JD 350 mower wobble box

21hunter · Sep 28, 2016

I just looked at a 9' John Deere 350 sickle bar mower. The mower looks to be in decent condition except for the knife drive lever pin appears to be loose in the wobble box housing. Without knowing the exact design, I have read that this is a weak point on these mowers. Does anyone know if the housing can be machined and bushed or an oversize pin made to replace the loose one? Or is the only option to replace the $$$ housing? Should I just steer clear of the JD 350? Is the New Holland 451 a better design without these issues?
Thanks.

charlie wise · Sep 28, 2016

Don't know about that particular issue but I had a NH and traded for a 350 JD . I think the JD is a much better mower overall.

James Howell · Sep 28, 2016

"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]the knife drive lever pin appears to be loose in the wobble box housing.[/b:654c4848f0][/i:654c4848f0]"

Take a look at the diagram below of the drive head.

Please identify the "[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]knife drive lever pin[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]" in the diagram above by its number.

Please identify the "[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]wobble box housing[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]" in the diagram above by its number.

21hunter · Sep 29, 2016

Ok. While I was trying to look underneath, it looked like there was slop and pin 25 that goes thru 33B was working back in forth in housing 13.
Thanks

JOCCO · Sep 29, 2016

My opinion 350 much better than 451 nh both are very costly to repair.

cannonball · Sep 29, 2016

We used 350 mowers for a long time, trying to bale hay commercially..They stayed down more than running and the pin you are talking about goes into a housing that usually breaks and to see it you have to take the bar off to see it, don't even know if deere sells it any more (number 13 in James' picture) and last time we priced one in 1997 it was 450 dollars...last sickle mower we used was a 451 and never put a penny on it...simple design....check Deere's out careful..

21hunter · Sep 29, 2016

Good information here and different opinions. That was one of my questions, could the #13 housing be repaired by a good machinist if it isn't busted out. At this point me thinks I'd like to look at a NH 451 and a IH 1300 to see the design. If either of them are simpler and have a good track record then all the better. Not sure why the Deere would be better? Better bar design? Better break-away design? Or just green paint?

James Howell · Sep 29, 2016

"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]it looked like there was slop and pin 25 that goes thru 33B was working back in forth in housing 13.[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]"

Take a look at the photo below.

"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]Should I just steer clear of the JD 350?[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]"

If there is "slop" between the pin and housing, then "steer clear" of this particular JD 350.

Hope this helps.

James Howell · Sep 29, 2016

Just <a href="https://youtu.be/RCir14euNJA">green paint</a>.

21hunter · Sep 29, 2016

Thank you James, cool video. Didn't know anyone could be so into a sickle bar mower, gotta love it............go Green!

JD 350 mower wobble box

21hunter

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James Howell

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JOCCO

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cannonball

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21hunter

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