Tongue swing cylinder arrangement for rotary side-pull mower-conditioner

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 locking member mounted for being selectively moved to a locking position wherein it is disposed between said tongue and said main frame for preventing retraction of said piston rod from said fully extended position when said tongue is in said transport position.