Sicklebar mower

patrickg · Oct 7, 2002

normde2001, Of course there are a few milestones to pass yet. 1. Hook it up to drawbar and everything works OK., 2. It mows OK, 3. I get a new drive belt on it before the old worn and cracked one breaks. At least New Holland can get them in a day or so. Cheap Too (NOT!), $39.95 + tax I'' order one tomorrow from nearest dealer (25 miles).

I went on the New Holland web site, http://www.newholland.com and ordered the Parts catalog, Operator's manual, and Repair manual. $35.25 including the $5 for shipping. Seems their is still some parts support (popular selling items). Looks like this is a early 80's product.

I may not be out of the woods yet but I think I can see the edge from here.

Patrick

machinedoc · Oct 10, 2002

Hello Patrick--I am going to help you the rest of the way out of the woods. Ford may not have that manual? If not, Get a owners manual for a "International" 1300 model or a "Case-IH" 1300 The 505 Ford is identical. I have one myself and it does a good job. It does have a couple quirks that owners for 20 years have not noticed, the little chrome plug on the bearbox is concealing a very important zerk fitting to the head and the pin that drives the cutter bar from the wobble arm must be watched closley. Cable eyebolt is to fasten to your tractor drawbar hole to carry the blade, when lifting. You may adjust or fine tune on the machine, if needed? Glad you did not get a Ford 515, BUMMER !!

Mosey · Oct 10, 2002

machinedoc - "Glad you did not get a Ford 515, BUMMER !!"

I'm just a little curious why you say that?

machinedoc · Oct 10, 2002

That Ford 515 machine is notorious about not holding together in the drive head and also was prone to break in several weak points in the framing. $100 would be too much to pay for a good one!

patrickg · Oct 10, 2002

machinedoc, I think that the New Holland Intergalactic Headquarters web site, NewHolland.com, will probably send me the parts, owners, and repair manuals since they confirmed the automated order I placed there with a credit card. It is good to know what else the unit was marketed as. Thanks for that. That could come in handy when I need parts. The nearest New Holland dealer 's parts guy told me that New Holland only stocks a few "volume" parts. Slow moving items are no longer available.

Condolences to ALL 515 owners. Sorry about that guys. I would have bought a 515 if I could have found one. I got the 505 purely because of the timing of the availabilty and the user reports on the seller (via eBay).

We got 3 1/4 inches of rain. Took three days. Didn't rain very hard very often but did go fairly steady for over a day. It was enough to give me an excuse to stay in and work on my house plans on the computer instead of fuss with the 505 mower. Tomorrow I meet with a prospective builder in the AM but maybe I can hook up the mower for a test in the PM. If I wait too long their won't be anything to mow.

Looking forward to being able to mow around the ponds without having to back up to the water with a brush hog a few hundred times. That is tiring, boring, and takes too long. I have nine ponds now with the one finished a couple months back. This rain finished it off and it was gently overflowing at lunch time.

Patrick

patrickg · Oct 16, 2002

Machinedoc, Thanks so much for the comment about the little silver colored plug. There was a lot of water in there. I put in a bunch of good grease (what should I have used?) there after hitting all the zerks I could find (several). Do you lube anything on the sicklebar itself?

Well it mows big stuff pretty well (including saplings up to an inch or so). The breakaway works good but not as often as I gain experience judging where the end of the bar is in relation to fixed objects. According to my mom, the reason I had trouble with clogging on fine material is that it was too dry. Her dad had one about half that size that he pulled behind his team. (He never owned a combustion engine, had inside plumbing, or electricity.) Maybe I was a little late in the season and some of the stuff was dry and harder to cut that when lush and green. Is there an adjustment for the tightness of the moving cutter blade vs the stationary part?

As you can see my manuals haven't arrived from New Holland's Intergalactic HQ yet.

Any idea about sharpening? Do you need to sharpen the serated blades, fixed or moving? If yes, does it require disassembly? What would be a reasonable cost?

What is the corect way to R&R the drive belt. I took it off the idlers and tried to use a stick to derail it while tugging on the belt with my ither hand. Lots of effort, no progress. If I wait long enough the old worn belt will break and fall off but I still won't know the right way to put on a replacement. On the topic of replacements, New Holland wants $40 for the belt. Is that belt better than if I went to a parts store with the old one in hand and matched it up in size and general appearance? If it is special I'll get it, otherwise I'd think it would be way cheaper at auto/truck parts place. What is your take on that?

Thanks again for your input,

Patrick

Mosey · Oct 16, 2002

Believe it or not the "adjustment for the tightness of the moving cutter blade vs the stationary part" is with a hammer! The manual for my Ford 515 says to "align the guards by striking the forward end up or down with a hammer". It also says the knife clips can be adjusted by "striking the forward end of the clip up or down". Mine wasn't cutting very good, but after about a half hour of "hammer engineering" it cuts pretty good now!

machinedoc · Oct 16, 2002

Use the parts house belt,if less expensive. May try starting the belt off the big pully by hand and not the stick, sometimes it gets a better bite and rolls right off. I sharpen mine with the sickle in the machine with a 4 inch electric angle grinder (wear safety glasses). Someone may have put the wrong belt on (too short)

patrickg · Oct 20, 2002

Machinedoc, The reason I tried to use a stick to help pry the belt off the mower was that I didn't have the strength in my hands to do it, well, manually. I tried the stick to get some leverage. Got close a couple times but no joy. Didn't want to get too carried away and break something on the machine or me. Now that I have the manual, I know what I can loosen or whatever without causing some unforseen problem.

Could you break it down just a bit for me, the application of the angle grinder, that is. I have some 4 1/2 inch angle grinders and metal grinding disks but would appreciate a little detail on how to proceed.

Turns out the cable operated lifting mechanism is stock except for where a swedged cable terminaton broke and was replaced with an eye splice with a thimble. Lots of good info in the manual regarding adjusting spring tensions for proper weight on the sickle arm (inboard and outboard ends.) Lots of info on adjusting it to fit various Ford tractors.

I don't understand why they would want the 3PH adjusted to carry the lower pins at different heights depending on the model of the tractor. I would have thought there would be an optimum height, independent of the model of the tractor... OH WELL just another bit of personal ignorance uncovered. I'm sure they have a good reason, just unknown to this neophyte. I guess I now need to go measure some "antique" Ford tractors to see which one more closely resembles my Kubota's 3PH configuration.

Mowing season is sort of coming to a close and we got another inch of rain over two days. Real gentle, little runoff, much appreciated but sort of makes mowing a topic of conversation rather than an activity.

Thanks for your help and suggestions,

Patrick