HYDRAULIC CONDITIONER ROLL TENSION IN PULL-TYPE MOWER CONDITIONER

A pull-type mower conditioner (10) includes a crop cutting assembly (16) that severs crop material from the ground and a lift mechanism (24) configured to raise and lower the crop cutting assembly to a desired height having at least one lift cylinder (26) and a hydraulic lift circuit (28) supplying hydraulic fluid to the at least one lift cylinder. The mower conditioner also includes a conditioning mechanism (22) receiving the severed crop material from the crop cutting assembly. The conditioning mechanism includes a pair of counter-rotating conditioning rolls (30,32) to condition the crop material and a tensioning assembly (42) that urges the conditioning rolls relatively toward one another and resists their separation. The tensioning assembly includes a pair of hydraulic tension cylinders (52,54) and a hydraulic conditioner circuit (70) configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the tension cylinders. The hydraulic tension circuit has a supply line (72) leading to a supply valve (74), wherein the supply line connects to the lift circuit.