Refurb a Sickle Bar mower

[zzvyb6]

Looks like the guards align the bar at different positions. This makes it impossible to keep the cutter bar entirely in good register. New set of guards at a minimum. TSC has them in bins. Get the ones that work/fit with your knife bar.

You can stick a long length of 2" pipe over each guard tip and bend it up or down to get them all at the same angle.

Other than that, looks like a decent machine worth restoring to its full potential.

 

[kbuegel]

Wow, didn't realize New Holland was not always part of Ford. I see "Sperry - New Holland" on some of the manuals I have. I just always assumed Ford created New Holland as a brand for their ag equipment, but was wondering where the Sperry part came in.

Yeah, I was hoping guards were not too expensive. I need to go to the Sacramento TSC. Hopefully it will have some. Good to hear they are available in quantity. I'll have to pick up the HF rivet tool mentioned in other threads as well, and learn to do rivets. Although, I guess nuts and bolts would work as well.

So you mentioned that the cutter knives should not actually ride on the guard plates. Are you saying they should touch, just not have much friction? Or should they be 1/16" inch apart or more? Seems to me that for scissoring action to occur correctly, the knive and guard should slide over each other. But at 540 slides per minutes, I can see how it would wear down quickly. Anyway, it seems like the tolerances of the knives and guards is the key to getting it to cut correctly.

You know, the first time I saw the bale-picker, I started thinking about what else I could make it into as well. Chutes and chains and gears have all sorts of uses. With old but working hay wagons selling for $3K, this bale-picker probably won't see much use.

 

[EnviroEd]

I picked up 2 of these units a couple weeks, 1 in fairly good shape and 1 for parts, after replacing 2 guards and 5-6 knives I hooked the good one up to the tractor. I'm having the same problem on getting the weight off of the very end of the sickle bar. There's a chain hooking a spring to the inner end of bar, I shortened the chain 1 link but then the outer end was about 2" in the air. Guess I need to replace the chain with one with shorter links.
When I was hooking it up to the tractor the stabilizing arms gave me a fit, trying to hook up something designed for an older Ford with cat. 1 arms to a newer tractor with cat 2 arms. is the unit stable with them?
I also used a grinder to remove the knife rivets but I'm going to try the vise trick, thanks for that one.
Oh, make sure ALL the bolts are tight; I almost lost the end section when trying the unit out the first time.

 

[kbuegel]

Yeah, I'm not using any of the stabilizing arms, and I have a hydraulic top link so don't need the heavy spring at the top of the mower frame. The only issue I have is the spring-loading holding up the bar is attached to these stabilizing links which pivot on the bottom of the frame. So, without the links hooked on to anything, the spring holding the bar has nothing to push against. But frankly, having the outboard end of the bar just slide on the ground seems to be working fine. I guess the whole bar can rotate out about 30 degrees if the end gets hung up, so as long as it doesn't do that constantly, it should be fine.

I was not able to remove all the linkage, so just used some baling wire to tie them out of the way. Seemed like an appropriate fix.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Wow, didn't realize New Holland was not always part of Ford. I see "Sperry - New Holland" on some of the manuals I have. I just always assumed Ford created New Holland as a brand for their ag equipment, but was wondering where the Sperry part came in.

Here's the Clift Notes version of New Holland's history;

New Holland Machine & Tool was started in 1895, manufacturing various agricultural implements. It's location was New Holland Pennsylvania, hence the name.

In 1940, a New Holland designer and farmer by the name of Ed Nolt developed the first successful portable baler with an automatic tying system. Nolt, because of religious beliefs, didn't want the notoriety, and sells his design to New Holland Machine.

In 1947, Sperry Corp buys New Holland Machine, Sperry New Holland is born.

In 1986, Ford buys Sperry New Holland, changes name to Ford New Holland.

1991, Fiat (Fix it again Tony ) buys Ford New Holland. Names new company Geotech NH.

1993, the brand name changes to New Holland

2000 Case(IH) merges with New Holland, Corporate name becomes CNH.

The New Holland name stood alone (or with Sperry) for 89 years before joining with Ford.

 

[kbuegel]

So, based on your Clift notes Ford only owned NH for 5 years, and Fiat has owned it since 1991 and owns it today? Or is it somewhat independent of Fiat? Seems like it still has a lot of Ford mentality in the company.

The CNH part is interesting too. I got a loan on my equipment 3 years ago, and its through CNH. But the dealership says New Holland on all the signage. The CNH financing has been very decent financing and internal credit. Been fairly happy with them. The dealership (Garton Tractors in Santa Rosa, CA) has also been very helpful with giving me advice or sending out a service guy as needed. I've been trying to do my own maintenance when possible, and they are very supportive of that.

 

[flusher]

Also here are pics of the bale-picker. Its tipped down for towing, normally it runs with the chute sticking up in the air, and the opening (currently at top of pic) rides along the ground and guides bales into the chute. The chain going up the chute has teeth sticking up about 3 inches, about one per foot, that grab onto the bale. The chute has a floating top bar that keeps pressure on the bale against the chain with teeth, and is adjustable for various sized bales. But the baling machine, and probably this bale-picker, are designed for 50-60 pound bales, somewhat smaller than normal bales these days.

The chain is driven by the tires, and a solid axle (no differential) so it doesn't turn corners very well. There are several welded spots, presumably repairs, and it looks like somebody added a guard on the towing side, probably to keep it from running into the truck or trailer it is loading.

$2000 for all that neat stuff!!! Some guys have all the luck.

Seriously, you made an excellent buy. That baler looks like a winner. Wire or twine?

I'll be working on my Allis Chalmers 80T sicklebar mower next month. It works, but needs to be cleaned up, serviced and adjusted. Got it last Nov for $150.

It has hydraulics to raise and lower the bar. Don't know what shape they're in but I expect I'll have to clean up the hydraulic cylinder as a minimum.

Looking for a twine-tie square baler (NH, JD or MF) and a 10-ft grain drill with grass seed box. Hope to find these soon.

 

[EnviroEd]

But frankly, having the outboard end of the bar just slide on the ground seems to be working fine. I guess the whole bar can rotate out about 30 degrees if the end gets hung up, so as long as it doesn't do that constantly, it should be fine.

Yes, if it hits something it will release. I know because while I was mowing the pasture the end caught a rock I hadn't seen, now I know why the pto shaft comes apart. Then I had to back the tractor up with the bar against the rock to re-engage the latch. That's why I'd like to be able to pick up the outboard end so I can raise it to go over those rocks next time. On my unit the lower spring is encased in a pipe that has had the outer end split so now it heading toward the adjustment nuts. That spring sure looks like it's under a lot of pressure so I haven't tried to remove it yet but since it's going to be parked for awhile maybe I'll have time to check it out.

 

[JRobyn]

These guys are a good source of inexpensive parts:

Mid Continent Manufacturing Home

They sell an adjustable holddown that works good.

- Jay

 

[vincentready]

kbuegel,
You rock. Great pictures. Focused and helpful. Some of the replies were obviously from experienced 9 fingered folks who know what they are doing. I am rebuilding a John Deere 37 and have repaired a lot of horse drawn John Deere 5's and IH's . There is not much brand difference as far as repair goes. If you can fix one, you can probably fix another.
My problem right now is that I replaced a sickle bar assembly with a tsc one with all serrated knives. Had to cut it down from 9 feet to 7 feet. When I replace shims and hold downs. It was too tight to run. I am now turning each shim around as a trial measure. The shims on the front have a lip that pushes the bar forward and seems to make it too tight. Anyone have experience with this or ...a random idea will do.
Vince