My New Sickle Bar Mower(s)

[Neophyte]

I have been pondering a sickle bar mower but I wasn't sure how much I would use it. I have been looking at them right along but I have been in no hurry to get one. Recently, I stumbled upon one and it seemed too good to pass up.

Used 1998 Enorossi (Enoagricola Rossi) Model BF-210 7' Sickle Bar Mower with Mechanical Lift and Spare Parts

It is a double action sickle bar mower with a safety release mechanism to protect the unit from obstructions in the field. The blade inclination is 90 degrees upward and 75 degrees downward. It weighs 530 lbs. and the HP required is 20-30 HP. It can handle a maximum working speed of 10 MPH.

It must have been stored inside because there was very little corrosion. The 4 arm bearings were recently replaced in late 2005. According to the paperwork, these bearings cost a total of around $200. This seems expensive for these bearings.

Question #1:
Could the bearings really be this expensive? Does anyone out there have any experience with Enorossi parts?

It also included several spare parts. Among the spare parts ... a second nearly-complete BF-210 sickle bar mower! It was like a DoubleMint commercial. He said it was for parts only. I will need to look at it more closely but it seems like it is in nearly working condition "as is". I'm not sure what to do with it at this point. Assuming I can find parts for it, I may get it working and sell it.

This leads me to my other post-purchase questions.

Question #2:
Does anyone happen to know of an Enorossi dealer in Maine?

Question #3
Does anyone know of a good mail-order source for Enorossi parts?

Question #4
The picture of the hydraulic lift kit in the manual only shows one inlet into the hydraulic cylinder (see attached). It also only shows it attaching to a single port on the 3rd SCV. Can someone explain how this would control both up and down with only 1 inlet?

I definitely want to add the Hydraulic Lift kit since I have a 3rd SCV and it makes attachment easier. Assuming it's still available, I plan on ordering this as soon as I find a good source.

Question #5:
I paid $800 for the set. Was this an OK deal?

I will try to post some pictures tomorrow.

In the mean-time, here is the company's link.
Enorossi Sickle Bar Mowers
.

 

[HayDR]

Likely the mower was distributed by Cummings and Bricker, Inc.
Call them and they will point you to a dealer close to you. Some of the G&S wear parts will work on your mower.

 

[Neophyte]

Likely the mower was distributed by Cummings and Bricker, Inc.
Call them and they will point you to a dealer close to you. Some of the G&S wear parts will work on your mower.

Thanks for the lead. I will call them and find some local dealers.

That's good to know about the G&S parts. I was wondering why there were Superior parts (fingers & cutters) in the box of spare parts that he gave me.

 

[Neophyte]

Here are some pictures of the working unit. It seems like a real PITA to hookup. I imagine the hydraulic lift kit would make things a little easier.

 

[Neophyte]

Here are a few pictures of the spare mower. You can see there are a few items missing

 

[Neophyte]

So CCI pointed me in the right direction for questions #2 and #3 of my original post. I will be calling a local Enorossi dealer about question #1.

Does anybody have any input on question #4 about the hydraulics?

My guess about the hydraulic cylinder would be that it only needs hydraulic power to lift it because it let's gravity do the lowering. Is this close? I assume pushing in one direction on my 3rd SCV lever would cause it to lift. Would pushing in the other direction on my 3rd SCV lever release the hydraulic pressure and allow the sickle bar to lower?

How about question #5, did I do OK on this deal? Did I pay too much? I do know that the following site has them advertised for $2,899.00 brand new.

www.WoodwardCrossings.com - Equipment Listings

Does anybody else out there own a Enorossi Sickle Bar mower?

 

[Neophyte]

I heard back from the dealer on the hydraulic lift kit for this unit. The Enorossi Part Number is BFHL. The list price is $370.

 

[wrangler6831]

You got a good deal on it. We used to have one made by Gribaldi Salvia called a "superior". They work good on fields that are clear and will mow as fast as the tractor will carry it plus you never have to clean them off like the older ones. Just be real careful around saplings and small dirt mounds. They break guards like glass if you hit something. Good luck with it. Rich

 

[Tom_Veatch]

"Just be real careful around saplings and small dirt mounds"

And please don't let your dogs run loose while you're using it.

 

[Jerseyguy]

I purchased a new Farmtrac 555 and Enrossi mower June '05 with hydraulic lift and found it to be very handy. I did not use it this year as Upstate NY was very wet and my farmer neighbor did all the mowing for me when it was dry enough. My Farmtrac was delivered with one remote installed and there is only one hook-up for the mower. The lever lifts the sickle bar and the same lever pushed in the opposite direction lowers it. Both motions are very easy to control. My land is all open fields and there are no rocks. I adjusted the top link to tilt the cutter bar knives above horizontal so that I did not cut too close to the ground. This is my retirement hobby. My other tractor is an 8N (no live hydraulics/PTO) and it used a Dearborn 14-16 sickle mower very sucessfully for years, but is harder to hook-up and has not been used for a long time. I would like to find a new home for the 14-16 mower. I also purchased a Woods rotary for the Farmtrac and used that this year, but prefer to mow with the sickle bar.

 

[Neophyte]

wrangler6831,
When you refer to breaking guards like glass, are you referring to the individual tooth guards as seen in picture SBM1-6 above? I noticed that there were a few broken on the unit. The unit included several replacements guards. Have you replaced these before? What is the method for replacing these? It looks like they are riveted in and then the rivets are hammered down flat???

Tom_Veatch,
I have heard the comment about dogs on several occasions. Has someone actually had a bad experience along these lines or were they just close calls?

Jerseyguy,
Do you connect only 1 hydraulic line or are you connecting 2 hydraulic lines? That is, how many hydraulic lines are coming from the lift cylinder on the sickle bar mower? Do you happen to have any pictures you could post?

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Jerseyguy]

There is only one hydraulic line from the mower's hydraulic cylinder. It was attached to one of the tractor's remote couplings of which there are two (there is only one remote on the tractor). This was done at the dealer and I have since taken the mower off the tractor. I think the next time I attach the mower to the tractor I will use the other coupler as I believe this will reverse the actuation lever direction on the tractor. The way it was hooked up by the dealer at delivery, pulling the lever back during operation dropped the sickle bar and pushing it forward raised it. I would prefer to operated the lever to raise the sickle bar by pulling it backward which makes more sense to me. This is logical as the tractor's hydraulic lift lever on the 3-point pulls back to raise and pushes forward or down to lower. I have pictures of the complete hook-up. It would be easier for me to mail you copies as I use dial-up and it is time comsuming to post that way. Let me know where to mail them.

 

[Neophyte]

Jerseyguy,

Thanks for the clarification. I need to order the hydraulic kit sometime in the next couple of weeks. No big hurry since I will not be using this mower until next season. Thanks for offering to send the pictures. I think I will be fine without them for now but I will contact you in the future if I need them.

 

[wrangler6831]

Yes the guards are the part that stick out in front of the knife. When you replace them you actually replace two guards at once. If I'm not mistaken there are two (2) different ones. The ones down where everything rotates have bigger rivets in them, larger diameter. and the rest are all the same. To replace them you have to drill the old rivet out, install the guard with the proper size rivet than mash the snot out of them with a hammer. I always used heat and let them cool real slow and make sure they are down flush.

Rich