Sickle Bar Help me adjust my JD 350 Sickle Bar

[Casa Del Paca]

First off, I am new to this so please bare with me. I went to an auction the other day and bought a John Deere 350 sickle bar mower (7ft). I am trying to put some equipment together to cut and bale my hay. So, today I get it off of the trailer and hook it up to my JD 4005 tractor. Here's the problem, I just don't understand the process by which you go about adjusting this thing to ride level. There is a big spring that obviously has something to do with the process and a chain on a pulley that hs a ton of slack in it. There is another short chain that I figured attached to the draw bar. Does anyone have one of these and can you help me out? If I need to, I can take and post some pictures tomorrow, just let me know. Please help!

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on the type of rake and square baler that a newbee like me should start with? I can fix a lot of stuff with a manual but I am not overly mechanically inclined. Thanx!

 

[leonz]

Do you have good sod and good grass? Were you going to purchase a hay crimper/conditioner?Perhaps it would be simpler and more cost effective to have the job hired out for you as you are new to this????????


Do you have an integral sickle bar that mounts directly to the three point hitch or a trailing sickle bar mower
or a sickle bar mower that is a mid mountsickle bar mower -mounts in the middle of the tractor under the channel frame on the right side of the tractor???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Depending on the sickle bar mower- it will either be carried by the trailing mount on tires or firectly by the three point hitch and the bar will follow the ground supported by the end board that pulls the cuttings over to the left as it mows(it also prevents the end of the sickle bar from digging in the ground) and it will have a metal skid plate at the left side of the sickle bar next to the Pitman arm(As you are looking at from the rear). The small chain is used to prevent the sickle bar from dropping to far anf possibly figging in as it mows along and the long chain is used to hold the bar up for transporting it safely.

You need to purchase spare teeth. rivets, a spare tooth bar and riveting tools if it is an older sickle bar.

The sickle bar mower rides along the ground surface until it has a conversation
with a rock and then hopefully a set of teeth will not have to be replaced.


Oh Boy!! As you are new to Haying and I have no idea what you can spend
for the task as it is a seasonal task there is a very economical way
to do this if you are intent on doing it your self.


A Wolagri Mini Baler will allow you to bale you hay at a very low cost
and you can make 60 pound mini round bales and then wrap them with white plastic
as you bale them or use a separate bale wrapper

You can purchase small hay rakes for small tractors very economically from Ken Sweet
who is a TBN Forum Sponsor.

The nice thing about the Wolagri Mini Balers is the hay can be baled slightly damp
and wrapped with the white plastic bale wrap and the hay will cure in bale and will
not spoil on you.

BUT saying that you can have your hay baled with the large round and square balers
fairly economically if you provide the Sisal twing and a barbecue afterwards.

 

[TraderMark]

There's a pretty specific prodecure to adjusting a 350 JD.
Do yourself a BIG favor and get an operator's manual. It tells you exactly how to hook the mower to the tractor.
There's a wide stance setting and a narrow stance setting, depending on the width of your tractor.
It will show you how to make the adjustments so the cutter bar will ride level and float when lowered and raise to almost 90* when lifted.

I was about ready to throw my 350 into the scrap pile before I found out how to adjust it properly and now I use it as much as I use almost any other mower on my place.

You can get the owner's manual from JD online.

Mark

 

[Casa Del Paca]

Mark,

Thanks for the reply. What you said is just what I needed to hear! I am ordering the owners manual tonight. Thanks again and take care.

Mark

 

[TraderMark]

A couple other things .....

Forget about rivets and riveting tools. AgriSupply and Tractor Supply both carry knife sections and bolt kits to attach them. It's much easier and simpler to change or replace a section using the bolts.

Don't worry about a Pitman arm. 350's don't have one. They use a belt driven "wobble box" to get the reciprocating motion. This gives you a wide range of cutting angle from almost 90* above horizontal to almost 45* below horizontal.

DO keep that wobble box greased regularly. It is very expensive to repair. You can easily spend $1000 inside the wobble box and there are no aftermarket parts for the wobble box.

Once you get yours set up and adjusted I'll be glad to give you part numbers for aftermarket sections, bolts, guides, hold downs, etc.

Mark