Sickle Bar sickle bar mowers

[Chuck52]

How many kinds of sickle bar mowers are there? Are they pto driven or hydraulic? I'd like to find an old (read cheap) sickle bar I could use on my L210. I have some ditches I could trim, and if I can't find anyone to cut my hay field it might be easier and more attractive to just drop the hay and let it rot than trying to plow through it with a brush hog (that I also don't have). Are there any good old brands to look for, and are there some to avoid? I've found a few sites that list used ones, and some are fairly cheap, like in the $200-$300 range.

Chuck

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hello Chuck--There are 2 main stream mowers available--Pitman and belt drive--The belt drive will have a greater range of mowing capabilities below and above horizontal--Hydraulic lift is available as a option on most new sickle mowers--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment Co *Specializing in Hay Equipment*

 

[Chuck52]

Thanks Ken. I think it was your site I was looking at for a used one, though the prices look to be in the $300-$500 range. You're pretty far from me, and I hope to find something local, but could you comment on the low end used ones, like the Dearborn units you have, as to ease of use and parts availability? A level cut would satisfy most of my needs, even for the ditches, so a big range of angle isn't all that important to me.

Chuck

 

[Mosey]

With some patience and luck, you might find a decent used one for $300 or less, but it will be hard. I searched for months before finding one. Last year I bought a Ford 515 sickle mower with a 7' cutter bar for $325 at a used farm equipment dealer about 10 miles from me. It works good for what I bought it for, but it took some work to get it to work on my tractor. It has an "break back" arm that needs to be attached to the tractor and the bracket was missing, so I had to make a bracket and bolt it to the tractor. Also, since it's over 25 years old, it needed some maintenance, minor repairs, and a complete lube job.

 

[Chuck52]

Danny,

That's kind of what I hoped to find. I see ads from the local farm supply store for teeth and parts that I assume are for the sickle bars, and I was thinking I'd probably have to work on whatever I found to get it in working condition. Most of the old units are the pitman arm type, aren't they? On level ground do you get a decently even cut? It's not really all that important, but I was hoping for a result that was at least as good as a brush hog.

Chuck

 

[Mosey]

Chuck - My Ford 515 is a wobble box type, so it will run at any angle. My neighbor has a Ford 501, which is the pitman arm type, and is happy with it. It does as good as a rotary cutter (brush hog) in grass, but won't handle brush and trees. I don't know of there are more pitman type or wobble box type. They switched over starting in the 60's and both were available through the 70's, but after that it's all wobble box type.

 

[Chuck52]

Thanks Danny, though now I've got to figure out what a pitman is vs a wobble box.

Chuck

 

[diggerjim]

Chuck
Pitman type is a wooden arm about 30" give or take run off the PTO by a gearbox or belt and attaches directly to the sickle knife. Etreme angles will break the wooden "pitman" arm because of inflexibility.

A wobble box is operated by the PTO and attaches the the sickle knife. More extreme angles are possible by the mechanics of the "wobble" box, think of a u-joint in a drive shaft. It flexes allowing the shaft to function at different angles. The wobble box allows the knife bar to move up or down and still function. Hope this helps.

Jim

 

[Boone]

I bought and then later sold a John Deere number 5 mower for $50, I bought it an auction, then sold it at a local FFA auction a few years later. The number 5 mower bolts up to the tractor but could be set up for three point. There are also trailer sickle bar mowers that look handy for fields and where space isn't a problem.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hello Chuck--It will be the same problem on the Dearborn as he had mounting his 515 Ford sickle mower-- <font color="blue"> but it took some work to get it to
work on my tractor. It has an "break back" arm that needs to be attached to the tractor and the bracket was
missing, so I had to make a bracket and bolt it to the tractor. </font>--You will have to do some modification for sure!--Massey Ferguson sickle mowers are the easiest and quickest to hook up to your 3 point--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment Co *Since 1977*