Newbie with a sickle bar......

I am using an International sickle bar with hydraulics.....

Guards and blades checked out ok.

I moved to a higher gear so the speed helped me.

I also drove in a straight line, well maybe not a straight line, but paid more attention to my line from the prior night.

When I stay on line and with higher speed it seemed to cut pretty good. I guess after I rake I'll see exactly how I did.

Thanks every one for their input. It is much appreciated. I'm sure I'll be asking more questions in the future. Thanks for taking the time to answer.....

Quit using sickle bar technology that is 120 years old and look at the CCM Drum mowers that will never clog up.

Give me the old cheap stuff so I can at least try to bale my own...

Some of us prefer old technology, for a lot of reasons including cost and the personal pride in doing a good quality job the old way.

Yeah, I could run out and buy all new magical stuff...or heck, I could even move to a condo and buy hay and pay somebody to take care of my animals and save all the trouble altogether.

Just my opinion,

Bkeepr

Those American Indians had a life expectancy of 42 years, if that's true, to a combination of exposure to European diseases and displacement to otherwise unwanted lands.

Prior to the Revolutionary war time frame American settlers who survived the first year in the colonies tended to have exceptional long lives even by today's standards.

I was personally amazed when in High School we did a field trip to the cemetery adjacent to school...Woodstock was founded in 1686 and you saw gravestone after gravestone with ages in the 80s and 90s, something much better than Europe or the Indians. That was not atypical in New England (southern colonies faired a bit worse being exposed to diseases like Malaria more often, but still surprisingly performed compared to later decades)

Basically if you didn't die on the journey, didn't die in childbirth, and didn't die as an infant (three factors dramatically pulling down life expectancy stats) you'd enjoy a long life on the frontier relatively free of disease.

The Revolutionary War brought an end to this golden period of disease-free America. With the large movements of soldiers, and soldiers from many isolated towns coming together and going back home regularly diseases common in Europe became just as widespread in the colonies.

It wasn't a technological issue per se that improved health care...so much as a technological solution to a problem other technology had created.

Enjoyed your comments. Wish you were my neighbor as I am working on getting my Ford 515 mower working. Just replaced the wobble box bearing; next project is removing the blades for sharpening. I bought the recommeded Ford wrench (1-5/16") for removing the blade, but there isn't enough clearance to use it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

While you are at it, I just sold mine cause of dissatisfaction. One of the problems may have been that the guides were worn out and there was too much space between my new cutters and the guide.

Someone responding in this post mentioned to take a hammer and reduce the gap. Seemed like a good idea. Might want to look into it.

Mark

2. Worn hold-down clamps - this end with the sickle driver wears more/ faster, and the sickle may have some sloppy room to lift & the hay builds up between the sickle instead of getting cut. Replace over-worn parts, or hammer down the hold-down clips to firmly hold the sections down on the ledgers, but not so tight as to cause friction.

3. You are crowding too close to the standing hay, & the first sickle section is forced to cut 2 times as much hay. The section & 1/2 blade mentioned will help for this, tho drive a little bit farther away from the standing hay.

4. You are driving too far away from the standing hay - pickin up already cut hay with the first couple sections. This plugs up a sickle real fast. Drive closer to the standing hay, so you just fill the sickle, no overlap either way.

--->Paul

Mark

I don't know what to tell you about Alfalfa. I know when it is dry it really sheds leaves. Don't know about harvesting. I'd assume that the leaf pods would be pretty well intact when cutting, prior to drying out.

But, as I recall, it has a small but firm stem for which the sickle should be well suited. But, if we don't try something, we don't know whether or not we'll like it.

Good luck,

Mark

I understand it is working for you, but that is not the norm. It does not make good hay on a larger scale... Older round balers do not like short chopped up stems, difficult to bale.

It does not work at all well with alfalfa. The whole point of alfalfa is the leaves. Beat them off, & you have low-protien green straw.

Alfalfa cuts very easily with a sickle knife.

While discbines are becoming much more popular, there are some die-hards that prefer a sickle on alfalfa. The cleaner cut will sprout back a little earlier they feel. The whacked-off alfalfa stem with a rotary cutter takes a couple extra days to recover. I really don't know, but this is how some feel.

--->Paul

As mentioned; my bush hogging is very limited to reasonably short 12" soft stem grass that's side discharge raked and square baled. Nitch market; but perfect for the job.

Rolls are the stemmy stuff cut with the swather (sickle, sickle rake, rollers/stem smashers, windrower; all in one).

Mark

The two "sections" or knife blades at either end of the bar actually need to be "half sections." In the case of my mower, a previous owner had replaced the half section with a normal full section which caused the problem you described. I went to the dealer, bought and installed a half section (it is actually 1 and a half long) and the problem was fixed.

So take a look to see if the closest triangle near the tractor is half as wide as the rest. If it isn't, I'd start off the fix by replacing it.

good luck,
Tom A