Hydraulic cylinder replacement for Gage Rod on IH 1300 sickle mower.

[powerscol]

In several post during my search there has been a reference to a post where someone just replaced the gage rod on and IH 1300 sickle mower to get bar lift. I know Rowes make an adapter set to do this, but it seem complicated. I in my searches I cannot find the post with the details.

Can the folks that have done this post pictures and details of how it was done, such as the cylinder used and parts?
Also what did you do with the draw bar lift cable, was it removed?

Thanks

 

[mattv1]

Long ago i found the below pics and information -- this is what I used to do the swap myself.

If you do this this I would advise using flow restricters on both sides of the cylinder.I used 1/16 flow restricters on my IH1300 after I found that under normal operating pressure the cutter goes up and down extremly fast. I really like this setup, On my IH1300 you can control the cutter to cut horizontal or vertical or anywhere in between. This makes it nice for cutting back brush up to 1" diameter on trails or along roads.

This cylinder is 2" with a 16" stroke. It took the place of a 5/8 curved rod. I had to measure with the cutter up and down then figure what cylinder to use.

i took the draw bar cable and pulley completely off.

 

[powerscol]

Thanks so much - how do you control the free float while mowing where the bar normally rides on the base and outboard shoe and follows the land contour off of the balance spring?

 

[powerscol]

Second question is parts source? Did you fabricate the cylinder mounting ends, or were they apart of the cylinder purchase?
Thanks for the great help.

 

[mattv1]

mounting ends were on the cylinder.

I left the remote in 'float' mode when down and it just followed the terrain.

 

[powerscol]

Thanks - could you please look up the part number on the cylinder for me - Thanks
Merry Christmas

 

[mattv1]

Grizzly Tie Rod Cylinder, 16 Stroke x 2 in. dia. - Tractor Supply Co.

any 2x16 cylinder should work fine though.

 

[powerscol]

Sweet - Thank you so much - Keith
Merry Christmas

 

[powerscol]

mattv1

Question - when you go to lift the bar, do you need to lift the unit up by the 3pt a bit, to allow the inner shoe to rotate freely? Just wondering as with the Rowes set up. it lifts the shoe first, than then the bar.

 

[mattv1]

For clearing clogs I just moved the cylinder, for raising to travel position i would lift 3 point and then move the cylinder to almost vertical -- i'd push it the rest of the way over by hand and secure it with a bolt and retainer clip.

I only used it for 1 season, and that was either 2 years ago Things are a bit foggy with respect to specifics of operations