JD #5 mower

[eod4647]

Saw a post from back in April about hydraulic cylinders on the #5.
I just picked one up, and have a few questions. I'm picking up the mounting brackets and some linkage parts from the guy I bought it from, but no cylinder.
What size/strike cylinder do I need? And does that cylinder raise/lower the sickle all the way up and down? Used it with my Oliver 880 the other day, works well but I know next to nothing about this mower. Is there a range or angle of the sickle to stay in? Just wondering about mowing done ditches, would rather not mess something up...

Thanks for any tips/advice on operating. I did get the manual for the mower, and it's helpful but anything I can learn from others would be great.

Chris

 

[JIM MN]

A 4+8 cylinder will work just fine.. It will lift sickle bar up and horizontal only..
You have to lift the bar up into the transport position and attach rod to hold bar there...
Good mower with a sharp sickle...

 

[Scott 730]

(quoted from post at 22:41:19 08/03/22)

You have to lift the bar up into the transport position and attach rod to hold bar there...
Good mower with a sharp sickle...

Make double sure you do not have any fingers in the guards when raising the bar to transport position if you value your pinkies. Flat palm on the bar when lifting.

 

[Tx Jim]

A standard 3X8 hyd cylinder will be fine. IMHO a 4X8 cylinder is too large for a #5 mower

 

[John T]

Back in the day I used several of those old Number Fives including long lever arm manual or hyd cylinder
lift, they aren't heavy and agree with Jim a smaller cyl will work fine. Best I recall (no warranty memory
is faded lol) I used BOTH one way gravity down as well as dual action lift and fall cylinders.

As far as operation, you might search You Tube for John Deere Sickle Bar mower use. There you can learn
about things such as Proper Lead,,,,,Proper Register,,,,,,Knife Blade and Section Ledger Plates, Rock
Guards, lift and angle, hold down plates and wear plates etc etc etc

Good luck and best wishes

John T Longggggggg past No 5 user