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using the sickle bar mower vertically


farmergirl

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I should know now to ask before I do something crazy with my A/C, but as usual I act and then ask (sometimes an expensive impulse). Is it OK to use the sickle bar mower in the upright position? I hope it is, because it sure is cool for trimming my paths through the woods and for trimming the woods away from the roadside. All those blackberry briars don't stand a chance. The pitman(?) arm doesn't seem to be in a bind or shimmey or make a noise. Let me know, thanks
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Some mowers won't take this use. Some mowers with the pitman aligned with the hinge point will mow nearly vertical as you describe. If you've already done this and it doesn't bind up I'd say you'll be OK. I'm not familiar with the Haban mower you have but most of the stock AC mowers like on the B-series won't mow up like that.
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farmergirl: I've moved 250' of hedges with my Haban sickle bar (210 model? Can't remember), with no problem. And some of the branches were 1" thick! With those, I (carefully!) held them into the knives one-at-a-time, going very slowly by slipping the clutch, and making sure not to run more than half-throttle, or whatever the manual says. Also, you have to be using the smaller (?) PTO pulley, the one that turns the sickle slower than the mower-deck pulley. I can't remember the sicklebar instructions, and don't have them handy, but read them, and follow them, and the vertical part is no problem. Just make sure nothing's binding, as discussed by D-17, including the belt. I seem to remember having to watch how high I could chain it up. I had it up to approx. 80-85 degrees, I'd estimate. It worked great! I have pics to load, some year, when I get the computer to do it. Anyway, I was VERY happy with the job, and hope to get the tractor up on a small pickup (at the height of the top of the box) to mow the top of the hedges with it--makes a great "10 h.p. hedge trimmer!" As was discussed, I think there is a model of sickle bar that doesn't like the vertical work, but mine is older, like '61 or thereabouts--definately early '60's--and it worked great. I did run it as slow as I could--not much above an idle, AND using the correct PTO pulley, as I was cutting such heavy stuff (the hedges were 13' high and I just plowed into them, "mowing" the sides off of them, then cutting the tops by hand). I believe the manual mandates nothing over 1/2 throttle but, again, double check that. Another caution: When doing this, there's a disc-like "clutch pedal guard" or some such that I never understood the use of, and couldn't locate at the time, but is supposed to be used with the sickle--perhaps someone could comment? A BIGGER caution: VERTICAL USE PUTS THE KNIVES REAL CLOSE TO YOUR FACE AND RIGHT HAND! I used a hooked cane to pull down the individual, 1" thick branches, so that I didn't have to put my hands near the knives. Keep in mind that if your foot slips off the clutch with your hands over your head, and the tractor does a hole shot, you WILL flail about and there is a high probability of getting your hand into the knives, in vertical operation. (Another reason for the low throttle setting I used). Therefore: wear goggles to prevent sudden reactions on your part, (ear muffs b/c it's loud), and be VERY CONSCIOUS that what you're doing (vertical operation) is quite dangerous. Go slow, be alert and don't take unnecessary chances, etc.... Also, if I remember, there are about 7 (9?) grease fittings on that sicklebar. I greased them often. And another thing: I had to tighten a number of nuts and bolts on the sickle bar drive in the first hour or so of operation. Stop it frequently and check for loosening nuts/bolts, or the thing could bind up and bust it's way into a lawn ornament. If you have questions, feel free. Peter
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