Hayfield is cut, and dull teeth

I got my hayfield cut this afternoon.  Everything went well.   The tractor started no problem. I still have no clue why the tractor was difficult to start yesterday.   I figured I had two to three hours left of cutting if things went well.  It took me exactly two hours.  It is nice when things go to plan.

After cutting the field I used an air compressor to blow off all the grass and debris from the haybine and cleaned it up.  That took an hour as I really cleaned the haybine inside and out.   I then looked at the haybine's teeth.  One tooth had a broken tip so I replaced it.   While the hayfield was all cut very cleanly I still looked at the rest of the haybine's teeth.  I noticed some - 10 to 12 - teeth looked like they were started to get dull.  While, again, all the grass and alfalfa was cut well, I decided to replace the teeth that were starting to loose their ridges and look dull.

I had to make sure the teeth I was removing were aligned between the rock guards in order to take them off.

In the following photo the second tooth from the right side was dull.  I don't know why, but the right side of the sickle bar had an extra metal bar on top of the rightmost teeth.  I finally got the dull tooth off, but it took a lot of effort to get the upper metal bar up high enough and then the dull tooth off.

I didn't want to take the entire sickle bar off the haybine even though it would have made removing all the dull teeth easier.  In addition to the section with the extra metal bar, some areas had an extra metal tooth / sickle bar protector and that was more work to remove.  You can partially see what I am talking about in the previous photos on the right side.   In the following photo I already took it off.  It was on the left side.  The larger nuts had bolted it on.

Getting a good metal tooth back on the second to the right was a pain.  A nut had slipped underneath the tooth.  The photos make it look easy to access.  Um.. no.  The wheel that turns and knocked the grass down and towards the teeth  is just above the photos and I had to duck down to access the teeth trying to avoid banging my head or getting poked in the face by the wheel's tines.  And to find the nut under the metal tooth I had to lay my head on the ground to see under the tooth.

This section with the extra metal bar and all the nuts... I lost a nut.  Even using a magnet I couldn't find the nut. Once again something drops into the grass, and if I don't immediately look for it, it disappears. I don't know - it goes back to the alternative universe I was born in before coming to this universe after my head injury?    I had to go get another nut from elsewhere.  

It took me several hours to replace the dull teeth, and make a couple of bolt replacements. 

Other than re-greasing a few areas, my haybine should be ready for next year.

After I put the haybine away I hooked up my rake.  The rows I had cut on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are ready to bale and I raked 2 rows into one; in total 14 rows into 7.  Tomorrow the baling starts.

Also, I counted the number of rows I cut.  Earlier I thought - for some reason - I may have 26 or 27 rows.  Actually the total is 40 rows.