# Removing header from self propelled windrower for road transport



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Since I think I have decided to go with a sickle mower conditioner instead of a disc I got to wondering if there were any good self propelled windrowers that I could afford with a sickle header. Was looking on tractorhouse and there were some pretty good looking NH 2550s and Hesston 8450s in my price range. The problem is they had a 16 foot header on them and there is no way I get get down the road with a header that wide. How easy would it be set the header off onto a cart for road transport like you do on a combine?


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Pretty tough antil you get a sytem down and then not to bad. Probably more than I'd want to tackle on a daily basis. Might try to find a 12', will that work? Having a dedicated swather sure is nice.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Lewis Ranch said:


> Pretty tough antil you get a sytem down and then not to bad. Probably more than I'd want to tackle on a daily basis. Might try to find a 12', will that work? Having a dedicated swather sure is nice.


 I would sometimes have to take it on and off a couple times a day for going between fields so unless it's pretty easy that would get old fast. I know a combine only takes a couple minutes to hook the header back up and is easy.....I was hoping a swather would be the same.

A 12 cutting width would be ideal as I can't get anything wider than 14 foot transport width down the road. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be very many nicer sickle swathers in that cutting width. A 13 foot disc swather would work as well but is way above budget.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> I would sometimes have to take it on and off a couple times a day for going between fields so unless it's pretty easy that would get old fast. I know a combine only takes a couple minutes to hook the header back up and is easy.....I was hoping a swather would be the same.
> 
> A 12 cutting width would be ideal as I can't get anything wider than 14 foot transport width down the road. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be very many nicer sickle swathers in that cutting width. A 13 foot disc swather would work as well but is way above budget.


Not to be a smart ass, but if a 13' discbine is out of your budget then more than likely any self propelled swather that is in your budget is gonna be about shot. And of course with a self propelled now you have another engine and drivetrain to maintain and eventually spend money on.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

mlappin said:


> Not to be a smart ass, but if a 13' discbine is out of your budget then more than likely any self propelled swather that is in your budget is gonna be about shot. And of course with a self propelled now you have another engine and drivetrain to maintain and eventually spend money on.


 I was meaning that a 13 foot disc self propelled swather is way above budget. A pull type is not.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

The only reason I got to thinking about a self propelled was that I came across one with a 16 foot sickle head that looked pretty good for only a little more money than what the 499 haybine I have been looking at is. I'm sure it has cut quite a bit more hay than the 499 has though.

I was just thinking for the money if the 16 foot header would be easy to take on and off for road transport that self propelled might be worth considering.


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

MacDon 9352 Swather $15000
http://amarillo.craigslist.org/grd/5500749830.html

Here's a machine for you, you can haul it on one of them sideways trailers.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

On the 1499 NH (not sure about the 2450/2550) that header takes about 30 minutes to drop. there were special jacks for each corner, the tension springs had to be backed off, oil lines had to be unthreaded, and 4 pins had to be removed. Nothing at all was self aligning. The endwise trailers looked like the thing, but I never see any around????? (what does that tell you?) Keep looking for something that's 12ft if you wanna look ahead, and 13ft if you wanna look back. I think that's the direction you should go - some sort of center pivot disc machine - 12-13 ft cut. You can drive your 6-8mph, and hardly worry about looking back.

Rodney


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

An sp power unit handles like crap with no head on it. The only safe way to road would be to hang a big weight on in place of the head. My brother used to switch between 14' and 18' sickle heads on a NH HW320. I would guess the swap took most of an hour. The most tedious part was cranking down the springs. Best thing for that is a powerful drill with an adapter and socket. BTW the 2550 is a decent machine, a lot less electronic garbage than the newer models.


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## Farmineer95 (Aug 11, 2014)

Driving a SP unit without a header for any distance will require a drawer full of clean drawers. They don't handle like a combine if thats what you are thinking for a comparison. I drove a macdon for a mile without a header and that was enough. Now this was a hydro without the rear tire steering damper/assist. Maybe newer ones are better.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

Farmineer95 said:


> Driving a SP unit without a header for any distance will require a drawer full of clean drawers. They don't handle like a combine if thats what you are thinking for a comparison. I drove a macdon for a mile without a header and that was enough. Now this was a hydro without the rear tire steering damper/assist. Maybe newer ones are better.


x2


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks for everyone's input....a lot of good info in this thread. I pretty much didn't know a thing about sp swathers and in my mind I was imagining that it would be like a combine where it's simple to drop the header onto a cart and drive down the road to the next field. If this was the case a sp swather with a 16 foot head would have been feasible. Since that's not the case I'm going to buy a pull type for now and if I come across a sp swather with a 12-13 foot header in nice shape I may consider it if I want to upgrade in the future. I made an offer on a NH 499 today.....waiting for them to call back.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

I forgot about how bad the tractor portion drives - the newer NH that have the airbags - you have to pin the rear axle, so it doesn't go down so far. I know the last one we traded, when they went to load it on the trailer, it had lots of trouble just getting on the trailer - the drive tires would just spin out.

Rodney


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