Big Mower Built From Owatonna Swather

Big Mower Built From Owatonna Swather SWATHERS Swathers 23-5-12 Butch Uhnken of Jacksonville, Ill., is one of the most talented farmer-inventors in the country. He builds at least one new machine every winter, many of which have appeared in FARM SHOW. This year he decided to turn an Owatonna hydrostatic-drive swather into a big self-propelled mower with a 10-ft. Woods cutting deck. He got the basic idea from reading about Minnesota farmer Jules Jacobson, featured in FARM SHOW's Vol. 22, No. 4. Like Jacobson, Uhnken started with an Owatonna swather but made his own design changes that he thinks work better. First, he lowered the frame by 7 in., front and back. Then he narrowed the drive axle width by 14 in. He narrowed up rear wheel spacing by 3 ft. so he could get around poles while mowing ditches. He also modified the clutch on the machine, using air power to shift instead of hydraulics. He did it using a Ford upright air conditioner pump. It provides from 75 to 125 lbs. of air pressure. Uhnken also uses air pressure to turn the mower on and off because he did not want the clutch to engage too fast. He had to fit the mower with an air tank. Uhnken also installed a new pto drive to get it down to the level of the mower. He installed two pulleys with the drive pulley at the top turning at the engine speed of 2,800 rpm's. The driven pulley turns the pto at 1,000 rpm's. The 10-ft. wide Woods mower deck is 2-point mounted to the swather. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, B.L. "Butch" Uhnken, 25 Westfair, Jacksonville, Ill. (ph 217-245-4359 or 217-472-3851).

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