New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics)

   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics) #1  

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Well my hayrake and baler refurb's were completed earlier this year and worked fine for two hayings this season. I hope to complete the last phase of "budget baling with a low hp tractor" this winter by refurbing this old New Idea model 30A sickle bar mower.
While my old square back bushog actually worked rather well, I am hoping that using this sickle will increase my hay yields.
Overall I think the unit is in decent shape and I am only planning on installing a new sickle sections and the pitman wood arm which is bowed from resting on a block in the barn the last 18 years where it sat un-used.

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Any thoughts or feedback from other users?????
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics) #2  
Well my hayrake and baler refurb's were completed earlier this year and worked fine for two hayings this season. I hope to complete the last phase of "budget baling with a low hp tractor" this winter by refurbing this old New Idea model 30A sickle bar mower.
While my old square back bushog actually worked rather well, I am hoping that using this sickle will increase my hay yields.
Overall I think the unit is in decent shape and I am only planning on installing a new sickle sections and the pitman wood arm which is bowed from resting on a block in the barn the last 18 years where it sat un-used.



Any thoughts or feedback from other users?????


Nice find. Looks like a fun project.

Last year I found an old Allis Chalmers 80T sicklebar mower locally (6 ft bar, $150).

DSCF0062Small.jpg


It's was in good shape. The seller had used it a few months earlier to mow his hayfield. The sickle blades are in good shape, decent tires. Serviced the hydraulics, sandblasted the surface rust and gave it a spray can paint job. Mower works fine.
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics)
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Flusher - I had seen some of your pics posted before of your sickle mower, but I must have missed where you got it all tuned and painted up - glad to hear that you got the chance to use it and that it worked fine.

This 30A is a 7 footer. I have a owner's manual coming from ebay and am anxiously awaiting it.

I am not a farmer, but I have been around tractors/tillage equipment/combines for most of my life. Hay equipment is actually new to me though. I have never mowed with a sickle type mower so I am really looking forward to it. My haying operation is a true "shoe string" operation. So far I have less than $450 total invested in my baler, hayrake, and this old sickle mower. This total excludes my time refurbing the items but does includes all parts purchased.

Even if I never turn a profit, I have truly enjoyed both refurbing the items as well as making the actual hay so it has been money well spent thus far. It has been worth it for my pleasure/entertainment.
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics) #4  
My first mower was just like this one. My advice to you is be VERY careful when raising the bar into transport mode (vertical). If you have gloves on, you will never feel your fingers being cut off as the knife slides across the guards when you pick it up. You will have a natural tendency to pick it up in a finger danger grasp. A cylinder might help, but if the pitman is in the wrong position, the movement will snap the stick.

A word to the wise ....
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics)
  • Thread Starter
#5  
My first mower was just like this one. My advice to you is be VERY careful when raising the bar into transport mode (vertical). If you have gloves on, you will never feel your fingers being cut off as the knife slides across the guards when you pick it up....

zzvyb6: Definitely good advice. I have made extra sure to only place my hands towards the rear portion of the bar as I immediately noticed the potential danger If I were to make the mistake of grabbing anywhere around the rock guards or sickle sections. (been around combine header sickle bars before just not sickle mowers, but many of the same safety precautions do apply - as well as a few additional ones like when raising the bar).

How well did you like your old sickle mower before you upgraded to a haybine?

I know where I can get an old Massey 81 haybine mo/co cheap (actually the Massey 81 haybine mo/co is simply a rebadged New Idea), but I do not think I have enough tractor hp or weight to handle it. If it were a 7 footer I might go for it but think I will pass since it is a 9 footer and it needs a lot of work. However if I stumble across a 7 footer rather cheap, I think I willl take the plunge.


FWIW - Many of your posts were the ones that inspired me to attempt baling with a compact tractor which has worked out well for me. I have had a blast refurbing the old equipment as well as the actaul baling process - I already can not wait until next year. This low cost endeavor has given me great enjoyment by feeling almost like a hobby farmer again after nearly a 15 year hiatus from hobby farming- I have missed it.
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics) #6  
My original "1 armed bandit" served its purpose of getting me into the hay operation to save money for our horse pets. The savings included vet bills no longer resulting from bad or too-good hay.

The NI-30 was a freebee so I can't complain. But it was difficult to operate and repair. A bump in the field could trigger the bar lift, a plug could remain undetected for a whole round and you could not recut it as the hay was bent over. No windrow capability and the short tongue made for difficult backing up. A 3 pt mounted sickle made more sense. Did I mention parts? That was before TSC came into the picture. I stumpled across Farm & Fleet over 40 miles away with generic parts, but $100 for a hickory pitman arm? Gimme a break...

The neighbor dairy farmer parked his NH 479 in my driveway when it threw a chain. I found the chain, put a new master link in it and spun her up with my 22 hp Yanmar (no live power). Needed the loader on to keep the front end down when starting off, but that was it for me. I wound up buying that very same mower and it still is in full swing. I added more hydraulics and a new and improved push bar. The reel tines are easily made from rearranged TSC stuff, she is in good shape and has all her parts.

The ability to windrow makes opening new fields easy and error free. A haybine doesn't need a lot of power. Tongue weight is high so a front weight bar is necessary. Other than that, a 9' mower produces 18' double raked rows which is perfect for my bailer and tractor combo.

Parts from TSC are direct replacements: teeth, guards, belts, and even bearings as necessary. I even put new tires on her because the old checked ones looked risky. These are $1500 machines used in rough shape. Fix them up for $500 and you have a valuable, reliable and effective machine.
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics) #7  
Nice find. Looks like a fun project.

Last year I found an old Allis Chalmers 80T sicklebar mower locally (6 ft bar, $150)..

Could you show or tell us how the lift mechanism works on this mower.(Looks like a great machine.)
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics)
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Could you show or tell us how the lift mechanism works on this mower.(Looks like a great machine.)

RW: Flusher's Allis Chalmers mower has what I believe to be a hydraulic cylinder on it so hydraulic hoses would be connected to the tractor. I am not sure of the lifting range the hydraulic cylinder provides the cutting bar.

On my New Idea mower there is no hydraulic cylinder needed - only connections to the tractor will be the drawbar pin, PTO shaft, and a trip rope to tug. There is a lifting gearbox that gets it power through the PTO shaft and is activated by simply pulling the rope. When the rope is pulled the wheel on top of the gearbox rotates 180 degrees which lifts the bar a few inches by an eccentric effect. This is useful to hopefully clear an obstacle such as a rock or dirt mound in the field that might damage the cutting bar. Once the obstacle is cleared, the user pulls the rope again and the gearbox wheel rotates another 180 degrees to lower the sickle back to it original cutting position. Getting the bar from the transport position to cutting position is all done by manpower and extreme caution should be followed on where to grab the bar so fingers are not cut off.

As for which system is better, I can not say as I have never used a sickle bar mower. There are probably advantages to both types of lifting systems. I am guessing that the Hydraulic cylinder will provide an increased lifting range as well as possibly user selectable stops within the lifting range where the New Idea system will only have the 2 positions. The real advantage to the New Idea is that it can be used on the most primitive of tractors as it only needs a drawbar and PTO connection so almost any old tractor can run it. I can only speculate that was New Ideas intent of the original design way back when as there were lots of old Farmall H's, JD B's, Case SC, and even older tractors, etc. without Hydraulics.

Looking at Flusher's Allis chalmer's pics again, it also looks like his mower is a pitman-less system and incorpoates a belt and wobble box . My New Idea incorporates a wood pitman arm. Any brand of pitman arm based mower can only cut a few degrees from horizontal, but the sytem is simple,cheap, and easy to maintain. A wobble box system has increased cutting ranges from horizontal but can be expensive to repair if the wobble box fails/wears out. For cutting hay fields either system will work. For cutting areas like banks and ditches then the wobble box design is far superior, but I would want a 3 point mounted mower for doing banks and ditches as compared to a trailing type mower.
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics) #9  
RW: Flusher's Allis Chalmers mower has what I believe to be a hydraulic cylinder.

Thanks for your interesting reply.
Would like to know what the hydraulic cylinder is connected to, a cranked axle set up or something similar or totally differant.
 
   / New Idea model 30A sickle mower (pics) #10  
Could you show or tell us how the lift mechanism works on this mower.(Looks like a great machine.)

Been busy the past week trying to finish another project --restoring an old Minneapolis Moline P3-6 grain drill. Got around to taking a few photos of the Allis Chalmers sicklebar mower

The hyd cylinder ram is fully extended to lift the bar into transport mode for moving around the hayfield. For road transport the bar is manually moved to the vertical position and chained in place.

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The ram is half-retracted. You can see the hyd cylinder, cable and pulley arrangement for the lift mechanism.

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Another view from the reverse angle. You can see the cable connection to the lift arm on the Twin Drive unit that operates the sickle blade. I'm towing the mower with my Mahindra 5525.

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A view showing the ram fully extended.

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More views

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This mower has a breakaway feature that protects the cutting bar if it gets caught on an obstruction.

This mower is an example of a "pitmanless" design--it uses a belt drive instead of a crank/pitman arm arrangement typical of sicklebars that hang on the 3pt hitch.

Hope this helps.
 
 
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