Sickle Bar Mower

[Anonymous-0]

Just curious as to anyone's suggestions about the sickle bar mowers. I have a Dearborn 6' mower I tried out on the Ford 8N. Seemed to cut well. I need to make an adjustment on the length of the toplink, or the driveshaft from the PTO, or both. Questions? Comments? I'm new at this and would love input. The blade seems sharp now, is it worth buying a new blade to change in the field? or can I make it through a 5 acre hay field with one blade? I can't imagine they'd be hard to change. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

[old]

My bars and section last for a year or more before needing service. You can when needed replace sections on it which is a lot cheaper then a new bar.
Hobby farm

 

[Anonymous-0]

I get about 200 acres of cutting with a 12 ft. bar before anything needs to be done. Then instead of removing sicle I take all the gaurds off and sharpen sections with a 4and1/2 grinder. That way when I replace gaurds I can inspect them and replace any worn and I can adjust ledger plates up good and tite. This may sound like a lot of work but I bet I can do it in less then an hour.

 

[Leroy]

What model Dearborn? Different models hook up differently. If it is the latest model then it should be the same as I think a Ford 501 mower. Earlier one needs a mount at the front end of top link and extensions on the lift arms on one model not on anouther. Is yours the one with the ball for the knife head on the knife, if so you are luckey, if it is on the end of the pitman stick then parts are no longer avaible.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Flying Belgian,

How do you "adjust the ledger plates up good and tight"? I have a Ford 501 mower and I have tried everything I know to reduce the clearance between the sections and the ledger plates with little success. I've never had any success bending the rock guards. I've tried grinding off the mating surface on the rock guard to result in raising the ledger plates. And I've made sure that the hold-down clips were adjusted to hold the bar down with just a "wink" of clearance.

I still have some ledger plates that have too much clearance to the section.

Any advice?

Thnaks,

Tom in TN

 

[Finn Md]

I can bend my Ford 515 guards down with many good wacks with a sledgehammer at tip. I get the malleable guards at TSC made in Germany or good ones from sickleservice.com ; no such luck with cheap Asian made ones. You can also try putting a thin shim under the bottom of guard where bolts pass through bar to raise rear - thus lowering tip. I've done this as a quick fix before.