Conditioner Hitch

[Dave41A]

A couple of weeks back I had a request for some pictures of my conditioner hitch. I think it was BarnyardEngineering. I was working on other things at the time and could not get me, the tractor, and my camera all in the same place at the same time. But now I have.

The Sickle Bar is an IH 100 on a home-built 3ph on the '41H. The conditioner is a JD No1 with cast iron roll.

I can post more pictures if anyone wants better detail. Dave

 

[Sam Vastano]

I would like to see more. Where does the conditioner sit in relation to the rest?

 

[Dave41A]

The conditioner is pulled right behind the tractor and conditions or crimps the previous row. The sickle bar hangs off to the right and is cutting the next row--the row at the left of the picture is the row that is being cut. You can just make out the belt of the sickle bar at the bottom of this photo. I snapped this picture while mowing today.

 

[Sam Vastano]

Cool! I bet you need a big area to turn that!

 

[Leroy]

Actually you do not. We had the conditioner hitch on a pull type of mower and took no more to turn with the conditioner hooked on or without it. The big problem with what he did is getting hitch so conditioner is in correct place to pick up the hay. A mower made wide foe wheels set wide will require hitch set in different place than with mower made for narrow tractor wheel tread. Ours was an Oliver (same as Cockshut or Moline) with factory hitch setup.

 

[Dave41A]

My big concern is the double U-joint at the front end of the PTO shaft on the conditioner. With that spinning, I do not like to turn too sharp to keep stress off the joints. But I can turn sharp enough that I can almost hit the conditioner with the end of the sickle swath board when turning right. I haven't hit and probably couldn't if I wanted to, but it does show how tight you can turn with one.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

If your hitch pin is near centered between the U joints on the shaft from the conditioner, you'll be ok. They are meant to be turned 90 for squaring up corners.

Also, the shaft to the tractor looks to be a bit undersized. That might give you a problem in heavy hay or if you get a rock in the rollers.

Mike

 

[Dave41A]

There is a slip clutch on the PTO shaft, just ahead of where it goes into the conditioner gearbox. The PTO shaft looks like the one in the manual and I guess it is original unless someone swapped it out in the years before I bought it.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

That was me, and thanks for the pictures. It gives me some ideas.

Haven't had much opportunity to play with the mower but hopefully sometime mid june when the corn is in and the hay is off.