Birch Hill Farm
Bronze Member
I have a 6ft massey furguson sickle bar mower its an old wooden arm pitman drive #32. I am new to farming and have some questions on if I am using it correctly. Every time I use it it breaks something or something comes loose and this usually happens at least several times in the course of cutting maybe 15 acres of fescue and clover hay. Over the course of 4 hay cuttings I have broken 2 of the pitman arms, lost 2 of the teeth stone guards, lost 1 of the individual teeth and broke the bar the teeth are riveted to, I have since welded it and re broke again today. The bar and teeth where put on new last year and before each use I tighten all the bolts and grease everything. I wondering if I am running it at too high a rpm? It does seem kind of noisy at speed, lots of clatter. The tractor is an old international 444 and according to the info I found on it has a 540rpm pto. When I am using the sickle bar I run it at pretty much full throttle in 2nd gear low, does that seem right? IS it just the old age of the equipment that causes so much issue? or am I doing something wrong in the use? Thanks for any help with this
-jon
-jon