sickle bar mower question

[rbig]

I am a bit confused about sickle bar mowers. Some say you can't mow downward unless you have a wobble drive. Others say a pitman drive can mow downward.

I have a ditch across the front of our place. It's mostly 10' high, and comes down at an angle of maybe 60 degrees. I am no longer able to do weedwhacking to keep it looking nice. That pretty much leaves sickle bar mowers----- go across it mowing up, and go across it mowing down.

What are the rules on whether you can mow downward with sickle bar mowers? All accounts say you do mowing from 0 to 90 degrees upward with either. It's the downward thing I need to know the rules on.

 

[Creamer]

With a wobble drive you can mow in any orientation that the lift mechanism will allow.

With a pitman stick type drive the side to side motion of the sickle is optimum with the mower bar perfectly horizontal with the mower frame. The mower bar can angle up or down to some extent but the more it does the higher the stress on the pitman stick and drive unit. There is really no hard limit as it depends on what you are trying to cut. As a practical limit I would say +/- 25 degrees from horizontal. You usually can hear the drive binding.

How you drive to cut it can make a big difference. For instance when I was using a JD 37 mower that had a pitman stick to mow a ditch I some times would only take a half of a cut on the first pass so on the next pass I could drop a wheel off the edge of the road to angle the frame to allow the mower bar to lie down.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I see no way for you to get a pitman drive mower to swing up or down 60 degrees. I would just look for a belt drive. Think about how a pitman works and you will see that it would be in bind to say the least. Even if you got it to work it would be doing what it is not designed to do and the stress would shorten the life of parts.

 

[bcp]

All accounts say you do mowing from 0 to 90 degrees upward with either.

All accounts are wrong.



Bruce

 

[Gordon Gould]

I had a co-worker with a similar bank. He used a regular push mower. He took the handle off and attached a rope. He would stand at the top of the bank and let the mower down with the rope then pull it up. Move over and do it again. Seemed to work good.
Just an idea as I don't know what your limitations are.

gg

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

I have a new holland 451 sickle mower ,and I can tell you from experience ( by accident) it will mow in any position you can put it in, even folded up in transport position. Although it is a belt drive.
I would think the a pitman arm mower would not stand the mowing you are talking about for long. Most places I have seen a pitman break is when going around the outside of a field trimming steep areas ,in comparison to the tractor.

 

[countrybumpkin]

As most have stated a pitman style mower is very limited to angle , I bought a IH 1300 balance head and added a hydraulic cylinder to mow banks, ponds, and such. It will mow from straight vertical, to way below horizontal, not sure how far cause I've not had to max it out. Plenty of ideas and reading if you search around on here about ditch bank mowing and such. Good luck with your project.

 

[dschuffert]

I just bought a Frontier SB3108 Sickle Bar mower and love it. It can cut down to 75 degrees and up to 90 degrees.

 

[countrybumpkin]

They make a nice sickle I just am to tight to spend that much on one. I've yet to max mine out on down travel , it's had no trouble reaching down were I've needed so far. Here is a quick snap shot of one of the banks I have to do , even with the tractor setting on top level it's no where near maxed down angle.

 

[Creamer]

They make a nice sickle I just am to tight to spend that much on one. I've yet to max mine out on down travel , it's had no trouble reaching down were I've needed so far. Here is a quick snap shot of one of the banks I have to do , even with the tractor setting on top level it's no where near maxed down angle.

The cylinder sets the angle of the sickle bar, i.e. that is what brings it vertical?

 

[countrybumpkin]

The cylinder sets the angle of the sickle bar, i.e. that is what brings it vertical?

On mine? Yes the cylinder controls the entire movement of the bar from transport to below grade, not sure just how far below level it will go never have found a place that maxed it out.

 

[msmith]

I have a new holland 451 sickle mower ,and I can tell you from experience ( by accident) it will mow in any position you can put it in, even folded up in transport position. Although it is a belt drive.
I would think the a pitman arm mower would not stand the mowing you are talking about for long. Most places I have seen a pitman break is when going around the outside of a field trimming steep areas ,in comparison to the tractor.

LOL, me too. Once I figure this out, I used mine to mow road banks. Saves on weed eating.

 

[Creamer]

When I was a kid mowing with Dad's JD 37 sickle bar behind a 4020 i saw a rock and flipped the hydraulic lever to the up position without stopping. the cylinder acted so fast that lift mechanism made the end of 9' bar pop up to well over 45 degrees and just as it got to the top I heard a 'pop'. The pitman stick had broken. It was the first time that I had broken a pitman stick without actually hitting it on something. After that we turned the hydraulic speed (flow rate) down a little. Just the angle of the sickle bar broke the stick as it was cutting air. Of course they may have been a little bending that increased friction as well.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

As far as I'm concerned, NH451 is the finest sickle bar mower ever made,

It will run in any position, including the position it's in, in the pict...

SR

 

[Creamer]

As far as I'm concerned, NH451 is the finest sickle bar mower ever made,

It will run in any position, including the position it's in, in the pict...

SR

Rob,

While I have a NH 455 (same as a 451 except trailer type) and it is definitely a very good mower I would still take IH 1100/1300 if I was serious about mowing. The reasons for that are the gearbox drive is much more durable than the wobble mechanism of the NH and they get about 250 more strokes/min at PTO speed for a better and faster cutting. Still, for what I use it for, my NH 455 is absolutely great! (I also found it locally and a whole lot less cost than what I could find an IH for.)