Decided with the good warm weather may as well get started on the no.8. Sickle mower project today need to replace the pitman stick straighten the sickle bar itself and also make a hitch to attach the 3 point hitch of a modern tractor and get a new tire and then we can cut some hay

I have jd tail wheel complete with cut off spindle shaft. It's in the junk pile.

Drive shaft material Came today and an origional sales brochure

Got the driveshaft built and picked up the new knife it came with a head for 115$

Got the ram on today

Got the cutter bar straight as an arrow now just waiting on driveshaft material and the new knife

Went to the dentist today and made a trip to town to get the rest of the guards took the cutter bar off going to put er in the ol hydraulic press and get er straight. Also shimmed the hitch solid

Just when you try to move it just watch that you do not put the front end of the tractor thru the shop wall when it will not let you turn with it hanging way too far out back. But shop wall is better than a ditch or pond. At least you would not be taking a bath completely under water that you could not get your head above.

Maybe someday a mower will come to the scrap yard and I can a new claw this one is broken off at the bolt holes

This tractor weighs just over 9000 pounds I hope it can handle an 560 pound mower

Not weight of mower but quick pull on end of bar like you cought a tree.

Yes that could be bad but I don't think it'll will be much worse than running my hesston hydro swing for the first time

Got the tire fixed wheel bearings packed . Still need 8 more guards and get the new knife got the pitman stick put together . Found a piece of 3/4 7/8 shaft to make the drive line off eBay 46$ free shipping local metal suppliers swore it never existed ! Been at Napa all day trying to get new u joints couldn’t match em which is ok already checked jd parts .com they are cheaper than Napa for the right part . Next I need to get the hydraulic ram on

sv take that tire in with you when you go to the tire shop and keeping a straight face on ask what they'll give you for trade in :lol:

Or see if they have a boot big enough to fix it 😂😂

Got the tire changed cleaned up the rim the old tube was still good but the tire was easy to remove as soon as I put the ol tire spoon to the bead the whole bead ripped right off somewhere in the darkness I must have punctured the tube so I think I’ll take it to town with me and let the tire guy fix it . The wheel bearings look good ang still had good grease in em . I greased the mower and surprisingly all the zerks took grease removed the weights from the cutter bar and the bow is a little less than before but I ended up raising the bar another 2 inches as suggested and we’ll see what that does . Went to bomgarrs and they will have a new knife for the ol mower next week for 125$ . Checked the play in the pins where there cutter bar hooks the mower frame and there is zero play at all . The next job on this will be a new pto shaft and replace the pitman the guards and knife and see what it sounds like running

I would say you were lucky in finding a tire as the No. 8 came with an 8" tire while earlier model No. 5 used a 9" tire.

I always like it when I find something in my spare parts big that’ll work it’s a 4.80 8 and it has traction instead of smooth but I suppose this isn’t a museum quality restoration so I guess it’ll be ok

If you really intend to use that ( I used a similar model for years) then go through now and replace the pins in the knife head, make sure the holes aren't wallowed out, add new wear plates and get your lead dialed in before you even begin to worry about mounting it. Any play in the unit is going to mean clogs when you need to be cutting hay.
The Amish around us use haybine guards on their sickle mowers.

Made a little more progress on the mower today found a tire out back that is the right size for the tail wheel came of a pos 855 round baler at least finally I'll get a little money back off that thing. Got the mower hitched up tomorrow I'll take the weight of the cutrerbar and see how much or if I end up needing to raise the bar a hair more to bend it more now I'm on the hunt for some 3x4 x 7/8 shaft to make the power line a little longer

You are mounting it a full 2 feet too far back for it to work good. It will be like the tail wagging the dog, no control when you try to turn. Find a correct hitch and your shaft will be fine. With it set up like that you are jusk looking for an accident too happen.

I was going to go that route but one of the claws is broken off I will keep watching for a new piece

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see why not? might have to rig up a stop to keep it from falling down to far when you pic the bar up, but should be easy.

When I was still at home I had to mow with a JD belly mower. I just hated it. Could not turn a square corner. It was slow, 1st gear wide open, mounted on a JD tractor any faster and you ran over hay, even with a brand new sickle. Your gonna have a nice old mower there.

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see agree with TF. put a 4x4 block under the end of the bar, pile on some weights while your doing the other repairs.

I’ve got some extra John Deere weights around here I think I’ll do just that

Never did a Deere but that is the way I did for the second mower and first tractor mower I bought. It was an old COOP mower that was junk when I bought it and paid $20 for it back in mid 50's. Used it for several years. Worked best on 46 Deere B and had on Farmal H and Ferguson TO30.

still have the COOP mower?

Not for over 40 years.

This one is in kinda rough shape but nothing that can’t be fixed

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see

Keep an eye out for parts on eBay. Several straps on there now. Don't forget jdparts.com. It surprises me the parts they still stock for all my old stuff.

I was just on John Deere parts and they still have parts for this mower

Looks like the cutter bar has right much of a bow,when you're not using the mower stack 2 or 3 weights on the bow in the bar it'll help straighten it over time.

Is there any reason I can’t use a grass board from an ih mower on my John Deere ? I know where a new old stock ih one is

"Is there any reason I can’t use a grass board from an ih mower on my John Deere ?"

None.

You might consider building a grass board.

Take a look at the photos below.

Take a look at the photo below of the measurements.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for posting that I may try building one

Looks good
How do you like that Montizuma tool box?

This one is a John Deere made buy mit it’s been a good one I had it in the back of truck when I hit a guard rail going 65 and it launched the tool box about 200 feet up the road the lid popped open and scattered tools across 4 lanes of traffic had to buy a new lid and it was good to go again

Was looking at the bar and was wondering how you get the turtles on there? Seems to be missing the gearbox and the knives and the curtain over the top! LOL Just teasing!

If I had 10,000$ I’d have a new one a them sitting here but I still would be fixin the old sickle bar anyway

The mower doesn't have double guards on it like the new ones in the photo, does it? Aren't they singles?

They make a double guard for them now supposed to make them cut better

Just make sure they are made for a cutter bar with the same thickness as yours. The depth in the cut-out of the guard has to match the bar thickness. The cutter bar thickness on my Farmall is 5/8 inch. I found some green generic guards with a "700" stamped on them that fit it.

Several suggestions. Have someone make a few new pitmans and keep at least one on hand at all times. Hickory was always my favorite. Don't pass up on a belt driven mower, or even a side mounted mower. You'd fall in love with a side mounted....

I've never seen one around here sickle mowers just don't exist I'd like a side mount I bet that would be nice to cut hay .the local bomgarrs supply has a whole big stock of pitmans in stock I'd like to find more of the ends so if one breaks I could just swap it out

At least the knife ends are the same as the horse drawn mowers dating back to the 30's and are easy to get. Crank end is probably same but new after market are avaible as greasless units. All I would have to do for thoe parts is gi see my Amish friends and they would be way cheaper than any place else. The teeth for a hay rake are 2/3 price from Deere.

I cannot see a side mount working in hay as no way to make a clean 90 degree turn with them, you would have to raise bar circle to left and drop bar. The mower you have will if you get turn made correctly cut everything without raising the bar. As for the grass poard possibly depending on just how it is made at bolt to keep it from dropping down when bar is raised. There are new steel universal boards being made and used on both JD and IH and you can buy them cheaper than new old stock wood boards as those are wanted by people restoring a mower for show and therefore will pay a premium to get what they want.

The grass board I’m thinking of is in the basement of an old farm store that is now a clothing and junk store they also have some sickles and other stuff that most people don’t even know exists they even had an nos blacksmith share for an ih Plow

You need to make a trip my way I have a #10 and a #50 side mowers bought them for parts to for the 350 3pt mowers,just bought a 350 for $200.

If you ever make it up to SE Washington I would make you a good deal on a parts mower, main casting was broken when prior owner tried using it to pull a dead tractor by hooking to it. Looks like it was a good mower prior to that, wrong color for any of my projects.

I’ll take ya up on that if I ever make it the far from home

Several years ago restored a #5 mower used it once to let all the new parts learn each other. Always liked this machine once adjusted they cut great and sound good doing it. Have fun with your rebuild.