Should I go 6' or 7' on a Dearborn 14-16 mower

My father gave me a Dearborn 14-16 that we last tried to use on his TO30 in the 1980's. At the time we didn't have a manual and didn't know it needed the extra top link and lift arm brackets. It never worked well, kept kicking out.

25 years later. I have the special bracket for under the left rear axle and last weekend I made a new top link extender bracket and new extensions for the 3 point lift arms so it is now hooked up to my TO20 correctly.

In the distant past someone chopped the cutter bar to approx 5'. I suppose so they could mow ditches or something like that. I picked up a very rough Dearborn 14-15 at auction last year that has a 6' bar I could transfer to the 14-16 OR I could join the good end of the 6' to the chopped up 5' to make a 7'. I was leaning towards making a 7' but I've got so many projects going on concurrently I can probably talk myself into leaving well enough alone for now and just transfer the 6'.

I'd like your thoughts. Also, did the Fergusons handle 7' 14-16 mowers OK? Why was a 6' even offered?

I usually mow wiith a Deere #9 7'mounted behind a Kubota. (That setup works like charm but I like to experiment)

TEA and TED models here in Australia are usually never
hooked up to anything more than a four foot
slasher/brush hog. Perhaps the owner who cut down
the blades did so to reduce the load on the engine .
In any case use an over run clutch or with seven
feet of swinging steel powering you along you might
reach the end of the paddock before you can stop.

No problem using a 7 ft. sickle bar mower on a Fergy.

Chas, same language, different hemisphere... he has a 'sickle bar' with the row of triangular teeth riveted to a bar, inside of fingers or 'rock guards' easy to cut down, for several reasons- impossible to put back tho. And with these things, there is almost no momentum, you press the clutch, it stops quickly... ???? a back and forth movement... osculating? reciprical? I dunno... I have one of these 5 point hitch models.... what a pain to hook up.

I have used that type mower on my TE20. The 6 ft works fine and
really the end use is what will determine what you need. When
mowing in close quarters I wished many a time that the bar was
only 4 ft long. On the other hand, in the wide open spaces the 6 ft.
was more than welcome.

Tony , thanks , the thought of a seven foot rotary
slasher on the back of a TEA makes my old spine
shudder!

I too thought he was referring to a seven foot slasher.

Ah, the vagaries of the English language. US and Australia - a common heritage, divided by a common language....... :lol: