Which sickle for a BX2230?

[kkesler]

Looking around for an older used sickle mower for my BX2230, and there seems to be so much difference in mounting I think I should ask just what will fit. Been shopping around for a while, and there just aren't many that come up in Georgia so I will most likely have to buy one and have it shipped (without putting my hands on it to be sure it will fit). Don't need/can't use hydraulics.

 

[studway]

I have a 7' Sitrex 3ph sickle bar mower I use on a bigger tractor, but they make a 5'6" version of it that I bet would work great on a BX. It weighs 485 lbs. and requires 15 hp at the pto. In the northeast there are a lot of used Sitrex sickle bars available.

If you buy a new one try to get it already assembled. That mower was the most difficult thing I have ever put together in my entire life, by far. It's Italian-made and had basically no directions. Works very well though.

 

[kkesler]

Thanks. Definitely looking for used (and hopefully cheap). I see Ford 501 and NH 451 out there on ebay, but no clue if they will indeed work on the BX. I seem to recall something about the 501 needing longer arms.

 

[studway]

I would be very surprised if any 5 foot sickle didn't fit on a BX. The Ford and NH sickles jam more often than the Italian sickles, but I believe they are much more robust. I see a lot of old NH sickles, I rarely see old Italian sickles. Mine is bent all out of shape after 5 years of very hard use in overgrown orchards. It does still work fine, though. I like my Sitrex, but if I had it to do again I'd probably pay the extra $$ for a NH. Not a cheap implement.

 

[Tom_H]

If you don't mind my asking, what are the exact conditions in which you will use it? Sicklebars are more expensive and maintainance intensive than rough cutters, but there are certain conditions in which the sicklebar is preferable: harvesting, getting under fence lines, etc.

 

[OrangeGuy]

A New Holland 451 will not fit on your BX. There is not enough space between the 3pt upper arms to accommadate the sickle bar lift yoke.

OrangeGuy

 

[kkesler]

If you don't mind my asking, what are the exact conditions in which you will use it? Sicklebars are more expensive and maintainance intensive than rough cutters, but there are certain conditions in which the sicklebar is preferable: harvesting, getting under fence lines, etc.

Kudzu around a pond. The banks are quite steep.

A New Holland 451 will not fit on your BX. There is not enough space between the 3pt upper arms to accommadate the sickle bar lift yoke.

OrangeGuy

Thanks! That's good info, the kind I need.

 

[Tom_H]

Kudzu around a pond. The banks are quite steep.

Gotcha, that would be a place a brush hog couldn't do the job and sickle is the a good application. That does remind me of the big cab tractor I saw yesterday with a flail on a huge long boom, mowing the shoulders of the road.

 

[Volfandt]

Sicklebars are more expensive and maintainance intensive than rough cutters, but there are certain conditions in which the sicklebar is preferable: harvesting, getting under fence lines, etc.

Also add mowing steep banks and around ponds.

I'd like to find a great deal on a 5' sicklebar mower for my BX23 but the 50" on my little 876 does a pretty good job reaching where my finish mowers won't. Plus it's cut my weed eater time dramatically, my back really likes that

 

[Tom_H]

Nice little rig V.F.