Sickle Bar Barn Find - Sickle Bar Mower

[Creamer]

Been mowing on a regular basis with it. The edge of my pond looks better than it ever has because it has been cut three times already this year. i just did not get to it often enough with a string trimmer.

i still need to get a hydraulic cylinder on it though. It is a pain not having a lift. two much plugging when going over previously mowed plant matter!

 

[Creamer]

Been mowing on a regular basis with it. The edge of my pond looks better than it ever has because it has been cut three times already this year. i just did not get to it often enough with a string trimmer.

i still need to get a hydraulic cylinder on it though. It is a pain not having a lift. two much plugging when going over previously mowed plant matter!

 

[yelbike]

Been mowing on a regular basis with it. The edge of my pond looks better than it ever has because it has been cut three times already this year. i just did not get to it often enough with a string trimmer.

i still need to get a hydraulic cylinder on it though. It is a pain not having a lift. two much plugging when going over previously mowed plant matter!

Pictures please? Or even better, a YouTube video with a link. I always like to see old iron still at work, I doubt I'm the only one too.

 

[Creamer]

I will try to have my wife get a video. It still does not look that good. I put my efforts into the functional this spring and will get the rest later.

 

[davel8257]

I've mowed the road side in front of the property and up to the corner -- cleared around the corner to improve visibility at the intersection. It's all looking pretty good. I stay plenty far away from neighbors' fence and mail boxes just to be on the safe side.

Each time I put it on and take it off, it gets a bit easier and everything works like it should.

 

[Creamer]

With my 1710 the drawbar is way to short so I bought a drawbar for the 3pt and hooked the mower up there. This works except that I do not have any down pressure on the 3 pt and since the mower is very tail heavy I have to chain the 3 pt down to the drawbar which is a big hassle. Any suggestions?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

With my 1710 the drawbar is way to short so I bought a drawbar for the 3pt and hooked the mower up there. This works except that I do not have any down pressure on the 3 pt and since the mower is very tail heavy I have to chain the 3 pt down to the drawbar which is a big hassle. Any suggestions?

a picture or 2 would be nice, but I don't have any easy suggestions. Short of some cutting, fab and re-welding the mounting frame.

 

[crowbar032]

With my 1710 the drawbar is way to short so I bought a drawbar for the 3pt and hooked the mower up there. This works except that I do not have any down pressure on the 3 pt and since the mower is very tail heavy I have to chain the 3 pt down to the drawbar which is a big hassle. Any suggestions?

Why wouldn't you just attach it to the drawbar? Why use the 3-pt hitch?

 

[Creamer]

Why wouldn't you just attach it to the drawbar? Why use the 3-pt hitch?

Because the drawbar is way too short - by about 12". It is not a quick detach and a longer one would be in the way of other implements.

 

[crowbar032]

Because the drawbar is way too short - by about 12". It is not a quick detach and a longer one would be in the way of other implements.

Ahhh, I must have missed that. I agree those drawbars can be a pain to take on and off. My 35 and 150 have pins that you have to crawl up under the tractor to get to. And I've mashed my fingers more than once getting the hole alligned.

Could you get put some sort of weight on the tongue to make it less tail heavy and more balanced?

 

[Creamer]

It does have a conditioner hitch that I am planning on taking off which will help but the only other option I can think of is adding weight as you suggested. The right tire on the mower is a long ways forward to have room for the break away feature but this puts the pivot point too far forward as well. Basically in front of the tires is just the drawbar and the PTO shaft. The whole drive mechanism, cutter bar, break away mechanism, gearbox, etc are behind the pivot point.

I never thought about this when I bought it. We did not have this problem with the JD37 and IH 1100 we had at home when i was growing up.

 

[Creamer]

OK Yelbike, here are the videos of me cutting around my pond. Be careful how you talk about her though - I am not sure she would like to be called "old iron". The way she runs I don't think she thinks of herself that way>

20130811 1548281] - YouTube
20130811 1546241] - YouTube

 

[Creamer]

Here are some better videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqsd8yIGMXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKKeCkr9Jck

 

[Creamer]

Here are some better videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqsd8yIGMXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKKeCkr9Jck

 

[R W]

I tried hooking it up to my Ford 1710 this evening and it is obvious the drawbar is too short. .

From the end of the (tractor) PTO shaft to the centre of the drawbar pin there is a correct distance that trailing PTO machines should be hitched at, the machine
manufacturer or dealership should be able to tell you this.
Often the tractor drawbar is close enough, if not a special hitch may have to be made for the tractor to obtain the correct distance.
Altering the length of the drawbar on the machine will not work.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Here are some better videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqsd8yIGMXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKKeCkr9Jck

Good job. Beautiful place!

 

[Verticaltrx]

Thanks for the videos. I've mowed many acres with my uncles NH 455 in years past, and have a NH 451 that I mow all my hay with nowadays. They are some of the best sickle bar mowers ever made IMO. I would really like to get one of the trailer type mowers, but they just weren't as popular in this part of the country. The hitch/wheel setup on those is a little odd, but man will they turn a nice square corner (better than the 3pt model even).

One bit of advice, and it may just be the sound in the video, but it sounds like your mower is rattling a lot louder than a NH mower generally should. I had mine do that an it turned out the bolt that holds the knife to the drive plates was getting loose and wallowing out the hole. Wear in the bearings can also cause a louder rattling noise. I doubt there is any problem with yours, but I'd check those things just in case.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for the videos. I've mowed many acres with my uncles NH 455 in years past, and have a NH 451 that I mow all my hay with nowadays. They are some of the best sickle bar mowers ever made IMO. I would really like to get one of the trailer type mowers, but they just weren't as popular in this part of the country. The hitch/wheel setup on those is a little odd, but man will they turn a nice square corner (better than the 3pt model even).

One bit of advice, and it may just be the sound in the video, but it sounds like your mower is rattling a lot louder than a NH mower generally should. I had mine do that an it turned out the bolt that holds the knife to the drive plates was getting loose and wallowing out the hole. Wear in the bearings can also cause a louder rattling noise. I doubt there is any problem with yours, but I'd check those things just in case.

I noticed that noise too. You might to see where the slop is coming from. As always, keep your fingers out of the knife sections if you like them.

 

[Creamer]

From the end of the (tractor) PTO shaft to the centre of the drawbar pin there is a correct distance that trailing PTO machines should be hitched at, the machine
manufacturer or dealership should be able to tell you this.
Often the tractor drawbar is close enough, if not a special hitch may have to be made for the tractor to obtain the correct distance.
Altering the length of the drawbar on the machine will not work.

The drawbar is way too short. I put a bar in the 3 pt and then locked the 3 pt down as it has no downforce and mower is tailheavy. This made it all work. It is kind of a pain to hook up but other than that it works fine.

 

[Creamer]

One bit of advice, and it may just be the sound in the video, but it sounds like your mower is rattling a lot louder than a NH mower generally should. I had mine do that an it turned out the bolt that holds the knife to the drive plates was getting loose and wallowing out the hole. Wear in the bearings can also cause a louder rattling noise. I doubt there is any problem with yours, but I'd check those things just in case.

I agree that it is louder than it was last year and I need to check it. Two things that are making noise although not the rattle you are talking about are the PTO shield and the bolt at the sickle head is slightly long and rubbing just a little making a knocking noise. Still I need to find the rattle.