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Bolted vs Riveted Sickle Sections

B

Bill VA

Well-known Member
One of the things I'm going to do over the winter is refresh my MF32 sickle mower's sickle sections. Presently they are riveted sections. I'm considering converting everything to bolt-on sections and hold-downs.

My concern with the bolt-on sickle sections and the hold-downs that go with them is this - does the additional height cause a plugging problem - as in the additional height gives the hay something more substantial vs a rivet to grab as it's being mowed.

I can see where on a haybine the reel pulls the grass off the cutter bar, but I have some concern that bolt-on sickle sections and the higher arched hold-downs may not be such a problem.

As we look towards opening up more fields, rocks are going to be somewhat present and I can see a broken sickle section here and there. I assume that with bolt-on sections, I can replace without removing the whole cutter blade assy? This would be very desirable going forward.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Bill
 
Pretty much everyone is converting to bolts now. You do need a little more clearance with them. Check your guides to make sure you can get about 3/8 of an inch clearance and you should be fine. As for the hay catching it generally isn't an issue. the nuts are cone shaped so they are more streamlined and you shouldn't run into an issue. It's much easier to field change bolt sections than rivets and if you get the sickle positioned right, you can do it without removing the whole sickle or at least I can with the mowers I've worked with.
 
Now days every mower I work on I convert to the bolt on sections. Never had any problem with them clogging up more then the rivet on type does plus the bolt on type makes it easy to replace a bad section right out in the field
 
I agree with the other 2 posts. Go with bolts. They are much easier to replace in the field than rivets. If replacing one in the field, I don't even take the time to unbolt the old section. I just twist the bolts off and put the section on with new bolts. Saves a lot of time.
 
"<font color="#6699ff">[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]I assume that with bolt-on sections, I can replace without removing the whole cutter blade assy?[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]</font>"

Yes, you can replace both bolt-on sections and riveted sections without removing the knife.

Take a look at the photos below.

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Hope this helps.
 
But by the time you pay $90 for that tool you can bolt on and off hundreds of sections and save your self a lot of $$$
 
When I buy new blades I get riveted on sections as they seem to stay tighter and break out
less than bolt on.When I break out a section I will usually bolt one in but I bolt them in and put the nut head under the blade the only thing is some guards will not allow the nut head to clear.My New Holland 456 mower has guards that won't allow them to clear but I have a huge stock of like new Allis Chalmers guards that work fine and have a little cut out that allows the nut head to clear.By putting the bolt head on the bottom you don't have to use the high riser type hold downs which in my experience will hang up worse than the low profile ones.
 
Nice job on the rivets. Mine never come out as well.

Bolts would be the way to go if they fit under the hold downs.

Greg
 
We never had a tool like that and still could change a section without pulling the knife. We had a section of rail road rail to just lay under the rivit head under the knife and a ball pein hammer to tighten the rivit. Never had bolts and when I rebuilt 2 mowers for sale a couple of years ago I used rivits.
 
Back in the day we had the fancy expensive tool to use on our older junker combines JD 40, Massey 82, and Massey 510. With a lot of use the threads begin stripping in the cast iron tool We ended up doing most of them with a piece of railroad tie and a hammer as mentioned by Leroy.

Bolts is the only way to go as far as I am concerned, My Hesston 1120 mower conditioner has bolts and I love em. I even reuse the same old bolts and nuts when I replace the sections. (In other words the only time I ever replace a bolt is if the swedge part begins to spin in the bar. Even that is not a problem though to get it out as there is a screwdriver slot to hold it from spinning so still easy to remove).
 
During slack times on the harvest the young guys would have a contest to see how fast they could replace all the bolt on sections on a 30 foot sickle. One guy would take the nuts off with a 3/8" butterfly air wrench, the next guy would replace the sections and the third guy would start the nuts back on. When the guy with the air wrench finished removing nuts he would run to the other end of the sickle and start tightening. It took a trained touch with the air wrench. Not enough tightening and the section came loose and too much twists the bolt off. If I remember right 20 minutes is the record time. Being a cheapskate I would take the bolts out of a broken sickle to reuse them. Take the nut off put a deep well socket under the bolt head and smack it with a hammer to drive the bolt into the socket. The old bar with the holes in it can be used for reinforcement for field repairs on whatever needs to be welded in the future. When I work on the seven foot sickle mower the bar seems so tiny and short and simple. LOL
 
We did that the whole time we had cattle. Now I have no reason to use a sickle bar, and I just picked up a Johnson Sickle Servicer for $30.00. I did have to try it out. BOY do I wish I had one when I was a kid....
 
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