NH 499 haybine

I sold my 9 foot side pull haybine last week so now I have to get serious about buying a new mower conditioner. I have been kicking around some ideas for the past couple weeks.....anything from a NH 499 haybine to a center pivot disc mower conditioner to a used self propelled machine. A center pivot machine is a must be it sickle or disc.

I was really thinking about taking the plunge into a disc mower conditioner but have came across a lightly used NH 499 haybine for just a little bit more than what I sold my side pull for. I don't know much about a 499.....can anyone tell me some of the ins and outs of the machine and if they had any problems?

The particular machine machine I'm looking at has a 1000 rpm pto pump which isn't too big of a deal for me even though nothing else I have is 1000 rpm because I can put it on a tractor that isn't used for much other pto work. The trouble is that resell value around here would be seriously hurt because almost nobody has equipment that runs on a 1000 rpm pto. Does anyone know how feasible it would be to switch it to 540? I was thinking since it a pto pump all I might have to change would be the pump itself?

Hayden

NH 499 haybine