Patent ID: 7047714

Claim:
In a side-pull mower-conditioner including a wheel-supported main frame, a header suspended from the main frame, a draft tongue extending over said header and having a rear end pivotally mounted to an upper location of said main frame and establishing an upright axis about which the tongue may swing when moving between a transport position, wherein the front end of the tongue is located in front of the mower-conditioner so that the mower-conditioner will trail entirely within a path traversed by a towing tractor, an extreme working position, wherein the front end of the tongue is positioned to the left of the header a distance sufficient for the towing tractor to operate beside uncut crop, and a hydraulic actuator coupled between said main frame and said tongue and having a cylinder carrying an extensible and retractable piston rod for moving said tongue between said transport and working positions, the improvement comprising: said hydraulic actuator being positioned leftward of said upright axis and said piston rod being fully extended when said tongue is in said transport position and fully retracted when said tongue is in said extreme working position; and a stop arrangement including a stop structure provided for selective engagement with said piston rod for limiting retraction of said piston rod for disposing said tongue in a pre-selected working position rightward of said extreme working position.