NH Mower Crusher

[peteL]

Has anyone have actual experience on operating the New Holland mower crusher?

 

[Willow Lane]

I never ran it much, but dad had one when I was growing up. You need to disconnect the driveshaft to the crusher portion for mowing the first swath, then reconnect when you start the second swath. When you finish mowing, lift the cutter bar and pull the lever next to the v belt that drives the mower so you can run the last swath thru the crusher. Do the same thing if you are going to break for lunch, wilted grass doesn't go thru the crusher well. Always slack off the crusher springs at the end of the day. The machine disappeared from the farm about 50 years ago, so memories are vague.

 

[mudcreek183]

When I was growing up the one neighbor had one. I think he used it one year then traded it off.

 

[rrlund]

I can remember seeing a lot of those at Yoder and Frey in Archbold back in the day. I don't think dealers would have brought them in if they could have sold them off the lot.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

FIL had the crusher part of that one. He used a COOP mower so ran the crusher behind a tractor. He never had a tedder but the 440 left the swath fluffed. I used it a few seasons when I took over the haying but switched to a MoCo because it was troublesome. Tried to sell it, give it away, finally went to scrap.

 

[DanielW]

Are you looking for advice on using one you've found/own? That specific 440 crimper/mower combination won't have been overly common (though not uncommon). But using one will be no different than any other sickle-mower & crimper combo, which loads of folks on here have used (and many still use). I had the back half of a 440 that a previous owner had torched the brackets off and cobbled together their own drawbar on to hook up behind any other brand sickle mower just like other crimpers. Also had a New Idea crimper hitched to an IH mower. With my NH, it took me a while to figure out what model it was, as it wasn't quite the same as the 404. The NH crimper roll setups used on the 440 (and the 404, which was the stand-alone crimper they offered to hitch to the back of any other sickle mower) were some of the better one, as were the Cunningham and Oliver/Brady ones (they had a better roll setup than some others and plugged a little less). But you still want to keep a good utility knife with a few blades handy and be careful when entering/exiting a row. What made any of those old crimpers plug up was sucking hay near/at the edge of the rolls. You wanted the swath board on your mower to be the proper length and doing their job properly, and needed to avoid running over pre-cut hay the wrong way. Perfect timing with your lifting & turns is critical.

 

[peteL]

Are you looking for advice on using one you've found/own? That specific 440 crimper/mower combination won't have been overly common (though not uncommon). But using one will be no different than any other sickle-mower & crimper combo, which loads of folks on here have used (and many still use). I had the back half of a 440 that a previous owner had torched the brackets off and cobbled together their own drawbar on to hook up behind any other brand sickle mower just like other crimpers. Also had a New Idea crimper hitched to an IH mower. With my NH, it took me a while to figure out what model it was, as it wasn't quite the same as the 404. The NH crimper roll setups used on the 440 (and the 404, which was the stand-alone crimper they offered to hitch to the back of any other sickle mower) were some of the better one, as were the Cunningham and Oliver/Brady ones (they had a better roll setup than some others and plugged a little less). But you still want to keep a good utility knife with a few blades handy and be careful when entering/exiting a row. What made any of those old crimpers plug up was sucking hay near/at the edge of the rolls. You wanted the swath board on your mower to be the proper length and doing their job properly, and needed to avoid running over pre-cut hay the wrong way. Perfect timing with your lifting & turns is critical.

I was just curious on how efficient they were in operation. My first tractor ride was with my grandmother on a John Deere 50 running a New Idea hay conditioner. She would let my grandfather get a good head start with the sickle mower since the the tractor speed with the conditioner was faster then the mower.