Need help with sickle

[glockky]

Let me start out by saying I am only 31 and dont have any experience with sickles. I have watched hay be cut with drum and disc mowers pretty much all my farming days.

I recently bought a hesston 1070 mower conditioner. I have been going through it and all the bearing seem to be good and I have been able to get the conditioning rolls properly adjusted.

Problem I am having is with the sickle. The sections are tight against the guards right in middle but about 6 guards one each end have almost a 1/8" gap between the sickle and guards. It is equipped with stub guards.


I would really like to get some acres on the machine to make sure its worth really putting the money into completely rebuilding the sickle.

 

[glockky]

 

[glockky]

 

[flusher]

Check the bar that carries the sickle sections. It looks like it might be bent on the end. That bar on my Massey Ferguson 31 sicklebar was so bent that I had to replace it. Got a piece of steel bar with the correct cross section dimensions, cut it to length, and then mate-drilled holes for the sickle sections. A few hours work. You may be able to straighten the one on your mower to remove those gaps. Otherwise, get a replacement bar.

Sicklebar mowers are a PITA compared to drums and discs.

Good luck

Good luck

 

[stuckmotor]

The comments of Hayman1 at the following site are basically what I remember my grandfather doing with his JD mower.
Sickle Bar mower adjustments - Machinery - HayTalk - Hay & Forage Community
I'm pretty sure he was one of the farmers who beat on the hold down clips as long as it was benificial.

 

[LukeD]

I started out with a sickle mower. I was taught that you gotta straighten them with a hammer. I broke a few guards in the process. But new ones are pretty cheap

 

[powerscol]

Agree with the above. On my IH 1300 sickle mower the manual says to straighten the guards by hitting with a hammer. I found it was easier to remove and use a vice or press with the hammer to accomplish. It may be easier to buy a few new good guards. TSC carry's a lot in stock, so will you AGG dealers. It also appear a lot of you hold downs are out of adjustment. They should be tightened to where a business card barely fits between the guard and knife. You also have several bent knives in the photos. Do you have a manual for the unit? It will give instructions on how to adjust.

WARNING - when working on the bar, be sure the knife section is immobilized. I was shown how to us a big vice grip to lock the knife section in place so it would not move. This way you will have all your fingers when done.

Hope this helps

Last be careful when dry running - be shure to oil (WD40 etc). When cutting the grass works as the lube and cooling

 

[5030]

My backup mower conditioner is a sickle. It has SCH double cut knives and guards and the knives float in the guards. Looks to me (from the pictures) that most of your knives are shot anyway.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I had a 499 for a couple years with opposing sickles. New blades and shim adjustments make a world of a difference. If your stub guards are shot, it might be well worth replacing them. I never did replace mine but I would sometimes end up with a whole pile of grass packed into the hold down clips because the grass would bend and get pulled in instead of being cut against the guard. As you adjust the guards and shims, make sure the sickle moves freely by hand after its lubed up. There is definitely an art to getting a sickle to run correctly. I know my stub guards did not ride up over gopher holes very well and I would usually notice a streak behind the machine if I mowed a hill down. Id have to get off and clean the guards out and pound them back up to keep things in line.