Refurb a Sickle Bar mower

[kbuegel]

I just bought a Sickle Bar mower - I'm pretty sure its a NH 450. Its fairly rusty, but I hooked it up and it works. So I want to rebuild it and clean it up so it will be reliable for Spring hay cutting in a couple weeks.

Thankfully, the pully and PTO parts seem in good condition, so just greasing them and blowing out debris will do there. But, there is a lot of rust on the bar and cutter blade sections. I have a "new" blade I can put in, but its just as rusty. The mower works but clogs up within 10 feet of cutting heavy grass. I assume this is because everything is rusty and the cut grass is sticking to the rust. I've seen recommendations to pour motor oil over the bar, but I think it will need more than that.

Also the cutter sections look fine except for the rust (no nicks or broken rivets) but sections do not sit down agaist the bar very well. I think it may have been sitting in a field for a long time and grass grew up and bowed up the blade between each of the "keepers" on the bar (not sure what all these parts are called). Or maybe there is debris under the cutter bar that is lifting it up. But it seems like the sections need to ride right on the bar for it to scissor correctly, and in some cases they sitting up about an 1/8 of an inch or more.

Lastly, I'm a bit unsure on the operating speed when using a sickle. I can run it at 540 rpm and it slides back and forth so fast that only the tips of the cutter sections are doing all the work. And they seem to push and hold torn grass into the spaces under the guards. There are scerated edges further down the sections, but the Grass never really makes it back that far (you can tell from the moisture left behind). So I might assume that I should drive faster through the grass, but that seems to flatten the grass down. So if I drive slow, and lower my RPM's to run the cutter slow, is that a good idea? Or should I always use it at 540 RPM?

Thanks in advance for everyone's advice on this. I'm sure I'm not the only one trying to get a finicky sickle mower to work well.

 

[zzvyb6]

Your 450 is clearly shown on the New Holland parts web site. It should be easy to refurbish the sickle cutter because parts are all over the place (TSC for example has guards, hold down clps, knife sections, rivets, bolts, etc.

That being said, you can hammer the hold down clips to get tighter contact between the knives and the cutter bar. Pound then down until the knife is in contact with the guard surface. They may break only because they are all worn away. Unbolt the guards and put new bolts and clips in.

As for cutting, if the knives are not sharp, pull the bar and hit then with a grinding wheel. For mostly grass, I recommend a over-serated knives. This helps rip the grass blades. Putting new knives in is a neat skill to learn. If rivetted, put the bar loosly in a vise with the knife noses down. Then blast the back edge with a heavy hammer to shear the rivets. Install the new rivets with a ball pein hammer or buy a rivet tool. I prefer the bolts myself, but that's your decision.

Don't worry about the rust on the knives or cutter. After mowing a few acres, it will be all shiney again. Stones, ant hills, a few mice or a woodchuck are good polishing materials.

 

[kbuegel]

Now that I'm looking at the NH website, it looks like my mower is a NH 45, not a 450. Its pretty old! Its a full-mounted version, no support wheels. The 3-pt hitch has lots of extra clamps and bars to keep the mower from twisting on the hitch. I did not seem to need those on my newer NH 29DA tractor. I guess the lower arms on 3-pt hitches used to move independently.

I got this mower as part of a package deal: a NH super-68 baler with a Wisconsin engine (engine was recently rebuilt, works great), a NH side-delivery pto-driven rake-appears to be 8 foot or so and has rubber tires in decent shape, a ground-driven bale picker for throwing bales into a truck, and this NH sickle mower. All these had been sitting in a field for 4 years, but prior to that they were used regularly. Got a couple boxes of spare parts too, including 3 cutter bars for the sickle mower, one appears to be brand new, but rusty from sitting.

When I get home, I'll attach a couple pic's. Picked all this up for $2000.00. Seemed like a decent deal, even if the equipment needs some TLC. We have a horse ranch and plan to cut and bale some volunteer rye grass that is on neighboring land.

The hold-down clamps on the cutter bar do seem to keep the knife sections pushed down on the bar, but those hold-downs are about 18 inches apart. So all the sections in between are lifted up for some reason. But now that I'm looking at the parts diagram, there looks to be a long metal strip that all the knife sections attach to, and perhaps that is what is bent. When I take the bar apart, that should be obvious. I'm just hesitant to take apart something that is working - if I can just tweak it, that may be better.

That's good to know that all the rust will get buffed away from an acre or two of mowing. Then I will just brush it to get rid of any scale, oil it generously, and let the grass do the rest. Out here we have moles, so they raise up some dirt which the cutter digs through now and then. Its very sandy soil, no rocks and fairly flat but somewhat marshy. Grass seems to grow very well with little help. This year, local bales of orchard grass are going for $25/each. So we plan to use some rye hay to strech out our feed.

The other thing that occured to me is the height of the cut - this mower has skids at both ends and it does not appear to be adjustable in height. I can raise up the inboard end by raising the 3pt, but the outboard end still rides on the ground. But I assume that is on purpose so I could cut pond banks and have the bar swing downhill (as long as it doesn't break the pitman). There is a heavy-duty spring that appears to stop the bar from lowering too far, but it looks like about 25 degees or so below level is where it stops. So anyway, I cannot lift up the outboard end of the bar without getting off the tractor and lifting it all the way up. Would be nice if I could set it to be level and just use my hydraulics to lift the whole thing up 1 foot or so, to get past obstructions. Maybe I'm missing something that locks the bar into a level position?

 

[zzvyb6]

I think a lot of us would like to see the ground bale pickup elevator. I used to have one, never used it, and scrounged the chain sprockets off of it for other uses. Maybe I should consider resurecting it.

My old New Idea mower had a rope to pull when you wanted to raise up the cutter bar. Also, as I recall, the side view angle was adjustable, thus allowing you to change the cutting height. This was a manual operation. Be careful when picking up the cutter bar. Lots of people got their fingers caught in between the knives. When you raise it up, the knives slide across the ledger plate. With good sharp knives you'll never realize its happeneing...

 

[Solo]

You might be able to find a manual for your mower on ebay. I've seen several there. For the Rivets I always use a grinder to take the heads off. To reinstall I just bought a rivet tool from www.smithtoolinfo.com/r3030.htm. I've seen these on ebay as well.

Solo

 

[Farmwithjunk]

On the gaurds, you'll notice a serrated piece that's integral to the gaurd. That's the ledger plate. When they wear out, no matter how sharp the sections are, grass will bunch up rather than cut. The sections cut against that serrated edge on the ledger. Simple fix? Replace gaurds. Sections should ride CLOSE to the ledger but not TIGHT against them. Both cutting edges wear really fast if there's too tight of a fit. Not sure if that old of a mower has wear plates UNDER the hold down clips or not. If you're doing a total rebuild, replace them too (IF they're indeed used on a 45) Tension on the knife bar is regulated by the hold down clips. As mentioned, they can be bent to proper adjustment.

One of the most misunderstood concepts with a sickle bar is, people tend to move along too SLOWLY with them. They cut better if the ground speed isn't too slow. A GOOD, well adjusted sickle bar mower can easily handle 5 to 7 mph in a heavy crop.

About the only height of cut adjustment on a lot of older mowers is with lengthening or shortening the top link. That makes a very small difference. There MAY be some adjustmet to the skids themselves. I've got a NH 451 (owned it since 1975) The skids on that model do have some height adjustment.

 

[kbuegel]

Turns out it is a NH 501 sickle mower - it was hard to identify from the drawings since many of the sub-assembly parts are similar to 45's and 451's.

I rebuilt the bar over the weekend, but did not try riveting new cutter knife sections - only one section is broken so I let it be. But the guards are fairly worn and bent, several have been replaced with JD and MF guards which apparently fit but don't fit perfectly. The plates on the guards do have serrated edges but they are rounded over and not sharp at all. But they may still hold the grass, which seems to be their purpose.

Overall, I think I'm going to have to buy a better mower. This one has mowed many, many acres and will do for now, but its pretty worn out.

If you see anything I should fix in these pictures, please say so. Here are the pics:

 

[kbuegel]

Here's some more pics showing the grass buildup at the tip of the guards, one of the guards removed, and the shims. I guess the shims are sacrificial, rather than wearing out the guards or the bar itself.

 

[kbuegel]

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.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Actually, that'd be a F.O.R.D. 501. They pre-date the current "New Holland" tractor brand and go back to a time when New Holland and Ford had absolutely NOTHING to do with each other.

The Ford 501 is a pitman style mower, a totally different concept from a NH451.

Still a good mower though.

 

[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