Haybine 499

This summer I purchased a new to me cutter/conditioner.  A cutter/conditioner is a hay mower that has large conditioning rollers in it.  The rollers are designed to "condition" - crack - the stems of hay that have thick waxy coating on its stems like alfalfa.  If alfalfa isn't conditioned, it can take up to a week to dry depending on the humidity, temperature, and the sunlight available.  In this part of Iowa, a week without rain isn't very likely during haying season which is why I move to the cutter/conditioner.  However, the machine's rollers were not doing the job that I needed them to do so I decided to remove them and have them replaced with more aggressive rollers.  The trick was figuring out how to remove the rollers.  After finally getting in touch with someone who had done it before, I was able to remove the rollers, but not without the assistance of my friend Harvey and his cutting torch.  It was much harder than expected and the mower is sitting in my brother's shop taking up most of the room in there.  Hopefully the rollers come back soon and I can attempt to put the new ones in place.  If installation is anything like removal, it will be quite a chore.