Hesston pt10 swather

anyone have experience with one of these. from what i read the rollers are expensive, and they are not very good. considering buying one local for 450 dollars. what should i look for on the rollers to make sure they are ok. and do you think my 45 horse tractor would run it. please answer based on my question. thank you for your help

My first swather was a PT-12.It was a good machine.I ususally pulled it with a 706,once or twice the Super M pulled it.If its in decent shape,I'd buy it in a heartbeat...

I ran my PT 10 with a 400 Farmall (with 4 1/8" pistons like a Farmall 450) and it handled it fine even in the hills.
Check the condition of the rubber on the top roller, a little can be missing and it will still work okay, but if a lot is missing it won't do a good job of crimping.

If the rollers are okay and the swather seems in pretty good overall shape, $450.00 for the PT 10 is a bargain IMO.

I think that my neighbors had one way back. IIRC a weak point was that a chain off the gearbox drove everything including rolls and it tended to fail a lot.

I have the Case version of that swather (555), I too bought it used, at an auction for 350 bucks. The rollers on mine are good & it does a great job.I have replaced the drive belt once (109$) will get 4 individual belts next time, it'll onyl be 80 bucks...and I won't have to wait. From what I have seen all of the parts are avalible if you look for them.They are heavy...Mine works great with my 730 case gas tractor, with 50ish HP and am planning to use it on a 50 MF this summer, and am not anticipating any problems. ( old timer at the auction said he had used one on a 30-35 hp tractor, was slow in the thick stuff , he said) sounds like your tractor would be good to go...Shawn

I have a PT 10. I pulled it with a AC175 (63hp) with no problems. I think my rubber roll was fairly worn but it still did OK. the combination of rubber on steel would still crimp and scuff the hay. I think I replaced seals on gear box two times that is a weak spot in my opinion
If it does not have the stubby guards on it do yourself a favor and put them on, a LOT LESS PLUGING when running over previously cut hay when finishing field and in heavy hay.
I think Hesston makes very good hay equipment

I also had the Case version and used it in alfalfa, red clover, timothy and orchard grass with no problems and pulled it with a 1941 Farmall H that is rated at 27 max pto hp and it had the standard pistons in it so no hp boost there. Was either 2nd, or 3rd that pulled it in. No speed demon but that speed was just fine for me and no repair or cloging problems either but that was 30+ years ago. Sold it in 81 when the dairy heard left.

I guess I got a lemon. It seems the other posters have had very different luck with their Hesston PT10 than I did. I bought a new PT 10. We had a local dealer take on Hesston hay tools. I was trying to help him get going so I bought a new one. The knife drive system was always breaking. We just could not keep it together. I tried bigger and smaller tractors, mowing slower and faster. I just could not get through a cutting without a major break down on the knife drive. Had several gear cases fail( broke the case on the original). Knife heads would not stay riveted for more than 25-30 acres.

I used it one season and traded it for a New Holland 488. I used that mower for fifteen years. I only traded it in when we went to a disk mower. The 488 was much lighter so it pulled easier and did not scuff the hay stubble as much.

As for pulling a Mower conditioner with a 47 horse power tractor: It all depends on how heavy your hay is. In alfalfa you would be fine. In straight grass it should do OK. I have had troubles in Clover/timothy hay with a tractor that small. I fertilize my hay heavy and many times it is four foot tall and real thick. It will work the cane out of a 75 hp tractor at times.

This was with a sickle machine too. A disk mower conditioner you would not be able to even use in real light hay. They pull much harder.

For the price of $450, if it is in working condition, is cheaper than you are going to be able to find anything else. NH is still my pick in sickle mower conditioners. The biggest advantage is that the parts are much more reasonable than most of the other brands. Hesston is AGCO and there parts are pricey.

The only thing I ever remember being wrong with those PT10s was a recall on the real early ones because they tore up drive belts. There was something that they had to change in the pulley or idler something. After that,they were pretty indestructable.

I paid 600 dollars for one several years ago to use along with a New Holland. It was in real good shape but the hay was real heavy that year and it wouldn't handle the job. The tractor couldn't go slow enough. The gauge between the rollers is real important so my neighbor told me, he had one and finally brought it over to prove to me that it was a good swather if set right, it wouldn't cut the hay either so we sold it and found a JD for the same money. As for the 45 HP tractor it will do just fine. We were using a 37 HP Kubota of my father-in-law to try and go slow enough, it had hydrostat, and power wasn't the problem. Neighbor used a WD Allis with no problem on his.

Jim

I had a 555 Case (PT10)and it cut anything and would choke heavy grass through, I really liked it but it was worn out and was requiring too much fixing when I needed to cut hay. Bought a 488 NH but would have bought another PT10 if I could have found one. Mower conditioners were not very popular around here until 20 years ago.