JD no. 5 mower

[Jason Hubner]

I bought a JD no 5 mower this last summer. I'd like to put it behind my Case va to give me a reason to use the tractor. But are these mowers any good? Are they worth putting money into? The one i have needs some work to bring it up to snuff.
 

[Nathan (SD)]

If you are gonna use it a hour or 2 a year they are fine. Personally I used one for many years but had a bad run of pitman luck. Got a IH 120 and never missed the no.5. If you plan on going to JD for parts hang on to your wallet.
 

[Tx Jim]

[NEKS]

They are a good mower. For years used it to mow all my hay. Don't uses it much anymore, so after the last pitman rioted away take it off when done for the year and store in barn.
 

[DeltaRed]

The #5 is one of the best older mowers out there.There are atill lots still being used,espeacially in the high-altitude mountain grass areas.They are pretty simple machines.They can be mounted on just about any tractor.My brother 'pulls his with a 560 IH.Afriend(in the mountains)runs two,each pulled by a Supert C.But they are "old"-1940s
 

[Hotflashjr]

I've got a No.5 on my JD MT tractor. About the same size/power tractor as your Case. It runs it good but I have spent a fair amount of money on it. I needed all new knives, had some broken parts, needed all new seals grease zerks, and gaskets and I needed to make my own PTO shaft to hook up to my tractor. So far I have about $350 into plus a fair amount of time. All restored I'd be lucky to get that for it. That being said, It looks great with my MT and I like working on it and using it. Very easy to work on with the owners manual and once you get it set up right, it mows well.
 

[James Howell]

We used a #5 mower to cut hay for several years and it worked very good.





We use it now to mow around trees and a few other areas and it works just fine.





Most of the "universal" parts, such as pitmans, knives, sections, rivets, are available at Tractor Supply.

There are several folks on the YT forum that also have OEM new and used parts.

Be sure to get an operators manual for your mower.

The manual is a great help in setting up the mower to cut/mow at its best.

The key is to "register" the knife correctly.

We've got several #5 mowers that are "working" mowers and one just for "show".



You can spend a lot of time and money on these old mowers, but if they serve your purpose then its time and money well spent.

Hope this helps and enjoy your John Deere #5 sickle mower.
 

[glennster]

i have a #5 also, good solid mower. mother deere still has alot of parts available, and also aftermarket suppliers too. but, the mower really works a lot better behind a RED tractor.





i have a marker cylinder off an 800 cyclo planter on this #5 to raise and lower the mower. beats the heck out of the manual lift.
Untitled URL Link

 

[James Howell]

Any old John Deere mower will make a RED tractor worth more!
 

[TomA]

We use one all the time, good mower.
Cutting hay with D2 and JD 5 Mower

 

[Leroy]

I don't under stand all the pitman problems people have. Have used pitman mowers for years with some years 500+- acres a year and since I can remember and that is back to mid 50's and I bought my first mower in 1958-or 59 and have NEVER had a pitman break, something is wrong if they keep breaking pitmans. And for the sections all we ever had was rivits, bolts not yet out, and as long as they make rivits I will not atempt to use bolts. The ones that are complaining about the rivets are the ones that break more sections per 100 acres every year than we did on the 500 acres per year. And I have older mowers than that to restore for to go to the field.
 

[Farmallb]

#5s are the only tractor mower dad ever had. He had a IHC horse mower before that. That was it. Hed buy any good looking #5 he came across at sales. I think when he died he had the rmains of around 4 or 5, along with his good one, the one he used. It came with a foot lift, and unless my brother has thrown it away its still hanging in the tractor part of the grainery shed. I always wondered why a guy couldnt use one of the cult lifts on an A or B, run a length of loose cable to the mower, and raise it that way. He also mounted it on an A or 2 and a B, and an 48 H Farmall, and a 41 M
 

[gtski]

Glennster, You aint using that mower nearly enough. There's still too much paint on the guards and shoe.
 

[James Howell]

When we got our 43B it was set up to raise a mower with a cultivator lift as you mentioned above.




 

[fixerupper]

Like everyone else said it's a good mower, otherwise Deere wouldn't have sold so many of them. A pitman breaks from either running it too fast, ground speed is too fast for the conditions or a worn or incorrectly set up cutter bar that pulls too hard. I suppose a worn, loose bearing on the drive end of the pitman could do it too.In other words, if the bar is chattering loud, even to the point where the drive train chatters, you're either going too fast, the hold downs need attention or the cutting edges on both the sickle sections and the ledger plates are worn. Some really fine grasses, like blue grass cut so hard you can't hardly go slow enough to prevent chatter and knocking. Jim