Raising/Lowering Sicklebar, NH 451

[Glenn9643]

I finally received an owners manual for my recent purchase but still have questions.
Apparently this mower is designed to ride on the inner and outer "skid plates" while cutting. I need to raise or lower the cutterbar while cutting in order to trim ditchbanks and around the pond. Does anyone know if a kit is available to add hydraulic lift to this mower, or has anyone modified their sicklebar to add this feature? I believe I could make something work but also question whether the small amount of deflection in the bar while not supported on the end would cause problems. Any advise out there? Thanks.

 

[RickB]

Properly attached and adjusted, your mower will do what you are asking as equipped. No extras needed. As long as you don't stress the bar by catching it on stuff and travelling at high speed over rough ground with the bar in the operating position but lifted off the ground, it will perform well.

 

[Glenn9643]

RickB,
Thanks for the reassurance. I'm pretty sure that the lift cable isn't the proper one for the mower but will have to look at a parts manual to be sure. The only mention that I can find in the owners manual of the lift cable is the area pertaining to adjusting the "offset" of the mower, and that indicates which holes to put the lift cable attachment in on the strap and to put the spring bolt in. Do you know the proper routing and attachment of the lift cable? I'm aware of where it is fastened on the cutterbar end, but where it attaches after going through the pulley has me buffaloed. I think if I can figure this out the other adjustments are pretty well explained in the manual.

 

[kensfarm]

On the NH 450.. I could only raise the sickle bar 2-3 ft off the ground by raising the 3pt. Probably because of the current adjustments settings.. the lifting mechanism bottoms out on the sickle mower.. and will not continue to raise up. I ran a test along the road banks & ditches.. the sickle bar will raise/lower to the contour of the ground.. but I thought the sickle bar should be able to raise to a 45 degree angle by raising the 3pt. How closely do the 450 & 451 resemble each other.. I could take a picture of the cable setup on the 450 if you'd like. The road banks I did the test cut on.. had never been mowed for the 5 years I've lived here.. it was pretty thick.. a few times I had to back up to free the built up grass the bar was dragging.. even small(thumb size) trees didn't cause any problems.

 

[Glenn9643]

Ken,
Apparently there's little difference between the two models. I found this over in ytmag
"The real main difference between the two is the bearing setup in the pitman unit. The 450 used needle bearings and the 451 uses tapered roller bearings. 450 pitmans are easier to work on, but then again, you will probably need to work on them more often. However, the 451 pitman unit is NOT failure proof either."
I need help with figuring out how/where the lift cable should attach. It's a no-brainer at the cutterbar end and is clearly shown in the owners manual, but the other end isn't illustrated and I can't figure where it should connect or how to provide lift to the cutterbar. All help is sincerelly appreciated!
By the way, have you ordered an owners manual? You might try the NH phone number. I thought they were a little expensive, but I believe they're cheaper than the link I sent you.

Glenn
Thought I'd edit this to add that Orange_guy emailed me some pictures of his 451. It looks like the cable attaches to the lower left arm of the 3ph "yoke" (left from behind the tractor).

 

[DK_Farms]

Glenn9643, it sounds like you're having way too much trouble getting that darned old sickle mower set up right. A nice guy like you doesn't deserve that kind of headache. Tell ya what. Why don't I just run up there and take that old thing off your hands so that you can go and buy yourself a brand new one. Not that I need or want a sickle mower mind you, I'm just trying to help a fella out. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[kensfarm]

Glen.. edited the picture to lighten it up. I drew an arrow to where the cable attaches. At the bottom (of the "small horse shoe" piece that connects to the tractors toplink hitch) is where the cable attaches.. when the 3pt is raised.. the "horse shoe" piece is stationary.. the main sickle unit raises.. forces the piece of metal the cable is connected to rotate.. and pulls on the cable... raising the sickle bar.

I haven't ordered the manual yet.. thankyou for the number. I was busy re-working an old cultivator.. replaced all the old "C" tines w/ "S" tines and new 9 inch sweeps.. it worked great.. I left more corn standing than I wiped out.

Glen does your 451 have the setup to connect a conditioner behind the sickle mower.. I've never seen one.. does anyone have a picture of a sicklebar mower conditioner?

 

[kensfarm]

Read the Yesterday's post and answered my own question.. still would like to see a picture of the crimper/conditioner that would hook up to the sickle mower if anyone has one.

 

[rambler]

Do you have the pto stub & hitch point on the back of your mower? I think just a regular ol' NH conditioner hooks right up to it, nothing special about them?

--->Paul

 

[Glenn9643]

Ken,
I'm thinking that there's a small part or two missing relating to the lift cable assembly. Does the cable just run through a "bolt-hole" and then clamped off? I really can't make it out from the picture. The cables on mine are just wrapped over the round horizonal tubing of the frame but looking at the pictures from Orange_guy the cable appears to go over the tubing to the bottom of the "horseshoe" or yoke piece. On the cutterbar end the cable is attached around a teardrop shaped piece (don't know what to call it) that favors a pulley but is stationary and designed to accept the cable. This piece is visible in the attached photo. Should there be a similar piece on the other end to fasten the cable around? My mower has the PTO stub on the rear but I haven't noticed a hitch point, but haven't been thinking about that yet, so it may be there.

DK_Farms,
I appreciate the offer to "help me out" but I've not really started tinkering with the mower yet. I've been pretty busy with other things and have pretty much put off setting the mower up until I think I have what I need. I have a owners manual and ordered a parts manual that should be here in a few days. I'm hoping the pictures in the parts manual are better than what I've had in the owners manual. I spent all morning with a landscape rake dragging wild water primrose out of the pond and hauling it to my compost pile. Wouldn't you know there was one last bit I had to try to get to and the tractor slipped into the pond! It was about up the floorboard but not over the transmission vent. The neighbor came down with his old JD 60 and we got it out OK. The wife took some pictures so I'll probably post them in a few days.