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There is something wrong, it should not be like that. If it balls up hay on the very outside section, and drags along more & more plugged hay, then perhaps a section & 1/2 that the other person mentioned would be the right fix. Many cutters can be helped with this. The outermost sickle section is replaced with a secion that has a second, smaller, sickle section on it, & does a much better job of cutting the grass on that end. Normally if the bar is out of register then all of it would give problems. Since you mentioned sharpening, are the sickle sections still full & wide, or are they ground pretty skinny in that area? See that the sickle sections in that area fully cut on both sides as the mower goes through one cycle. Hold downs are the clamps that keep the sickle bar down flat & level against the guards. Very important these are not clamping the sickle, but almost snug all the way across. Typically these get adjusted with a hammer or have sheetmetal shims bolted under them... Worn ledger plates ( the lip of the guard that the sickle cuts the grass on) will also cause this. They really should be very, very sharp, much less angle on them than the sickle sections, but as crisp of an edge. They are often overlooked.... One _can_ sharpen them in a pinch, but this makes them narrower, and you run into the above register problem where the sickle doesn't move back & forth enough to make a full cut. A bent or twisted, even slightly, bar or sickle can cause this. You likely have some combination of the above. I would look to the end section & convert that to a 1-1/2 end section - you can find them at the typical farm supply places. --->Paul
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