. Lots of these farmers a mowing for the silo. This leads to an even greater desire to be able to mow when it is wet. great feed if they can get it in. it makes it fun to work on the mowers as they are taking a beating!

    I had a farmer asking about the easy cut the other day; do you still run that on one of your mowers? One with and one without by any chance? Donn

    June 23, 2013 at 8:03 am #80007
    Does’ Leap
    Participant

    I still run the easy cut on a #9 with a 6′ bar. I also have a #9 with a 5′ bar (yours, in fact) set up with haybine guards and over-serrated knives. Having worked on and used a few different mowers, I believe they all have their quirks, strengths, and weaknesses independent of the cutting system. That said, I think the easy cut does a cleaner job with less draft. The haybine system, however, is more forgiving and clogs less. I feel you can ride out potential clogs and they will often clear themselves when the easy cut does not. I have a very odd-shaped hay fields. The haybine mower enables me to even out some of those curves b/c I am able to plow through some cut grass beyond the clear area left by the grass board. It also makes it easier to mow counter clock-wise when I cut the very edge of my fields with grass that has been stepped on by the horses.

    All things considered (price included), I think the haybine guards and knives is a better system.

    George

    June 27, 2013 at 10:08 am #80090
    JaredWoodcock
    Participant

    Is there a haybine/guard combo that can be used on a JD no4 big?

    Jared

    June 27, 2013 at 9:57 pm #80103
    Jay
    Participant

    I rebuilt a JD big 4 last year with regular JD haybine guards and new JD knife from Macnair for Neal Perry. He is using it for all his mowing now and says it is great. Runs smooth and cuts easily through heavy hay. Jay

    June 28, 2013 at 5:23 am #80108
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    I believe you can put any haybine guards on a JD mower, as the hole spacing is the same, 3″. The knifes are different with slightly closer holes in each section and different ball placement on the knife. I know folks have used a McD knife by making a new pitman stick.

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