Sickle Bar 3PH PTO type sickle bar mowers

[edv]

SICKLE mowers are old technology / high up-keep / limited to cutting light material. You may want to take a look at the VMC ditch bank mower. www.vmc-mow.com

The 160 is ideal for compacts, it will cut behind the tractor as well to the side...

edv

 

[patrickg]

edv, Thanks for the info. If somehow I should win a large lottery pot in spite of the fact that I never buy tickets, I'll be sure to get one of those.

In the mean time (not Greenwich) I'll be looking for and hopefully buying and using an old fashioned sicklebar that costs much less than a car AND will work well on my compact 4x4 40HP tractor. Alternatively, I thought of buying from 2 to 4 push type rotary yard type mowers at local yard sales and making a 3PH carrier for them. Used but good running push mowers are always available from folks who first buy a big push power for their large lot then within a couple months opt for a riding mower.

Bolt them on staggered and overlapping. With my hydrauic TnT I should be able to adjust as needed to do a fair job of my pond edges. If I really wanted a PROJECT, I could always build an amphibious adapter for the tractor so I could brush hog with one wheel out in the pond so the cutter could get to the water's edge. No problem, right? Just keep the heel on the diff lock so the wheel on land drives you forward.

Patrick

 

[Mosey]

patrickg - I went through the same thing you're going through. I didn't want to spend more than a few hundred and also didn't want to buy an old worn out machine. I checked into ads from all over the country but didn't want to buy anything sight unseen plus I didn’t want to pay $150 or more to get it shipped to me. Others have though and they had good luck with buying them from EBay. Patience finally paid off and I found a Ford model 515 sickle mower with a 7' cutter bar at a used farm equipment dealer only 10 miles from my house! I had to free up the PTO telescoping shaft and make some other minor repairs. I also had to make a bracket for the breakback arm. Now I have a good working machine for $325. I'm not bragging about my luck, just pointing out that you will probably find something, but it may take some time. Ford made a lot of the model 501 (pitman arm) and 515 (wobble box) sickle mowers and there are other good brand name ones out there, you just need to keep looking. If you don’t mind buying sight unseen and paying for shipping, try <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.sweettractors.com/used_equip_pg1.html#fort>Sweet Tractors</A>. Good luck!

 

[Dozernut]

Mr Patrickg
Notice the formality and deserved respect. I have an idea that you can take and run with it. Get some sections of two inch pipe, one piece should be about 13 feet long. Build a frame out of the pipe so you can hookup to the three point hitch on your tractor. Have the long pipe stick out on the side of your choice. With the 13 foot section you can incorporate three feet into the hitch and still have 10 foot clear of the wheel. Get some rope and cut four 10 ft. pieces. Tie the first rope 2 ft. from the tire and 2 ft. spacing down the pipe. Tie four nanny goats ( Billies Stink too bad ) to the rope, then put your tractor in low range and just above idle. The 10 ft. section of tie rope will allow the goats to eat grass on slopes and in ditches, following the lay of the land. I know your jealous for not thinking of this first, but I give this to you with no strings attached (or goats )! Hope this helps you out! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[JimMc]

You know, I tried this, but I left my 3 point hitch up overnight and all my goats suffocated. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[patrickg]

Danny, Good for you. Glad someone is getting what they want. Although I would prefer to buy something in my commute range so I could see it and I could probably pick it up for the cost of delivery within a few hundred miles. Still, if no joy soon, I may have to rely on the reputation of some dealer and tele-buy, paying the freight and hoping. I wouldn't mind paying up to about $700 or so if it were a primo unit that was field ready and had parts availability. Still way cheaper than new like the New Holland unit.

Patrick

 

[patrickg]

Dozernut, Thanks for the Goat (I mean, Great) idea. Goats may well be in my future for clearing some fencelines, etc. However, I have way too much right of way and pond periphery in addition to cross fences to have the time for a goat mower to be used. I have 9 ponds now and am eyeballiing a couple three good looking prospects for more. Later, I may put goats on tether lines with a tag (hogging?) line running parallel to the fence so they can not wrap their lead or cllimb the fence but can "mow" within 2-3 ft either side of their "main" line or about 4-6 ft swath from fence ouit.

Put your creative juices to good work coming up with a way to allow the goat to go past a suppor post for his "main" line with out getting away or tangling (like a trolley car on an overhead line passing a trolley intersection or "Y".) With this technology I could do more with fewer goats and less having to manually change positions with them. I thought of trying a continuous (endless clothesline) type arrangement but the devil is in the details.

Patrick

 

[Kodiak]

Jim:

I suppose it was to late to utilize mouth to mouth resucitation.

 

[Dozernut]

JimMc
Sorry you left the 3 pt. up and you lost your cutters. I can see that your a thinking man too. I mean who else but two southern Il. boys, could come up with identical goat mowers. We will probably get deluged with requests for plans. Shoot when your not mowing you could charge the neighborhood kids for rides.

Patrick
The only thing that comes to mind right now is to use the trolley hardware of a barn door hangar. Tack two pieces of light angle iron together to form a track. The trolleys would run on the outside of the track, allowing an unlimited run. You could attach an arm to the trolley extending the leash out to keep the goat from getting tangled around the support posts. The down side would be cost. I will have to think this one over, don't know if I am sharp enough to come up with a solution. Sorry the goat mower didn't work out, I thought I was on to something./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Egon]

You could also consider using a battery operated device on wheels with a timer that follows a cable and every 15 min. moves ahead the length of the tether ropes. Maybe chain as supposedly the goats may eat the rope.
Also for consideration would be the irrigation system that moves across the field on big water pressure driven wheels.One would have to delete the irrigation factor and mow the entire field at one pass. With this mechanism a watering system for the goats coulds also be added as well as a daily shower to keep them clean.
And best of all, the wife woundn't have to coerced into turning the grindstone.

Egon