Adding hydraulics to a sickle bar mower

[lighthouse]

Were you able to completely remove the hitch eyelet and cable? I see a length of chain in one of the pictures and wandered if you had to fix that cam solid to use the cylinder. I have the exact same mower and just got all the fittings, cylinder and hoses to make this conversion. Hope it's as simple as it looks.

Thanks

 

[mattv1]

For what it's worth, i just put a cylinder on my 1300 sickle this past weekend.

It worked just fine for several hours until the mount holding the PTO shaft and the drive pulley got bent.

I'm not sure if it was because the spring retainer broke or because the I hit a big hole while maneuvering and working the hydraulics, which caused a sudden "jerk" to my sickle and applied considerable force to the pulley mount.

I heated up the mount with a torch and straightened it up, and I welded a 3/4" plate into the curved section underneath the pulley to strengthen it and keep it from flexing. I also measured the exposed length of the hydraulic shaft with the sickle in the transport position and put a piece of pipe over the hydraulic shaft to keep it from over-retracting. This is just a fail-safe to keep the cylinder itself from bending the mount while raising/storing the sickle.

After my repairs yesterday, I cut several more acres of grass and things work perfectly. I did not use a chain to fix the cam stationery. I did fabricate my own spring retainer and have a fairly high amount of tension on the spring.

I can get pictures, perhaps later today, and post them up.

 

[chickenman]

For what it's worth, i just put a cylinder on my 1300 sickle this past weekend.

It worked just fine for several hours until the mount holding the PTO shaft and the drive pulley got bent.

I'm not sure if it was because the spring retainer broke or because the I hit a big hole while maneuvering and working the hydraulics, which caused a sudden "jerk" to my sickle and applied considerable force to the pulley mount.

I heated up the mount with a torch and straightened it up, and I welded a 3/4" plate into the curved section underneath the pulley to strengthen it and keep it from flexing. I also measured the exposed length of the hydraulic shaft with the sickle in the transport position and put a piece of pipe over the hydraulic shaft to keep it from over-retracting. This is just a fail-safe to keep the cylinder itself from bending the mount while raising/storing the sickle.

After my repairs yesterday, I cut several more acres of grass and things work perfectly. I did not use a chain to fix the cam stationery. I did fabricate my own spring retainer and have a fairly high amount of tension on the spring.

I can get pictures, perhaps later today, and post them up.

the piece of pipe on the piston rod may not be a good idea as the finish may be a micro chrome and the pipe could damage it causing wear and oil leakage

 

[mattv1]

the piece of pipe on the piston rod may not be a good idea as the finish may be a micro chrome and the pipe could damage it causing wear and oil leakage

Appreciate your concern -- should have detailed my actions better for others reading the thread in the future

The piece of pipe is on the "far" or bottom end of the piston rod. I wrapped the rod very thick with black tape and forced the short piece of pipe over the tape. It doesn't move or slide, and the pipe should never actually contact the piston rod surface. All the pipe does is keep the cylinder from retracting the last ~3 inches and bending the sickle frame.

thanks!

 

[Odenkirk]

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