Just Got My Sicklebar Mower

[40_acre_mule]

Picked it up Friday afternoon. It was dark by the time I got it home.
Used it for a little while Saturday morning. It was working great. Did exactly what I hoped it would. Until I got the teeth jammed up by driving too fast while cutting some really thick grass.
You can see a picture here: BEFCO - Products - Hay Equipment - Sickle Bar

Basically it is a giant PTO driven hedge trimmer. My wife has about 3 miles of walking path around our property. It is my intention to use it as a hedge trimmer to keep small branches and long briars from projecting out into the path. To that end, I operate it in the vertical position. I trimmed along just over half of the walking path in four hours. That would have taken me two days or more with a chainsaw and hand-held loppers.
I also have a two acre pond and about 1/4 mile of drainage ditch. This allows me to cut along the banks of the pond and ditch without getting too close to the edge. Those times I operate it in a horizontal position. It only took me ten minutes to go all the way around the pond. That used to take me all day with a gas powered, hand-held brush cutter.
I haven't had a chance to figure out how to unjam the teeth yet. Sunday was spent doing other things to make the DW happy. Now, I'll have to wait until mid-month to have time to fool with it again.
Unless it is a major operation to free up the teeth again, I anticipate that I will be very pleased with the device.

 

[skippy957]

I had a ford 7' sickle bar mower with my inter B-414 and it worked great. I am looking for small one (5') for my BX since I sold my B-414. Is it expensive?

 

[40_acre_mule]

Yeah, it wasn't cheap. Including the rear hydraulic control installation, it cost $5000. However, I plan to use this for the next 50 years maintaining my wife's walking path, so it was worth the investment to me. Besides, my CFO (DW) said we could afford it.
I don't know if the the entire rig is smaller for the 5-footer, or the cutting blade is just shorter. I don't think the whole thing weighs much more than my boxblade, so a BX could probably handle it.

 

[skippy957]

It is expensive but worth it.
By the way to avoid jammed up just use old engine oil that you poor on the bar to lubricate before using it and went it jams back-up a bit raise it and let run few strokes. It usually works, it did for me few times.
Enjoy your new toy.

 

[jake98]

It didn't take me five minutes to find a steel thing to chew on with a sickle bar the first time I used mine. You might expect a guard rail to have a post... I couldn't figure out what was stopping me.

Still works tho.

jake

 

[3RRL]

Those new ones are sure nice looking.
I had no idea they were that expensive? I have an old one that was mounted on top of an old Ferguson T035. It was used to trim hedges on a golf course. Before that, it was used in a Citrus grove.



Here it's being taken off the tractor (above). I will rebuild it and get it going. I got the tractor and sickle bar for free. They were going to junk the tractor and had no idea what that giant hedge trimmer thing was.

 

[Robert Huffaker]

Dont know how to get my comments aboard here.. try this" I cut a lot of hay with a team and a riding mower and later with a tractor drawn ground driven mower. There ought to be some sort of warning with them, I think they aare the most dangerous machine on the farm. After you run a bit the forage dulls the sections (blades) and they pack grass in undr the guards screwing up the cutting, trying to unplug by hand is very dangerous as when the thing starts again it takes fingers with it. The sickles need to be sharpened at least once a day. Getting them out of the bar is not easy, esp if weed etc apacked around them. pulling the long sharp cutter out and putting it back requires heavy gloves and lots of care. Do you have a grinder to sharpen things up?. We used to take one or two extra cutter bars withus to the fieldto change as lib.. anyway good luck and watch for animals in the grass..

 

[rpoage]

Robert I'm with you on this. I wish 40_acre_mule the very best on this project but my experience with sickle bar mowers is that they are dangerous, not all that durable and very high maintenance. I started out my tractor time on my grand fathers' farm and after paying my dues for quite a few years I was allowed to cut hay with a old Ford 9N with a mid mount sickle mower. I got an hour worth of warnings and instructions before being let loose with the mower and if I had not been a typical "know it all teen" I would have known that this would not end well. Do you know how many hours it takes to clean a rabbit out of one of these things? I lost my mowing privileges and they were not returned until the new mower conditioner arrived at the farm and the sickle mower was retired. I remember beating the sickle bar out of the runners and drilling out damaged teeth and riveting on new ones. Times and metallurgy have changed but I can't imagine a sickle bar taking real well to anything tougher that grass. I also agree with Robert that the sickle mower demanded a lot of maintenance. The full time guy on the farm was always sharpening and maintaining the sickle mower during hay season. I hope 40_acre_mule can report back in a couple of months and tell me the mower is perfect and that is not 1970 anymore.

 

[flusher]

Yeah, it wasn't cheap. Including the rear hydraulic control installation, it cost $5000. However, I plan to use this for the next 50 years maintaining my wife's walking path, so it was worth the investment to me. Besides, my CFO (DW) said we could afford it.
I don't know if the the entire rig is smaller for the 5-footer, or the cutting blade is just shorter. I don't think the whole thing weighs much more than my boxblade, so a BX could probably handle it.

$5K is way over my budget for a sicklebar mower to use with my 1964 MF-135 diesel (45 hp engine, 38 hp pto). Going used was my only option. Lotsa 3pt units on eBay. But before I could pull the trigger on one of those, the local classified a few weeks ago had an ad for a sicklebar.

This is what I bought

It's a 1950s vintage Allis Chalmers 80T pull-type mower (called a "trail mower") with a 6-ft cut. It has a double-action hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower the cutter blade assembly. Last used about 2 years ago to cut hay.

Cost: $150.

 

[bx23barry]

While I have no real experience with sicklebar mowers, I've got alot of time in sicklebar swathers and harvesters. I have never sharpened one, but have replaced lots of knifes, guides and rebuilt bars. I cut half way through a dead deer one time without alot of damage. They really seemed pretty bullet proof to me (now bailers were always a pita). Don't know how a mower would be much different but again I don't know and I was much younger then so maybe didn't know any difference or remember the bad stuff.