Sickle Bar Ford Sickle Bar Mower question

[mathey]

anyone know if a Ford Sickle Bar Mower (belt drive) will cut at any angle or just flat? I think i read that belt drive models were able to do this...

 

[hbarski]

I can't speak about the Ford sickle mowers, but I have a JD sicklebar that is belt driven and I use it to mow my levees at both positive and negative angles. It will cut at a 45 positive incline and a negative 30 angle. Hope that helps.

 

[mathey]

what would be the largest diameter brush it would cut? I'm thinking of using it to prune back my hedgerows once or twice a year, so a 45 angle would work

 

[hbarski]

It really amazes me as to the stuff it will go through. Like I said, I got it to cut the levees ( 1500ft ), and they were getting out of hand. Some of the small trees and bush had grown to 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. When you came up to the big stuff, I went very slow, or else it would break over center and release the belt. It has really helped in the mowing chores. Sure beats a kaiser blade. It is a 7 ft Deere and I gave $700 for it and that included a new knife section. Got it from a golf course.

 

[BOTAMAN]

A belt drive mower should mow at any angle. The IH 1300 will operate with the cutter bar folded back over the top of the mower, transport position, all belt drives should be able to do this. As far as triming hedge rows it might work, but the sickle mower was designed to cut grass and not stemmy material. When using a sickle mower I have cut the occasional 5/16 to 7/16 brush material but IMO when cutting this material or slightly smaller you would run the risk of breaking the blades or the rivets that hold the blades in place.

 

[sweettractors]

All the Ford sickle mowers have belts that drive either the wood pitman stick or dynabalence head. Which model # do you have?--Ken Sweet

 

[mygoatboy]

I have an old IH sickle bar mower I use for 45 acres of hay. And as things would have it I always try to keep the trees from slowly taking over the fields. It cuts any brush that will fit in it. If you keep the sickles sharp they do not break easy. Just pull the sickle bar out and clamp it in a vise and go at with a hand grinder. Having it sharp makes a huge difference. I recomend using the heavy duty serrated sections. Most of the time I shear the rivets for no apparent reason, most likely a stone getting in there. I hope that helps. By the way that is about 3 inch diameter trees I have done with mine.

 

[mathey]

This was a used unit that the guy really didn't know a whole lot about (apparently was in the family)...I'm supposed to go look at it Sunday

The brush I'd be cutting would not be over 1/2-3/4 inch diameter and either really green (summer time) or really dead (winter time) when i'd be cutting with it.

Sounds like it may do what I need it to do...

 

[mygoatboy]

I have been intrusted by a 90 year old who has used sickle bars for about 80 years on how to do everything. One tip for changing sections... Take the cutter bar out and place it in a vise with only the sections in the vise, not the actuall bar. Lightly clamp down. Now take a 5 lb hammer and give the section you want to remove a few firm blows on the back side. The rivets will shear. This is alot faster than grinding them off, just use a heavy hammer.

EYE PROTECTION IS RECOMENDED BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBLY OF FLYING METAL.

 

[gabby]

I have a Ford 515 sickle bar mower and it doesn't care what angle it's running at. It cuts 1" brush fine.
gabby