Sickle stand?

I have a Ford 515. A little back story, I've put equip. together on the cheap to square bale a few acres for the pasture pets. The tractor projects that I found to this point are a 641 and a 2N. I probably was doing it wrong but dismounting and mounting the mower was so frustrating that I just left it on the 2N, dedicating that machine to mowing 3-4 times a year. I found another 641 for scrap price, and cleaning it up. My plan for the 641 is it gets my good tires and other value parts from the N. The N will have little value after that and I have a plan for that. My needs and shed space will be fulfilled by the two 641.

So what I want to do now is get the 515 more easily "mountable" so the second 641 is not dedicated. I really don't want to change mowers as the unit I have does a good job and my rehab pennies are in it.

To the question finally....does anybody have suggestions for a rack of stand or other technique to keep the 515 from rolling around like a fish when off the tractor?? Such a pain in the butt for me by myself putting it on. I haven't gotten it around to the welder and short iron pile to brainstorm but thought about suggestions from any experienced here.

Sorry so long and thanks to all for the years of insight I have gotten from this forum as I have played with this old stuff.

Jim

Sorry, I didn't proof read well enough. Looking for ideas for a rack OR stand to hold the mower in place when off the tractor. Mostly to hold the thing upright and the pins relatively level.

Thanks
Jim

The 515s had a special wrench that came with them which was used as a stand as well as for the knife drive bolt and nuts on the guards. It had a "foot" on the knife bolt end for use as a stand. I added an arrow pointing to the wrench, in its storage location (in case yours is missing), in the attached photo borrowed from the web. As a stand the wrench is removed and put into the storage hole from the underside of the frame. It is mentioned in mounting and dismounting sections of the 515 operator's manual. It is shown in place as a stand at the top right of page 6. It will work and I did use it some when we had a 515. Most often it was easier to use a block, the right height, at that location. I think you could build a support drop leg to use in the wrench slot if you wanted.

Just get your self some 2x4 lumber and build yourself a stand. You can attatch it to a good pallet.Bolt it together.

I had a 515 for years and now have other sickle mowers. I set them on assorted cinderblock and 6x6, 4x4 wood pieces to get level during storage.

An idea that just occurred to me is hanging it from something with chains. You would need to tether the sickle I guess to keep it from trying to flip over.

Seems hanging it would make hook up easier than if it were on a stand.

The more you mount and dismount a three point sickle mower, the better you'll get at it.

Each one is just a little different. Practice makes perfect.

Park it with the sickle lowered into cutting position and put blocks under the bar and frame to hold it in "mowing position"

When you hitch pack on, line the left hand lower link and drop the pin in, you can then use the leveling box to hitch the right link. If you are crooked, you can use the end of the cutter bar as a lever move back and forth.

Been hitching and unhitching a sickle for years. Only time I park with bar up is for winter storage in a building.

When I was using a sickle mower I carefully nailed together a movable platform of 2x4's and 2x8's to lay on the ground to set it in the proper height for reattachment. Then I moved that base to beside a post. I would back up the tractor with the mower mounted, bar straight up and close to the post *2 or 3 inches). Then position the base under it, tie the sickle to the post and unhook. To rehook?.do the opposite.

I never wanted to leave the sickle laying down on the ground for a dog or human to run into and get cut badly.

Thanks all for the info.

Jim

Jleus,

I don't know about your 515 but I've had and used a 501 sickle bar mower for about 20 years.

I back the tractor with mower attached and bar in the upright position into the shed when I want to dismount the mower. I have a cinder block and large piece of 4 by 4 lumber on the cinder block. The large part of frame is lowered onto it. I also have a cinder block and 2 by 4 that corresponds with where the end of the sickle bar is. Lowering the mower also lowers the end of the bar onto this block. I also have a scissors jack that is located below the break away arm.

I lower the mower onto the blocks, remove the two mounting pins, and the hitch pin that is holding the top link to the tractor. The mower just sits on the blocks and is stable and stationary until I want to remount it to the tractor.

Works well for me. I hope you'll be able to come up with a good arrangement for your 515. It takes me about 5 or 10 minutes to mount the mower and about 10 or 15 minutes to dismount it.

Tom in TN