FOrd 535 Mower/Conditioner

[Dubv1980]

So I was dropping off a riding mower at a consignment auction tonight and there were a bunch of haybines...
What is everyone's opinion on the Ford 535 mower/conditioner? How is parts availability..I've read they are the same as a NI and MF model as well. Any ideas?

Chris

 

[Jason In Ohio]

A feller up the road uses one. Neither one of us knows about parts availability on account his has never had a problem. It has always been a very reliable machine for him. Yes, they were built by NI for Ford and MF as well, so if parts are hard to come by, I"m sure it won"t take too long to find a scrapped one.

 

[Don-Wi]

We've got the NI version, it's a 290 mow/ditioner. It works pretty good, and if you have the right sprockets to drive the reel you can go along pretty fast.

They go on the end of the crimper roll on the opposite side of the machine. There's 3 different sizes available to adjust the reel speed, can't remember the tooth counts. The extra's would be bolted under the shield right next to the gear box on the drive side.

We also used to have a 535, until I managed to tear the whole thing in 1/2- literally. Now our 290 has been demoted to swap cutter (works great in tall canary grass) as we now have a 14' Hesston hydra-swing to cut hay with. Keep the v-belts tight and the jack shaft greased, and it should run for a very long time yet.

Another thing I thought of. If the belt would need to be replaced, just go with 2 single v-belts instead of the double v's. They run a fraction of the cost and can then be replaced without removing the jackshaft.

Any other questions, just ask. I've gotten to know the machines pretty well since we've had one on the farm my entire life.

Donovan from Wisconsin