Swather Repowered With Perkins Diesel

Swather Repowered With Perkins Diesel ENGINES Engines 19-1-9 "Underpowered and overheated' was the usual operating condition of a 1970's Hesston 600 swather owned by a Kansas farmer who finally sold it to Bob Hasenkamp, Soldier, Kan., after the engine blew a head out for the second time. Hasenkamp repowered the Hesston with a Perkins diesel engine and solved the engine problems - plus a couple of others - in one fell swoop. "It's not overpowered but it's certainly not underpowered anymore," says the Soldier, Kan., farmer. "It hasn't overheated since I put the Perkins in it and I've cut as many as 60 acres of hay with only 30 gal. of fuel. I've never had a crimper roller plug up with hay like my neighbor always did because it's got more power now. "There really wasn't anything difficult about repowering it," adds Hasenkamp, who has about $1,600 and 30 hours invested in the project. Hasenkamp used a 4-cyl. Perkins diesel engine out of a 1968 Massey combine he'd junked. The engine was the only salvageable part of the combine. In order to mount the Perkins engine in the swather's rear engine housing, Hasenkamp had a local machinist make an adapter plate out of 3/8-in. thick steel. "For just $45, he tapped four 318-in. dia. holes in a plate to match up with holes on the swather's universal drive," Hasenkamp says. Hasenkamp had to move the rear castor wheel back 4 in. to make room for the bigger engine. He did so by simply cutting off the old welds on the frame, then rewelding the wheel bracket further back. He found a radiator to fit the swather by accident. While examining his Massey Super 90 diesel tractor, Hasenkamp discovered that the radiator would fit perfectly in the swather. He got another from a salvage yard for $50 and popped it in. "I used the combine's original fuel and return lines because the rubber hoses were just the right length to install in the swather," Hasenkamp says. "I hooked the fuel line up to the motor and sediment bowl. I took the drain plug out of the gas tank and fitted the return line into it." To complete the conversion, Hasenkamp made a new hood out of sheet metal. It had to be longer than the original because the rear wheel had been moved back. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bob Hasenkamp, RR ! Soldier, Kan. 66540 (ph 785-868-2441).

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