IH Sickle Mower ID and Adjustment

[Farmall Farmer]

I have an IH 7' sickle mower, but I don't know the model or year. It is drawbar mounted and belt driven. I am also having issues with it cutting, I replaced all the sickle sections last year and a few rock guards this year. Going one direction, it cuts great and going a different direction grass stuck on the bar and doesn't make a clean cut. I have tried to adjust it, but I am not sure whether to adjust it up, down, or level. I am cutting pasture grass, unsure of grass species, but there is more than one species. Any help identifying it and getting it adjusted properly would be greatly appreciated.

 

[300guy]

My 100 has the belt under the idler pulley. That was the first thing I noticed.

 

[DanielW]

I wonder why a previous owner changed the head and bar to New Holland? Both made good wobble heads and bars. But the IH wobble head was one of the few aspects of haying equipment that IH really did well - better than any other (in my opinion). They had the fastest stroke and a little more of it. Also a nice, simple design that was easily serviced and quite robust (unlike Deeres which had notable problems if not maintained in top-notch shape). The IH balanced sickle head was so well-regarded that it was used by several other manufacturers - including the brand new sickle mowers Rowse makes to this day (which makes IH wobble parts easy to come by).

I agree that you need more hold-downs. I think the manufacturers went a little overkill in how many hold-downs they had when new in some cases. But you need at least one more in the gap at 'A', and you definitely, definitely need one over the knife-head region at 'B'. The one at "B" needs to be the high-arch style to fit over the knife head. Running without them (especially that one at 'B') is a broken knife waiting to happen.

 

[Farmall Farmer]

I wonder why a previous owner changed the head and bar to New Holland? Both made good wobble heads and bars. But the IH wobble head was one of the few aspects of haying equipment that IH really did well - better than any other (in my opinion). They had the fastest stroke and a little more of it. Also a nice, simple design that was easily serviced and quite robust (unlike Deeres which had notable problems if not maintained in top-notch shape). The IH balanced sickle head was so well-regarded that it was used by several other manufacturers - including the brand new sickle mowers Rowse makes to this day (which makes IH wobble parts easy to come by).

I agree that you need more hold-downs. I think the manufacturers went a little overkill in how many hold-downs they had when new in some cases. But you need at least one more in the gap at 'A', and you definitely, definitely need one over the knife-head region at 'B'. The one at "B" needs to be the high-arch style to fit over the knife head. Running without them (especially that one at 'B') is a broken knife waiting to happen.
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Thanks for the information, I did not realize I needed more holdowns or that the knife could break without them. I will have to get some more holdowns before I do more mowing.