Adding Hydraulics to Sickle Mower

[Ghost River Retrievers]

I have, hopefully, weed-eated for the last time around my lake ... I'm buying a sickle mower.

From the research I've done so far, it looks like a (used) 6' or 7' Ford 501 should work just fine on my NH TC35.
According to the specs, the sickle blade can go from 35 degrees up to 35 degrees below horizontal.
My question is whether I can add hydraulics to adjust the angle of the sickle blade? And, if so, what the price range of the add-on should be?

(I have to get another hydraulic line added to my tractor, but I've already priced that and it won't break the bank.)

Thanks for any information, help, suggestions, and ideas!
GRR

 

[countrybumpkin]

I think you would be better off with a balance head mower instead of one with the pitman arm drive. A balance head will run at any angle. If your going to go to the effort of converting one to hydraulic lift it would work out much better. I found a very nice case IH 1300 for cheap and converted it to hydraulic. The one thing about them is you can buy a bolt on hydraulic conversion if you don't want to fab one up.

 

[Ghost River Retrievers]

Okay, I like that thought!
In addition to mowing the bank around my lake, I have a terrace which surrounds two sides of my property ... I think it was a CCC project to help keep silt out of tributaries to the MS River. It needs mowing too. The terrace is about 4' high in some places and has an incline of around 45 degrees, so the "any angle" would be even better for my purposes.
Thanks for the information and the better idea!
I'll keep looking around!
Thank you!

Anybody else got any other thoughts?

 

[ovrszd]

Yep, I think you've confused your information. The 501 is a pitman stick mower and will not mow at severe angles. The 515 is belt drive and will move vertically if desired.

Not sure why you want hydraulic lift??

 

[Ghost River Retrievers]

Yep, I think you've confused your information. The 501 is a pitman stick mower and will not mow at severe angles. The 515 is belt drive and will move vertically if desired.

Not sure why you want hydraulic lift??

It's likely that I got the model # wrong ... I tried to recall it from memory (I usually write stuff like that down, for obviously good reasons).

As for hydraulic lift, maybe I'm thinking about it wrong ... the bank on the lake goes from almost flat (at the natural overflow point) to a pretty steep angle along the 5' high dam, then around the rest of the lake the bank varies to all angles in between. So my thinking was that with the hydraulic lift, I could vary the angle of the blade as needed from my seat instead of getting down and adjusting it manually each time.
Right?
Wrong?

Also, would a NH 451 work on the angles?

Thanks!!!

 

[ovrszd]

The sickle bar slides along the ground on two shoes. One next to the frame where the hinge is. One at the outward end of the bar. As terrain changes, so does the bar keeping it at the designated cutting height.

I guess a system could be designed to elevate the bar above that.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I'd be looking HARD for a New Holland 451, they will operate at ANY angle and are built to last!

Mines been problem free...

SR

 

[bigdeano]

I put a hyd cylinder on my old IH 7' sickle mower to raise the bar to it's upright position. Handy as heck for going thru gates etc. That bar is heavy for an old guy and dangerous to get fingers close to those knives.

 

[Texasmark]

One thing to keep in mind. The mower extends 6-7' (whichever you select) from the right rear tractor tire. If you use the tractor tire as the center of a circle (lock the left brake for a minimum diameter circle), the radius is 6-7' plus the width of the tractor, plus the setback of the lift arms plus the implement distance from the lift arms to the cutter.....some 7+4+3 = 14' or thereabouts.....haven't measured lately.

Therefore you need to plan well ahead of where you are cutting especially if you have trees around your pond, or if you think you are going to use it to mow along your fence rows with posts spaced 6-12'. Having been there and done that, several times (some people never learn) I non longer have one on the property.

What I currently use is the tow behind string trimmer that numerous companies produce and market....www has them listed. It works very well on pond banks and fence rows.

Couple of things that make it desirable, it's light weight and either pivots and an attached spring returns it to it's original position immediately after you pass the obstruction, or if you chain it rigid like I did, it just slides out of the way (built in deflector bar) and immediately assumes the previous position.

On pond banks you can position it far to the side whereby it will ride varying degrees (adjustable setting) to the side of the towing vehicle so that you can keep the tow machine on hard ground while the string trimmer slides down the bank as far as you want to cut in the mud....even into the water with no problems.

Best of all..........................you have NO SICKLE to maintain!

Obviously the above is my opinion based on my experiences. Obviously others have their opinions based on their experiences. To each his own!

Edit: Now the caveat: Most non production/harvesting vehicular traffic is not through the fields but along the edges where the fence rows are located. What grows along any fence row as time passes? How to you position your sickle bar when going from place to place? Guess what? The gearbox IS cast iron, but cast iron can and will break................;

 

[Ghost River Retrievers]

Texasmark,
Thanks for the information and caveats!
Fortunately, I have no trees around the pond, so it's relatively clear sailing from that perspective.
I've looked at the tow behind string trimmers (e.g., DR tow behind), but don't know how well that type could navigate down the relatively steep dam. With the NH 451, according to the specs, the blade can angle down 70 degrees from horizontal. Although I wish that the dam wasn't so steep, my wishes don't make it so ....
As for the fence line, I'd like to have that tow behind string trimmer, but that'll have to wait. I only have to maintain the fence line along the front of my place, so there's not as much lineage to cover as there is around the pond.
If I'm missing something about the tow behinds, please let me know.
Thanks,
GRR