|
I am climbing a VERY steep learning curve on sicklebar mowers myself. I have an Allis-Chalmers #3 that I rebuilt over the winter. I completely rebuilt the cutterbar with new knives and ledger plates. My first attempt to cut with it was just pitiful. After three evenings of try this and cut a little, try that and cut a little, try something else and cuss, er, I mean, cut a little, I've gotten it so it cuts pretty well. Tips: 1. Knife register (or timing) is critical. At the extreme ends of the stroke, the knives MUST be centered on the guards. This means CENTERED, not a quarter-inch one way or the other. 'Bout drove me nuts 'til I realized that. 2. Bar "lead" is very important. The bar must be set up so that the outer end "leads" the inner end at rest. When moving, the load on the bar will pull it back a bit, and you want it to be square with the tractor when cutting. 3. The bar must be reasonably level when in the cutting position. On older machines, the shoes on the inner and outer end of the bar are frequently worn out, and bits of this and that (leaf spring works well) have been welded on as replacements. Mine was way too low on the outer end, causing it to plug, dig in, and trip the "break-back" that keeps you from tearing the bar off the mower. If you get it set up right, I think you'll find it'll do a nice job for ya. Good luck!
|
