Man you got the cream of the crop for your first mower, I started out with a 6'pitmonrod mower. When you go to the field you carry 3 pitmonrods with you and hope that would be enough to cut a 20 acre field. I can still remember my dad getting that new high speed belt drive mower ,$1800.00. No more wooden pitmonrods for us to replace plus you could do 20 acres in 5 hours instead of days. Then Santa came early 2 years later and brought us the new Holland 273 Hayliner . Believe the year was 1972. And believe it or not we still have and use that equipment ever year since then . Put up 3200 bales this summer, year 2020. Would love to have a disc mower and round baler .but the stuff we have works fine .my dad at 85 is teaching his great grandson ro use his old equipment.
You need to adjust cutter bar. The outside end should be farther forward then head end. They call it cutter bar lead. They also make special hold downs for bolt on sickle sections. The A frame should adjusted so frame is 17 inches off the ground. The hand clutch is your live pto on AC tractors. You’ll get used to it as you mow more. Grass is hardest to cut verses alfalfa or clover.
Looks like he has it tilted back to far. Also, no need to grind off the rivet heads, put the edge of your bar on your vice with the blade pointing down and hit the top of the blade, the rivets will snap off.
I mowed a many of acres with a Wd45 and a number 5 John Deere sickle mower. Talk about a pain to hook something up now that was a job. On that old mower we could change ledger plates don't know about the one in the video if you could.
I found running the RPM high and being in a lower gear, running fast enough that the grass would bend over the sickle bar and fall off the back always worked best for me. But like everything else it's just one person's opinion. Great Video and thank you.
Yeah right, when you're behind them for 16hr a day only getting 30acre done in a few days(maybe) you'll wish you had a tractor , I do like horses for light logging, they seem to do well in that
@@johndowe7003 I would absolutely love working horses. I'm 47 and on hospice care for heart disease. So I guess I'm stuck using a tractor if I do anything about it, but in my heart I can try to do anything and it would be with a draft horse. Just trying to Bring life back to the basics.
Those are some good old tools. Have to be careful and not get your fingers in the wrong place. Keep up the good work and stay safe. - Tom “Outdoors and Country Living”.
Lots of memories using these mowers. First was a converted horse drawn ground drive type which cut our dogs leg off when he jumped over it while it was being lifted. He could still run just as fast on 3 legs. Then we bought a new Massey Ferguson mower. Cut hay for years with that one. Have to keep sharp blades and ledger plates in them. Keep the revs up. Not many folks use them anymore. They’re noisy with that pitman arm going back and forth.
Thanks Evan for making this interesting. I really admire how you show all the steps to your problem solving skills. I'm a city kid but now sickle bar mower is in my vocabulary! Thanks again for your wholesome videos!
I ran one of those for years. the cutter bar and the teeth act together as a pair of scissors to make a clean cut. just like a pair of scissors, if they are too lose, things get caught in between the two pieces and doesn't cut. I never had any luck turning either. it drags the bar and tends to clog up things. grass too isn't as sturdy so doesn't cut near as well as stemmed forage like your hay field. it was great seeing this in action and all the maintenance you did. can't believe you mentioned the wabble box. I remember greasing that. I thought there was one of the grease fittings that was easier to reach on it when the cutter bar was folded up.
When I was growing up that is the only kind of hay mower there was. They cut good but take a lot of maintenance and sharpening. Changing out the sections and wear plates is an all day job. But I loved seeing you cut hay with that thing.
Hi Evan We cut about 6000 large round bales worth a year with these NH 451 mowers, and on rough Stoney land… my tips for you are.1.leave those feet stands at home in the shed,so they will always be in good shape when you need them. 2. Throw those gaurds away, and replace them with 221 gaurds. 3. And as a previous commenter said , there are adjustable knife hold down clips that will keep your knife closer to the guard,so it will cut better, and stay sharper longer. Keeping a mower cutting well is somewhat of an art, and I can see you have a good eye for troubleshooting. Enjoy your videos
Your videos are very interesting. If I stopped to visit here and saw that you were demonstrating some new pieces of equipment I would have scooted on by. The fact that you are learning using equipment decades old pays honor to farmers who learned to be productive using this equipment as it was back then. Keep up the good work. Thanks for your very interesting posts.
Ran one of those sickle mowers for years. Process is every 50 or 100 ft stop, lift bar, reverse, to get a drag of grass out stuck on the far end. Oh, and losing a section and having to replace a blade and rivet it back. It's really fun whenever one runs over a bumblebee nest. Rivets are used so if you hit something hard it'll shear the rivets on whatever blade(s). Bolts are too hard and might ruin your entire bar-and could possibly transfer that to the wobble box and then you'll have BIG problems. You can buy section rivets at any farm supply store. Dad welded a special riveting template out of an old pulley with a bolt that had a cupped end-perfect for holding the rivet while you flatten the bottom with a hammer. Once when I was 12 Dad told me to 'get as close to the treeline as you can'. I ended up getting caught on a sapling that snapped the ears off the hydraulic lift cylinder and didn't even finish one round. Dad wasn't happy when I came back is all I can say. We ended up transplanting another cylinder from our planter but Dad said 'okay, don't get so close to the treeline' after he personally opened up everything for me. I was chagrined to say the least.
I bought one several years ago and was so frustrated I bought a disk mower. I've wanted to get it out and repair it and learn how to use it. This helped.
The sides of the rock guards can wear also making a round edge where the sickle sections slide back and forth. That will cause it to plug with grass also. I never oiled the cutter bar. Dampness will cause it to plug also. Need the dew dried off when using a sickle mower. You'l be wanting a manual.
Yay! Glad to see it working! You and Rebekah are great examples of how anything can be accomplished, if you are willing to take the time to learn. Can't wait for the next video!
I cut lots of hay with a Ford 501 mower mounted on a Case VAC narrow front, no live power. I found that new rock guards that were pounded up to barely clear the sections gave a perfect cutting machine. When it took some effort to pull the sickle out, everything was right and a real loose sickle meant trouble. And those guards need to be close all the way down the bar. Seems that the outside end and inside end were the ones that wore quickest.
Evan, I saw a video yesterday of a sickle bar mower and the gentleman said to stop clogging he adjusted the shoes to run the leading edge a little higher on the front and lower on the back and the grass fell off better. a higher RPM in a lower gear was another tip I saw.
Well done the first time. This type of mowing on flat terrain reminds me of my childhood and for steep terrain, a motor-driven bar mower was operated by hand, which was really hard work. The old times, not even easy to work there💫☘️🥬
Very nice as usual. I have been getting used to using my older tractor (1979 Ford 3600) and it's been quite a learning curve. When I push the clutch in the tractor doesn't stop like you think it will. The spinning of say a rotary cutter (bush/brush hog) will still propel the tractor forward until it spins down. It could be a very dangerous situation if you're not used to it. My learning curve was much larger compared to learning to use a "modern" (2018) John Deere tractor. I remember using the sickle cutters in our alfalfa fields as a kid. My ignorant self thought that "that's the way they still do it".
great video. my sickle bar is mutch smaller than yours(and my ford 1210 tractor also) but you got the same problems as i have with the mower. so i sharpend the knifes and greased everything and now it mowe perfect
We used to run a sickle bar and it wasn't cutting good. I thought it was just worn out (about 50 yrs old). My dad looked at it and said he knew what was wrong. He had me run the bar while I was on the tractor running the cutter. He stood behind the bar and looking down could see the phasing (for lack of a better term) was wrong. He adjusted it by loosening some nuts so the blade would move front/back and then got on the end of the blade and moved it forward and back until the blade changed direction when it was fully covered by the guard. He tightened it down and it cut like a champ. You can easily see if it is correct by looking directly down at the blade while running. You can't do this from the seat. If the blade changes direction outside the guard it needs adjustment. Just be sure to be on the back side of the blade when inspecting! And as noted above, make $amn sure your fingers aren't inside the guard when you lift the blade. If the blade is in the extended position, it will fall back due to gravity and cut off anything in its path. A finger will be neatly sliced off.
Hi that is what the hand clutch is for front HI range back low range middle stop with PTO running, push clutch peddle in everything stops tractor movement and PTO all stop.
Nice sickle bar, it handles the hay just fine. With the 7 FT. bar that s an afternoons cutting in the hay field I saw. Next step wind rows with the rake. I hope the New Holland baler works OK, if there s a problem it ll be with the knotter.
Great tractor. My first tractor was a 1949 All Is Chalmers WD not a WD45. Still have it and at one time I had a sickle bar cutter. Great tool in their place but dangerous.
To replace the teeth on the sickle bar, place the bar on a solid object. The back of the teeth will stick out about a quarter of an inch from the steel bar. Striking the back of the tooth with a hammer will shear the rivets holding the tooth on. Riveting a new tooth on is fairly straight forward and easy to do. As a teenager I cut many acres of hay with a short sickle bar mower attach to a Farmall Cub. Properly setup they cut very well.
Great video and plenty of advice in the comments too. Just bought a New Holland 448 that looks in pretty good condition so next job is to give it once over and a sharpen. Only have 5 acres so finger cutter ideal, might even get the kids in to rake it up and make a hayrick or two!
I believe the manual recommends a speed of at least 4.5 mph. It seems to kept the bar cleaned off better the faster you go. Also need to run at 540. Thanks for the video.
Family had sickel mower always have bars on hand sharp and every couple hrs depending on field change blade each haying day start sharping bar blade always carry replacement guards rocks very hard on guards
Your best bet is to purchase owners manuals for every piece of equipment you purchase. Then set down and read them from cover to cover so you get a good knolege of equipment operation and adjustments. You will be glad you did.
I mowed a lot of hay with a sickle bar mower and a tractor with OUT live PTO. It takes some practice and it is a true art to mow with it! But it can be done.
Good job showing telling,and making it cut better well keep up the good work and keep on doing that hay.well see on the next video have a good one see ya next time see ya bye.
That is all we used when I was growing up. My Dad did commercial hay baling for other farmers. We cut, raked, baled, and stacked in the barn or wherever he wanted.
noticed a lot of moisture on right front tire & on bar tread of rear tires. that normally suggests the morning dew has not dried & this causes plugging between cutter bar sections. I have 2 7' pull type New Idea sycle bar mowers , can only use rivets to hold section plates to cutter bar. Hope this helps you.
Our minhindra 4500 is really nice For bushhoging because it has a two stage clutch, the first stage stops the tractor the 2nd stops the mower or whatever emolument u have on
Nice work, E. You got it going and the sickle bar seemed to run pretty well after the new blade-teeth. Every piece of equipment does have learning curves. I run into that with every implement I have and I'm far from proficient but I enjoy the process. Have a fine week.
Love the way you have brought this mower back to full working use, a few things to adjust / fine tune but well done indeed. These are the items I used to see at the back of machine barns that had been replaced by bigger machines. Great to see it working.
If you love to work with old equipment, that's a good mower, but they are high maintenance. I use a Kuhn disc mower where there is very little maintenance, a beautiful cut, and you can mow as fast as you'd like. Sickles are better when it comes to rocky ground though.
I remember using these mowers many years ago. They are much trickier to setup than the brush hog is but they cut nice and make for better hay bales since the grass is longer and not chopped up as much. You also have to be careful where you are mowing because if you hit something with the mower it can easily knock it out of adjustment or even break a tooth off.
I still use a sickle that was made for a Farmall Super A. I use it with my JD 5055e. Take time, be careful and keep it sharp and it will cut like a razor!!!
Used rivets not bolts, rivets are used for a good reason and am sure you can still buy them out there, also turn the top link so the fingers are a little upwards..!
I'm happy things are working out good. As always, I enjoy your channel so much that this video felt like 3 minutes 😂😂😂 I know it's a lot of work but we need a few 20-30 minute videos ❤️❤️❤️
Looks to me like you need to give it some more throttle. Mower speed needs to be higher. I cut and raked hay for years with my dad's old D17 but we generally ran a on Allis Chalmers hay conditioner with it. If we used the old Massey Ferguson sicklebar, it was on our smaller Ford 3000. My brother and I still have the 3000, but Dad traded the D17 in on a Ford 5600 long ago. Watching that video brought back memories! Thanks,Marion
We had a windrower attachment for swatting oats. Orginally designed for a narrow front tractor it was revamped for a wide front tractor. Used an Allis Chalmers mower on a CA. Also had to rebuild the rear castor wheel to accommodate the swather attachment. Worked well for years.
You need a wooden board at the outside end of the bar. This lays the cut grass away from the standing grass that will be cut on the next run and reduces the chance of jams at the head end.
Never seen a new holland 451 that had a wooden swathboard. All I have seen or owned had 3 metal rods and they worked fine. His has an aftermarket but still the same concept.
great video, really interesting. I used one forty five years ago, found a hare in the long grass and that nearly wasn't pretty, but he got away thankfully!
Used my Massey 7 foot sickle bar in the bay field for the first time today. What a disaster. Lol thought I had it adjusted out pretty good at the barn. Nope, had to borrow the neighbored 474 haybine
If you ever change your own oil in your vehicles or tractors save it for for oiling up your sickle bar on your pull behind mower and your three point sickle bar cutter as well
Evan, be sure to run at 540 rpm and replace the guards with Hesston 2 pc. guards and you see a big improvement , instead of nh guards. slant the bar down in front just a little so the grass will pull the knives down. They make a pto adapted that will let your pto free wheel because of your clutch stopping.
If your still mowing with it we used a drum all tool to sharpen teeth so we didn't that to take of alot where the 2 little peace of bar are where the morbar is on end we put a peace of plastic witch help roll hay at end to leave clean spot for next cut and we put vegetables oil on cutter bar to help lub. Up part and its not harmful
At 4:15, you need to adjust your lead on bar. When you set the cutting bar all the way down, you can see the outer shoe on the end go backwards creating a negative angle when mowing. So when your cutting, the whole bar is slid back at a negative angle, thats bad for cutting. When I set my bar, I raise it off the ground, I give it a positive lead angle, in other words, the end of bar away from you, the outer shoe, goes about 2" or so towards front of tractor from straight out, once the bar is set on the ground, the bar straightens straight out. That is for optimum cutting and less jamming. It took me a while to figure that out. After installig brand new sections, ledgers, numerous adjustments I had finally gotten it. On mine, I also adjusted the rockguards by tilting the cutter bar so their up just a bit to help skip over rocks and other junk, it also helps to pull grasses off the bar from vibration. There is an actual adjustment for doing that.
Later videos address the problem, I did adjust the lead, but it didn't help. The 3 point conversion hitch doesn't have any sway control. It is actually the 3 point arms swaying causing the sickle bar to swing back.
Considering how much time and effort you have put into these machines, I sincerely hope they do the job well and last for many more years. But with your skills and will to fix them, it should be alright! Good luck with the other machines!
@@johndowe7003 Based on the age of the mower and the technology used in bolts vs rivets back then. You're probably spot on the money. However, given modern bolts, nylock nuts etc. I'm not so sure they would vibrate loose. Would be interesting to investigate though.
@@petert3355 I doubt nylock bolts will shake off. They dont shake off my cummins 4bt and if you know anything about that engine then you know what I'm talking about😂
Modern sickle sections are now bolted on. The hold down clips have a higher arch to clear the bolts. The bolts with nylock nuts come in boxes of 50. In most cases you can replace a sickle section without removing the sickle bar.
You should try fluid film. Our local Deere dealer has it. Comes in a greyish spray can with a red top. It is by far the best stuff I've found for leaving equipment over the fall/winter. And the sickle bar teeth are under serrated. That's how they cut so low. Keep up with the wear guards.
It would help if you pick up the mower before you stop the tractor, also pick up the mower to make turns in the field. Gives the mower time to clear itself of the cut hay before starting to cut more grass.
You can sharpen the blades with a grinding wheel that fits between the blades and sharpens two edges at once. Done it many times in my youth. These mowers are great for cutting grass and weeds along a road. Just drive the tractor down the road.
Nice to see old equipment given new life. One point I would make make sure your dogs are inside when using that. They would never see it in the grass and might run after it not knowing what it is and get serious injured or killed.
don't see that chunk of rail/anvil? That a couple punches (center & drift ) and a Ball-Pien hammer used to ride in the tractor box along with extra sections (blades)! how we mowed/swathed and confined back in the day!
Nice job getting the basic hang of how to operate the sickle bar mower. Yep, a lot of those older tractors didn't have a "Live PTO" on them & that can make some things a little more challenging to do. By "Live PTO", I mean that the PTO unit is driven separately from the driveline clutch assembly. I believe the old CASE tractor that you have has a live PTO on it. Just a suggestion, try running the sickle bar mower & the baler on the CASE if possible. I'm sure you'll be & you're getting lots of advice from us "Hobby Farmers" & Farmers in your area on how to do things. LOL Stay safe.
