350 sickle mower

jd2cyl

Member
Looking to possibly replace my #5 mower and am wondering if a 350 mower will work on a jd60 with 3 point. What are the pros and cons of this mower.
Thanks
 
no problem with the hitch but the center lift arm on the mower will have to be bent due to offset on the pto....had 3 different units on 520's and they worked good....
 
"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]<font color="#6699ff">What are the pros and cons of this mower.[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]</font>"

[b:654c4848f0]PROS:[/b:654c4848f0]

A 9ft cutter bar is available instead of the 7ft regular cutter bar.

Double two-tine, non-ledger guards available on cutter bar.

Adjustable knife hold-down clips.

Non-clog guard at inside shoe.

Belt driven.

Grease zerk on knife head pin.

Four grease zerks for drive bearings.

Both narrow and wide settings on frame.

Float adjusted with 3pt lift arms.

The majority of parts are still available from Deere and aftermarket vendors.

[b:654c4848f0]CONS:[/b:654c4848f0]

Some parts are obsolete.

New parts can be very expensive.

The 9ft cutter bar gets heavier every year.

In summary the 350 sickle mower is like any other piece of farm equipment.

With proper <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCUEeGboEbi9lZeitHoI9GA2HKYB2_Zyg">care, maintenance, and operation</a> as recommended by the owner's manual, the mower will do a very good job.

Hope this helps.
 
Yes the 350 shares the parts with a #50 and a #250 side mount mower,, they are a tuff mower, we have been using them for trimming for years,,the 9ft. reaches out over ditches nice,, but it is a little much for normal use.. we have both, but the 9ft. has not been on for a long time,, the 7ft. is the one best for what we do.
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sickle mowers are all hi maintenance items and the 350 is no exception. It is the top of the line in sickle mowers and they made an earlier edition and later edition. Configurations can be set for small tractors and large tractors. The use of them is a loss art, entails some blacksmithing as well as high lubrication. They are designed with a lot of shaking and it take works to keep everything tight. Primarily used for haying but okay for light brush clipping also. The offset and the angle of pivot of the 350 make it desirable around ponds and banks. Metal rods and wire are death to the sections. Take your tool box with you. A lot of adjustments and settings for proper use.
 
I use a 350 on a JD 630 for mowing around the tanks. It works well. I did not get the fancy bracket for the drawbar, but I use a large clevis (about 5" or so) as the anchor point for the lift chain. It rotates about 90 degrees to the drawbar and works fine to provide the necessary offset for the lift chain.
Not sure what Machineryman is referring to about bending the arm, but it might be this: There is a narrow setting and a wide setting for the mower. Switching involves about an hour or so of turning some of the brackets around and upside down. In the narrow mode the offset PTO on the 630 is directly in the way of some of the brackets, and it looks like some bending is in order. But when you swap it to the wide position, everything works fine.
 
Well that's an expression that I've not heard before. Am I remembering that you were going to Alaska maybe to see the northern lights, how did that go. Any photos to share?
 
Yes I went up there on Dec. 5th.Fairbanks...saw a bit of the lights but the clouds moved in,,The Wife got her dog sled ride,,saw the pipe line,,drove around a bit,, It was nice,,but no Ag stuff up there,,a couple nice Museums,, one had a very Nice Fordson Snow tractor..It was Pretty ,,and the coldest Nite was 10F..10-12 inches of snow on the ground,,just a light snow while we were there..Not much for pictures if you see one snow bank..you've seen them all..
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James,
I've looked at all your videos featuring the 350 mower and enjoyed every minute of them. You are a great source of information with the videos you've done. Sure brings back memories from when I lived in the Dallas area.
 
We currently use a 7ft as the back-up mower just in case the 9ft goes down.

Took the 7ft cutter bar off a 3rd mower and replaced it with a 9ft cutter bar.

Plan on the 3rd mower being the back-up mower this year.

These mowers have served us very well over the years.
 
I used mine in the narrow postion...was reason I had to reangle the lift bar....heated and bent over due to the conflict with the pto...mine also worked excellent...the 7' with no clogs was what I used....to outfit one of those bars I'm sure is now several hundreds of dollars. I also took a 7' and cut it down to 6' and it was really excellent for use...sold it to a neighbor...I would find the 9' very awkward and would probably break release very easy...I never owned one but I think they were for flat fields and short vegetation..I believe JD still makes the 350 as I saw one a few years ago special order and it was $4600.
 
JD, I use a 9' - JD 350 sickle on a 1999 Cub Cadet 36HP 4wd compact tractor and it works fine in the narrow position. I needed to make a triangle piece of metal that bolts to my drawbar with an eye bolt attached to the metal. This offset the pickup lever without the need to bend the stock lever.

Most of the used mowers I looked at were worn out and the wobble shaft bearings were shot. Luckily the wobble shaft on the one I purchased was not damaged or replacement would have been more than the cost of the entire 350 sickle. I had the unit reworked with all new bearings in the wobble assembly, new adjustable hold downs and guides under the cutters.

I can keep up with my neighbor and his 9' disc mower in dry grass with a little clover. He can lap me eventually because he does not stop for corners and no need to square up. He's amazed that my 350 cuts so well. IT did cost me over $1000 to have the unit re-worked at the dealer, but I did not have a tractor large enough with hydraulics to purchase a disc mower. Been cutting hay on about 50+ acres for the last 9 or 10 years.

Getting the equipment in top shape can be expensive, and the lubrication needs to be done or they will wear out in short time. Off hay season I use it to mow my pond dam and with the 9' reach, I can overhang all the way out into the water and cut the bank with my tractor far away from the danger of tipping into the pond.
 
Trying to use with wet grass or in fields with mouse beds I guarantee may be looking for a good scrap yard. Occasional dry mowing of pond banks, like the photo along a road or light hay operation (no time constrants) you may like the item. If you field isn't prepared you may spend as much time off the tractor as you do own. Now for light brush cutting over rocky areas they have the edge on disc mowers. Other than that they are obsolete. LIke I say have had 4 of them. Always palmed them up and never lost a finger. Growed up on the old mowers McCormick Deering pull type and on up the chain. Very, very, very dangerous for suburbanites to use.
 
Trying to use with wet grass or in fields with mouse beds I guarantee may be looking for a good scrap yard. Occasional dry mowing of pond banks, like the photo along a road or light hay operation (no time constrants) you may like the item. If you field isn't prepared you may spend as much time off the tractor as you do own. Now for light brush cutting over rocky areas they have the edge on disc mowers. Other than that they are obsolete. LIke I say have had 4 of them. Always palmed them up and never lost a finger. Growed up on the old mowers McCormick Deering pull type and on up the chain. Very, very, very dangerous for suburbanites to use.
 
Your right about all that machineryman..they are not for novice operator,,My younger brother and I are the only one that operates ours..I put bolt in knife sections that speed up replacement,,and most of our trim mowing areas have been cleaned of foreign materials,,but you know how you find new things mowing a road side..
 

You might try finding a 450, which is the pull type version. Not only would you forego the difficulties in hooking up, which even when hooking to something with a "real" three point like a 4010 is a pain in the butt, but you could run one with a nine foot bar and not have it throw you around so much.
 
(quoted from post at 16:29:26 01/15/18) Yes..It was a "Wife" thing...you can't explain those kinda things...

Explaining "wife thing" is worse than explaining 24v wiring on 4020
LOL
 

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