opinions on nh. 455 9ft. sickle mower

good evening all going to look at a new Holland 455 9ft. sickle mower that's for sale south of my place. what are the key pieces to check and look for? going buy the pictures the seller sent me it looks in real nice shape, can't see anything broke bent or busted, paint still looks good, guards and sections look good. I know they where made between 1962 and 68, I'm sure there are a lot of members here that have experience with these mowers, I'm looking for feedback and opinions on this mower and thank you for your help.

Obviously you have to carefully check for broken castings, worn holes where pins sit, obvious damage. As far as how good it will mow, that's going to depend on you fine tuning it and understanding what it wants. If you've never used one before, and unless there is some compelling reason to use a sickle bar mower, I'd look for a used haybine. That reel and the rollers tend to make up for a sickle that's not cutting perfectly. Spend a few days using a sickle bar and having to stop and back up, clear the plug, go 10 feet, stop, back up, clear the plug, over and over, after spending weeks working on the thing and replacing part after part and you'll see why haybines killed off the sickle bars.

(quoted from post at 05:07:27 10/13/17)
Obviously you have to carefully check for broken castings, worn holes where pins sit, obvious damage. As far as how good it will mow, that's going to depend on you fine tuning it and understanding what it wants. If you've never used one before, and unless there is some compelling reason to use a sickle bar mower, I'd look for a used haybine. That reel and the rollers tend to make up for a sickle that's not cutting perfectly. Spend a few days using a sickle bar and having to stop and back up, clear the plug, go 10 feet, stop, back up, clear the plug, over and over, after spending weeks working on the thing and replacing part after part and you'll see why haybines killed off the sickle bars.

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I have used a sickle mower (case t-10 7ft.) for the last 2 seasons, the 4 years before my neighbor came over and cut it with his haybine and we lost the hay it turned black and stank, the hay is about 60 to 80% alafa and 20 to 40% timothy, it just never dried. last year and this year I cut with the sickle let it dry and raked and baled and it turned out great. as you said the first cut last year was a steep learning curve on how to tune and set up the mower, after new sections, guards, hold downs, and dialing in the pto speed and travel speed this years cuttings went very well minimal stops for plugs ( and a couple of lessons from my brother in law on how to use a sickle bar) the case t-10 has a cracked pitman head (where the pitman arm attaches to the ball on the cutting bar case tells me it is n.a.) still trying to source a after market one or find a parts machine, the reasons I'm looking at the nh 455 is that it has a 9 ft. bar, belt drive not wood pitman arm, and it will be my primary cutter with the t-10 as back up. the other thing I noticed when my neighbor came over and cut with haybine the top of his hay bine was covered in an inch of alfalfa leafs, I want to keep the number of trips over the hay to a minimum and preserve as much of the leafs as possible and not just be baling stems.

I have 2 NH 456 mowers and they mow great and are pretty much trouble free can run about 4 1/2 MPH pulling it with a 31 HP Yanmar 330.I like the way the hay lays after its been cut with a sickle mower,even not piled up like a haybind.Just check out the drive parts and bearings,the 455 is pretty good but the 456 is better and easier to get parts for as its the trailer version of the 451 while the 455 is the trailer version of the 450.

Turning black sounds like you had a moisture problem, not a machinery problem. I understand in dry areas you often need to cut alfalfa when the dew is on to avoid leaf loss. I think you need to look at more than just your equipment to figure out why it turned black.

good morning tf. I have been hesitant in going down to look at this nh455 so I phoned my local nh dealer yesterday and it turns out some parts for it are soon going to be or are na. they are not going to be building any more crank assemblys for the wobble box and when current stock is gone that's it. I will be in the same boat I'm in with the case t-10, looking for an after market supplier or buying another machine for parts. so I think it's time to heed the good advice I've got here on the forum and limit my search to a nh 456 or ih 1100. thank you tf and you wouldn't have a 456 for sale would you?? :lol:

Another mower you might want to add to your list is the John Deere 450 which is the trailer version of the JD 350 3pt hitch mower,good mowers and parts should be readily available.