Mowing NH 450 sickle bar

[rkaurich]

i purchased a use NH 450 sickle. i have a Kubota L245. i was cutting a field and the bottom connecting shaft busted. temp fixed it and it did the same thing to the other side of that shaft. the pto is in 1st so is running at 540 rpm's, the tractor is running in 1st (the tach is broke) at about 2/3 power. any explanation would be greatly appreciated.

[tessiers]

I am not familiar with the NH 450 but if it has the old wooden pitman arm thats common, otherwise it sounds as if the sickle sections are binding in the gaurds or guides. I have an old JD and recently tried some of the sickle section bolts, they do not fit through the original guide clips.

[flusher]

i purchased a use NH 450 sickle. i have a Kubota L245. i was cutting a field and the bottom connecting shaft busted. temp fixed it and it did the same thing to the other side of that shaft. the pto is in 1st so is running at 540 rpm's, the tractor is running in 1st (the tach is broke) at about 2/3 power. any explanation would be greatly appreciated.

My Massey Ferguson 31 sicklebar looks similar to your 450, but I can't help until you post photos showing the mower and the shafts that are failing.

[rkaurich]

Hi, thanks for your reply, i am going to try and put the pic's on here. the first photo should be of the unit itself, the second one is of a rod assembly that is in a triangle shape (upside down) the bottom rod has broken twice. the unit has been used on this field before by the previous owner with no problems (just our luck i guess) we did grease all fittings. when we fixed it the first time we ran it in the driveway and no problem. the first time before it broke we went around a 3 acre field one time, the second time only about 500 feet. ??? thanks again for your advice.

[rkaurich]

sorry, wrong pic's, let's try it again.

[rkaurich]

i am not an idiot, really

[hill]

i am not an idiot, really

It's good that you cleared that up.


You didn't say what you were attempting to cut but I used to have an old Ford sickle bar that was less complex than yours yet seemed too lightduty to cut more than grass or dry hay. Most any time it came into brambles, thistles, or wet areas some darned thing or other would either toss it's belt, bend or get misaligned, or just jam up.

I liked the idea of the tool but finally decided that it wasn't for me and the unpredictable fields I needed to cut. Also whenever I tried to use it to cut over the ditches along our driveway it would get bogged up in berries or hit some invisible down branch or something else left over from the winter.

Left me knowing the likely reasons they don't make those contraptions anymore.

[46andtool]

sorry, wrong pic's, let's try it again.

No you're not, I enjoyed all the non-sickle bar pics. Kinda breaks it up a little.