Crop conditioner hood with integrated swathboard

A crop conditioning system for a harvesting apparatus, the crop conditioning system comprising:

• a crop conditioning element;
• a hood moveable toward and away from the crop conditioning element to define a gap therebetween;
• an adjustment mechanism attached to and moveable with the hood;
• a swathboard attached to and moveable with the hood during movement of the hood toward and away from the crop conditioning element, wherein the swathboard is rotatably attached to the hood for movement about a swathboard axis relative to the hood between a plurality of operating positions of the swathboard;
• wherein the adjustment mechanism includes a connecting link attached to the swathboard and operable to rotate the swathboard relative to the hood about the swathboard axis between each of the plurality of operating positions of the swathboard, wherein the connecting link is configured to maintain each of the plurality of operating positions of the swathboard relative to the hood during movement of the hood toward and away from the crop conditioning element.

A crop conditioning system for a harvesting apparatus, the crop conditioning system comprising:

• a crop conditioning element;
• a hood moveable toward and away from the crop conditioning element to define a gap therebetween;
• a swathboard attached to and moveable with the hood, wherein the swathboard is operable to maintain an operating position relative to the hood during movement with the hood toward and away from the crop conditioning element;
• wherein the swathboard is rotatably attached to the hood for movement about a swathboard axis between a plurality of operating positions relative to the hood;
• an adjustment mechanism attached to and moveable with the hood, wherein the adjustment mechanism is coupled to the swathboard and operable to rotate the swathboard relative to the hood and about the swathboard axis between each of the plurality of operating positions;
• and
• wherein the adjustment mechanism includes a handle rotatable about a handle axis, and a connecting link extending between and interconnecting the handle and the swathboard, wherein the connecting link is attached to the handle at an upper connection location that is radially offset from the handle axis, and wherein the connecting link is attached to the swathboard at a lower connection location that is radially offset from the swathboard axis.