STEINER 430 MAX, Samurai Sickle Mower Experiment is a BUST!

[MossRoad]

I did find it requires 3.3 GPM at a pressure of 200lb....... jim

Did you mean 2000?

 

[Industrial Toys]

If you ever tried to dig into a pile of whatever with the 430 MAX, using the slip-scoop, 200 lbs would be believable. Poor little critter!

 

[johara1]

Did you mean 2000?

That is what it said on their site at Samurai.... under questions and answers 3.3 GPM and a min of 200 lb. of pressure....could be a typo...... jim

 

[MossRoad]

Boy, that seems low.

 

[johara1]

I know it seems low to me too, but the flow rate seems normal. I don't think a 1/4" hose will carry the volume needed..... they do show a Ventrac with one but it is used with a loader that has its own pump and tank and it is driven off the PTO.... jim

 

[Valley MacGyver]

Not what I meant. Seems some people could never get themselves to report any negative aspect about what they own.

I paid a fair bit for this and feel a bit dupped. I don't need to protect any pride to say that.


I don't recall any sickle being anything other than basically flat. Only the vegetation to go between the knives and get sheared. Not sure about any other guard. I will have to find a sickle mower and look at it for comparison.

Just wanted to let you know that you are not sailing this ship alone. I too have bought a Samurai sickle bar. It has been a great disappointment from minute 2 of ownership. As soon as I put the cutter to work it jammed. The teeth crossed over and the hydraulic motor stalled out. Cleared jam, cut branch , jam, repeat. Teeth will sometimes just break and continue operate. I probably have less then a hour of operation on this unit with 90% of the teeth destroyed. I had lost of back and forth with tech support. at the end of it they sent me a set of teeth no charge. However this did not solve the problem. with new teeth installed i was not able to manually move the sickle back and forth without the teeth colliding. This is when i removed the teeth only to find that they are bent. I can only assume during the manufacturing of the teeth that they where distorted. At some point the teeth where ground flat because you are able to see the marks. maybe the heat treating of the teeth or the plating caused the warpage. The whole unit seems to be made of very thin material. I now find myself making reinforcement parts to make this a more robust cutter. Hope something works out soon.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Aside from the low flow of the Steiner 430, which is not the sickle mowers fault, the unit did work as manufactured, just the blades did not hold up and were not suitable for such a wide range of vegetation as indicated.

I was hoping that they would offer me blades, AT LEAST AT A DISCOUNT OR COST. No such offer!

 

[Randy Gann]

I don’t know much about Steiner or Ventrac machines. But if they do have a front pto, I wonder if you could somehow convert/mount an old Farmall Cub or Super A sickle mower to work? Those old tractors do not have much horsepower. So a modern Steiner or Ventrac should have adequate pto hp.

 

[Industrial Toys]

They have a front belt driven PTO. If a guy had all the time in the world and some resources, he could build almost anything I guess.

 

[johara1]

Get an old Haban Sickle bar mower they are belt driven and mount it in front of a Ventrac...... jim