installing section knives

[Anonymous-0]

when putting knives back on the cutter bar does it matter which end you start at.also the short part of the bar that takes the longer rivets whats the best way to do that part of it thanks

 

[Paul from MI]

Doesn't matter where you start, either end is OK. You may have to trim your long rivets a bit to get the proper peen that doesn'e interfere with guides, clips, etc. Helps if you can lay it out flat on a bench with a piece of heavy scrap steel under the rivet head to help hold it in place. It's not high tech, whatever works for you is fine as long as you get a good round peen on the rivet. If you peen it too flat it'll loosen up in time.
Good luck,
Paul

 

[Lee in Iowa]

If you"re talking about sickle sections in a mower then I think the bolts are much better than rivets. They are easy to put in the field without taking out the sickle. It does help if you have one of the small commercially available tools to pull the bolts through the sickle.

 

[old]

Either end works just fine. My self I would look into the bolts. I did one this year with bolts and from now one I will be switching all of my sickle type mowers to bolts when I need to do them again
Hobby farm

 

[NawlensGator]

One section came off my sickle near the outside end. Do I have to remove the bar to replace that one section? I have a tool made to extract and install rivets. Looks like it might do the job without taking off the bar.

 

[Anonymous-0]

As long as you bought the right sections for whatever bar you have- and yes- they are not universal- it doesn't matter if you are replacing one, ten, or all of them- the dimensions are the same. On the near end, the cutterhead- if the rivets are longer than ones used for the other sections- cut them off to have the same amount protruding above the bar as to how far the other rivets protrude. Then they hammer down (peen) the same. But bolts are a better option- usually have to use some higher holddown plates. Sickle tool to remove and reinstall rivets is a plus- just tighten the tool to the bar when punching out rivets-= Otherwise the punch likes to break. I always use an 8 inch pipe wrench to tighten down the tool- can't do it by hand without the punch breaking soon. It does not tolerate poor alignment or looseness.

 

[Anonymous-0]

My experience has been you need to strike the rivet hard to swell it to fill the hole. Otherwise it will be loose. Then peen it round.

 

[Don-Wi]

As long as you can reach it and work on it, you don't have to remove the sickle. Bolts are very nice to be able to replace them in the machine this way. Rivets can be harder to do right while still in the machine.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

[Anonymous-0]

I just moved into the 21st century and switched my cutbar over to bolts. I needed 3 different lengths to fit different parts of the bar. Easy to replace knives in the field. You will need high standing holddowns to clear the bolt heads altho I was able to get by by with a couple of my A-C holddowns by slightly grinding the nuts for clearance. Prior to this, I had a 15" piece of railroad track in which I had tapped a 1/2" hole in the top center and installed a 2-1/2" cut off Grade 8 bolt. I could set the iron with the bolt up and fit it between the guards as an anvil for the rivit head when I peened the top side. Worked really well.