Mowing Rossi 5-foot Sickle on BX25 - Video Link

[Wingsy]

Here is a video I just made of a Rossi sickle mower on my BX25, mowing around ponds and cutting cedar saplings on a steep hill. It was my first use of this thing so I'm slow and still getting used to it. It does an excellent job around the ponds, better than anything else I've tried, by far.

I had a New Holland flail mower that I sold to help buy this thing. The flail did a much better job mowing down that hill you see in the video, but was a pain in that every time I got to the bottom of the hill I had to stop it so I could raise the flail (too much angle on the PTO shaft). The sickle does OK down that hill but uneven ground means you have to continuously fiddle with the bar angle to keep it cutting at the same height. The biggest thing I've cut so far are cedar saplings about 1" in diameter and it went through them with ease. It doesn't take much power (RPM) to the PTO to get a good cut. Only thing is, it doesn't mulch, so whatever you cut just lays there waiting for you to rake it or something. Since I need it to mow around the ponds I'm going to also use it to mow everywhere else even though it may not be the best thing for the junk growing on those hills.

Hopefully anyone interested in a sickle will find this video useful. I would have.

Sickle Mower - YouTube

 

[kcender]

Nice looking setup.It looks as though you ran the hydraulic hoses to the loader valve to control the pivot on the mower.If so did it come with hoses that long or did you have to modify them?

 

[Wingsy]

I'm not sure, but I don't think they came that long. Sink Farm Equipment (Lexington, NC) put it on for me and I think they added length or fabricated the entire thing. They didn't charge me for the hoses. And that metallic coupling you see under the foot rest is a flow regulator to keep the bar from jerking when you raise it. Don't know if that was part of the hydraulic kit or not. It came with the deal too. They charged me 3 grand for the sickle and 650 for the hydraulic kit. Installation was free. (I know someone will ask.)

 

[PeterK]

The cutter is nice by why is the ROPS down and no seatbelt ? No too safe IMO.

 

[Wingsy]

Cause I forgot. But I'd never wear a seatbelt anyway when mowing around the pond. I have this fear of drowning and would want to eject myself from the tractor if it goes in. Usually I have the ROPS up and wear the seatbelt when on a slope.

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

Will the mower not float?seems like you could adjust the shoes and lay the bar on the ground so it would cut better. Sickles are not designed to be held up in the air. I do really like the hydraulic setup you have. Definitely nothing better for mowing around a pond, there great for mowing under fence also

 

[Wingsy]

Will the mower not float?seems like you could adjust the shoes and lay the bar on the ground so it would cut better. Sickles are not designed to be held up in the air. I do really like the hydraulic setup you have. Definitely nothing better for mowing around a pond, there great for mowing under fence also

Yes it will float, but on uneven ground or when trying to get it angled down the pond bank the middle of the bar will sometimes cut into the ground. I don't have much mowing to do on even ground around my place like you would have mowing a field of hay. Most of the place is pretty lumpy.

 

[radioman]

nice seetup. did the dealer install a divertor for the FEL control? any closee up pics of that setup?

 

[Wingsy]

nice seetup. did the dealer install a divertor for the FEL control? any closee up pics of that setup?

Not sure what a diverter is, but I'm pretty sure they didn't. The sickle cylinder is connected to the FEL curl circuit (blue port) and the 2 bucket curl lines are disconnected. They did install a flow regulator inline with the hose to the curl circuit. You can see that as a metallic cylinder in the line, located under my right foot.

Connecting to the blue port means that pushing the curl control to the right raises the bar and pushing it left lowers it. Exactly opposite of what I wanted but they told me they tried doing that but for some reason (which I didn't quite grasp and which I've forgotten now) they decided it was in my best interest to do it the way they did it. Something about how the far right position of the curl control sets up the bucket for a smooth automatic dump interfering in the way the sickle cylinder would work, I think.

 

[Deano]

Very nice...I really like that setup! I cut 42 acres with a Farmall Cub and sickle bar when i was growing up. Love cutting with one of those!

 

[David Devuono]

They maybe talking about the Float position. I think mine is the same. I have not tried it yet but it would allow your bucket to float with the ground undulations rather then dig in. Not sure if you want that when mowing?

 

[3v0]

Cause I forgot. But I'd never wear a seatbelt anyway when mowing around the pond. I have this fear of drowning and would want to eject myself from the tractor if it goes in. Usually I have the ROPS up and wear the seatbelt when on a slope.

Because one can forget to put up the tall ROPS I think the shorter fixed ones are still a better setup. I do like that they have gone wider so there is less chance of getting caught between the ROPS and the ground.

That is one sweet mower setup.

I am guessing that that pond does not have a liner. If it does someone did a nice job on the edge. I like it.

 

[keegs]

thanks for sharing...nice setup...

 

[radioman]

ok - I now have another question. Dont you find it a little difficult to disconnect under pressure when then FEL is up in the air? it must be harder to reconnect FEL hoses.

As for the way dealer suggested to be connected - david is right about float. If you push the FEL stick past detent - the sickle can now float in the lumpy conditions instead of locking and digging in. Give it a try - I think you will learn that its a nice feature. If you still want to lift/lower constantly, then feel free to swap the hoses so its more "natural" to you. it won't hurt a thing. Dealer suggested to leave it as is as it the float feature you most likely should use. Granted - you cant use float on pond edges, but in the fields its useful.

 

[Danner]

The cutter is nice by why is the ROPS down and no seatbelt ? No too safe IMO.

I was thinking the same thing, and then came the "pucker factor".

 

[PeterK]

Safety is something we should never forget or we'd end up in the Safety forum, and that's NOT good.

 

[CHDinCT]

Nice video and neat setup. I think the issue the dealer is referring to when he tried to hook it up so stick-right would move it down and stick-left would move it up is the regen. function. You can do a search here on what regen is but it's common to employ it in the FEL dump/curl circuit. As I understand it, with regen, hydraulic oil moves from one end of the cylinder to the other as you dump the bucket thereby giving you a more controlled dump. If you push the stick all the way right past the detent (which you should be able to feel), you'll go past the regen feature of the FEL valve to fast dump, where the hydraulic oil is sent back to the tank. I don't believe that is the same as float, which you only have on the boom/up-down circuit of your FEL.

But, you could use the FEL boom circuit with the float feature to run the sickle-bar mower. Might be intuitive since pushing the stick forward would drop the mower and pulling it back would raise it like you're use to with the FEL. If you could mount some sort of anti-scalp wheel on the end of the mower and put it in float, it might follow the ground contour nicely, except for mole mounds or the like.

Let us know how it works out after you've used it some more.

 

[Wingsy]

Nice video and neat setup. I think the issue the dealer is referring to when he tried to hook it up so stick-right would move it down and stick-left would move it up is the regen. function. You can do a search here on what regen is but it's common to employ it in the FEL dump/curl circuit. As I understand it, with regen, hydraulic oil moves from one end of the cylinder to the other as you dump the bucket thereby giving you a more controlled dump. If you push the stick all the way right past the detent (which you should be able to feel), you'll go past the regen feature of the FEL valve to fast dump, where the hydraulic oil is sent back to the tank. I don't believe that is the same as float, which you only have on the boom/up-down circuit of your FEL.

But, you could use the FEL boom circuit with the float feature to run the sickle-bar mower. Might be intuitive since pushing the stick forward would drop the mower and pulling it back would raise it like you're use to with the FEL. If you could mount some sort of anti-scalp wheel on the end of the mower and put it in float, it might follow the ground contour nicely, except for mole mounds or the like.

Let us know how it works out after you've used it some more.

OK, here's what I think I know. If I move the curl control to the right past the detent position, the bucket tilts downward slowly and with enough force to raise the front end of the tractor. It's as the dealer said, it's a slow controlled dump. If I push the control forward past that detent position, the boom floats. I don't have a float feature for the curl, just the boom.

When I lower the bar it just takes the pressure off the bar lift cylinder and the bar lowers itself from a strong spring. It's what keeps the sickle in contact with the ground at all times, limited by how far the cylinder is extended. It's like the cylinder sets the lower limit and the spring allows the bar to ride over humps in the ground. At least that's how I understand it. And if I had level ground to mow that's probably how I would use it. As it is, if I did this around the ponds or down that hill, I'd be cutting into soil at times (a bad thing, like getting your chain saw into the dirt, right?) because the humps are often in the middle section of the bar where there is no skid.

And now, after using it to cut all around my ponds, I realize that cutting is the easy part of the story. Cleaning up the mess left behind is the other part and is why I can barely walk today. Back-breaking work to fish out all the stuff in the lake and rake up all the trash left behind. I wish it would cut, then mulch! Maybe I need another attachment to do the raking. And a bigger building to keep up with my attachment collection. Does it ever end???

 

[scrappy isb67]

They maybe talking about the Float position. I think mine is the same. I have not tried it yet but it would allow your bucket to float with the ground undulations rather then dig in. Not sure if you want that when mowing?

The curl circuit has no float position. it has regen istead of float.

ok - I now have another question. Dont you find it a little difficult to disconnect under pressure when then FEL is up in the air? it must be harder to reconnect FEL hoses.

the boom is still connected so there is no pressure on the circuit.

Nice video and neat setup. I think the issue the dealer is referring to when he tried to hook it up so stick-right would move it down and stick-left would move it up is the regen. function. You can do a search here on what regen is but it's common to employ it in the FEL dump/curl circuit. As I understand it, with regen, hydraulic oil moves from one end of the cylinder to the other as you dump the bucket thereby giving you a more controlled dump. If you push the stick all the way right past the detent (which you should be able to feel), you'll go past the regen feature of the FEL valve to fast dump, where the hydraulic oil is sent back to the tank. I don't believe that is the same as float, which you only have on the boom/up-down circuit of your FEL.

But, you could use the FEL boom circuit with the float feature to run the sickle-bar mower. Might be intuitive since pushing the stick forward would drop the mower and pulling it back would raise it like you're use to with the FEL. If you could mount some sort of anti-scalp wheel on the end of the mower and put it in float, it might follow the ground contour nicely, except for mole mounds or the like.

Let us know how it works out after you've used it some more.

I would be willing to bet the loader is still on the tractor as required ballast so disconnecting the boom would cause the difficulties mentioned above
regen works by making the bucket FAST DUMP. the way it works is when in regen hydraulic pressure is ported to BOTH sides of the cylinder. and between the bucket cylinders being unbalanced(more power/less speed one way and more speed but less power the other) and gravity it dumps fast and also keeps the floppy bucket syndrome from happening

 

[Deano]

Does it ever end???

Why would you want it to??!!