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Implement Alley Discussion Forum

Stupid mowing ?

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Rich Iowa

06-04-2005 17:27:40




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I mowed finished mowing my 5 acres field this afternoon. Since my field is odd shaped, I'm left with a 3-4' strip down the center of most of the field. When I tried mowing the strip, the ends of the mower plug up from all the cut grass. Is there a way to mow this last little piece. I have an old IH 31 sickle mower that mounts to the drawbar. It lifts the bar about one foot but the bar droops down on the outer end to about 8 inches. Any help would be appreciated. Also, did you know a fawn w/ a broken leg can swim across a pond. Hit one today mowing, met up with it one the other side of the pond to put it down as humanely as I could at the moment.

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Hugh MacKay

06-06-2005 02:47:17




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Rich Iowa, 06-04-2005 17:27:40  
Rick: Mowers in good machanical condition will mow right through the previously cut hay. You either have dull kinves, or wear parts in bad condition. No commercial farmer ever walked or measured a field so last swath came in at exact width of cutter. Cutting fields that came to a point we always just dropped bar and it would cut right through pre cut hay and on into full swath.

This may be bit of a problem at beginning of season with rust on mower bar. However by the time you have first field mowed the rust is worn off.

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Rich Iowa

06-06-2005 04:06:16




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Hugh MacKay, 06-06-2005 02:47:17  
Hugh, thanks for responding, I knew you could offer some good advice. I have new ledger plates on the rock guards, new wear plates under the new hold downs. Replaced the knives last summer, including the double knife at the outer end. My bar is set level to the ground. I'm cutting 1 1/2-2" above ground. Seems the cut stuff will get caught on the rockguards, build up and a big ball will develop infront of the ball. Should I cut the standing hay with the end close to the tractor, or the outer end. Was tring to cut in the middle, but both ends would dig into the hay and build a ball.

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Hugh MacKay

06-06-2005 13:09:30




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Rich Iowa, 06-06-2005 04:06:16  
Rich: My appologies, I think I did call you Rick on last posting. Are you hold downs keeping knives right down so it works like sissors, knife in relation to ledger. Sometimes you have to either remove shims or to be even more accurate hammer the hold down so it makes cutter knives down tight on ledgers.

Also how well are your mower bar, guards, hold downs, etc. shineing. To make a mower work as I am suggesting you must have that whole mower bar gleaming. It's almost the same as plowing. You must have that machine so material flows easily over the wear parts in both cases. This is quite hard to achive if you are not mowing large acerage. Mowers that are mowing 20 to 30 acres per day, clean right off and almost seem to have a wax coating, from the hay. You will almost be able to see yourself in the steel.

Once you get mower gleaming like this spray on graphite, will keep the rust away plus hay will flow well right from first day mowing.

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Rich Iowa

06-06-2005 20:00:01




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Hugh MacKay, 06-06-2005 13:09:30  
I've been called a lot worse than Rick, don't worry about it. I think the hold downs are pretty snug, but I'll give them a couple good whacks and see what happens. I painted the bar, rock guards, etc. this spring. The paint is worn off the ledger plates, the under side of the guards, and is rubbing down to the primer on the bar itself. I'm looking at a JD 1219, I'm thinking the reels on that MoCo would help move the cut mat. on thru. Is this true? To bad my Farmall H won't handle it.

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Allan in NE

06-06-2005 05:11:51




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Rich Iowa, 06-06-2005 04:06:16  
Randy,

Have you got your tip-back and bar-bow set correctly on that mower?

Hugh MacKay is right on this one. A good sickle with slice right thru down hay most of the time.

I will plug on ya once in awhile, but for the most part, you should be able to knock that dead wedge outta there.

Allan



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Rich Iowa

06-06-2005 20:03:55




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Allan in NE, 06-06-2005 05:11:51  
I believe I have the angle set right, about level. What is this "bar-bow" you speak of? Is that the term for having the outer shoe set forward of the inner shoe a bit. I don't have that set correctly, not sure how do go about doing that. I've sat and look at it many times and can't figure it out.



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Leroy

06-07-2005 18:22:24




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Rich Iowa, 06-06-2005 20:03:55  
that is called lead with the outer end of bar being slightly in front of the inside and that bar bow he is talking about is if you have the outer end blocked up and you forget and run the rear wheel of a tractor over the raised bar and bend it. I have never seen it except on a wrecked mower and I have a couple of mowers here that are over a hundred; correct 100; years old



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Randy-IA

06-05-2005 10:30:19




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Rich Iowa, 06-04-2005 17:27:40  
Hi Rich , Me again ! I had that problem too BIG TIME ! My cutting came to a point on the west end of the field each time I went to that end . By experimenting with the mower and Come-along I came to the conclusion that I need to measure the field off at both ends and set a guide post to follow and then come back at the edge of the field with the mower set just above what was already mowed . That'll be for the next time . Lifting just the end kind of worked for me , would have worked better if I had the mower adjusted right . My Oli has the ability to pick up flat or just lift the outer end off the ground so I was wondering if your's did too ? I just had it adjusted for mowing ditch's ( just lifting the end ) not fields ( lifting flat ) . My ignorance .

If the bar has a sag in it ...??? I don't know , take it to the welding shop of your choice and see if they can bend the bar in the opposite direction to compensate for the sag . Since I'm FAR from a sickle expert I don't really know if that's an option but it is worth asking the welding shop about . I think the bar is supposed to be flat when it is on the ground so it should stay that way to a point when it's lifted . Does your sickle have any adjustment to vary the height of the outer end when it's picked up ?

'Nother question - do you have the owners manual for it , if not ya need to track one down it'll have a lot of the info you need in it to do a good job adjusting it .

Just thinkin' out loud through my fingers ! Good luck figuring it out . Take care ...Randy

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caseyc

06-05-2005 12:16:05




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Randy-IA, 06-05-2005 10:30:19  
the bar is supposed to have some flex in it. when i'm on flat ground it's flat but when i'm on the bottom of a road ditch it will follow the contour of the ditch.

casey in SD



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Galen

06-05-2005 06:22:10




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 Re: Stupid mowing ? in reply to Rich Iowa, 06-04-2005 17:27:40  
You could maybe rake a swath next to it and then mow. I usually start with a swath down the middle (like someone else said on another post). Odd shaped fields can be a pain, but once you figure out how you need to do it, you'll never forget.



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