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Sickle Mowin"


MPH

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Does anyone else really use their sickle mower? Starting to wonder if these things are intended to actually do work. Started mowing the clover field when Nick was here in mid Aug, drive pulley came loose again so parked it, got it fixed yesterday again and before I finished mowing less then half an acre I lost the two sickle knives to the inside of the pitman drive. but anyhow, got some pics for you all, Nick took movies too but no clue how to link them up. Cut area from a couple weeks ago shows here

done mowed

When I finished, with serious plugging problems where these were missing, I went and walked the field with the feeling of "a cold chance in hell", guess I got more luck then sense.

With no hay rake, guess I'll try shredding it with the B-112 after it dries a bit
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I got one, but need a new bar. I tried to make one, but got the holes mis-aligned. The bar doesn't move back and forth, it binds up. Once I get it going, I plan to use it (not often). JH
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bought one a couple of weeks ago, just got it running on my B-112 today. it worked great until one of the bolts on the drive snapped.
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I think most of them have allready did what they came here to do. We have one on a B112 complete. We know it works and that is all I do with it. It is in retirement due to parts availability,Matt
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I have had two of them. Sold one and still have the other one. I still use it. I have had to make new knife bar for one of them. I also have made a jig for drilling the bar. I have a made them for members in the past. The one thing I have noticed is you really need to keep every thing greased and don't run the tractor over 1/2 throttle or it will run the bar to fast and tends to break things.
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It must be sickle bar time... I took my machine below to clean up our garden; we let the weeds go to long in one section... oh well. [img]http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/attach/michaelg221/B112Sickle.JPG[/img]
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So what kind of steel does one use to make the new sickle bar? I pulled mine off figuring I'll take it back to work with me and see if one of these pipe fitter welders can weld it back together. Also, where would find rivets to put the teeth back on?. I only run about 1/3 throttle in second gear, in first the cut product doesn't seem to fall behind the bar too good.
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I sold mine for the Powermax, A/C's. It seemed to be more trouble hooking up than what it was worth. Cut pretty good but never got the cable/lift thing right. I believe it takes a shorter cable for it to lift correctly and I didn't want to change the cable. My neighbor has a 3pt. disc mower that I use if I need to cut any hay but I don't cut much with it either. Mostly bush hog.
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Mine is still doing everything I ask it to on the 716 (since I got it tuned in), but I may put it on a 900 or 7100 hydro frame for next season. B.R.

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I have one job that I'd love a sickle attachment for, cutting along a creek bank. I have a string trimmer, but that's a pile of work... Tacey PS Nice pics, MPH!
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It looks like my old one was welded and broke again. There was a guy on site that made some new bars, any word about that? JH
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Biggie-Rat what kind of front end do you have on tractor in background. Am thinking of putting similiar sized tires on front and back and tracks over them.
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I am the guy from the sight that is making the bars. If anybody is interested or needs a bar let me know. I would like to get a feeling for who would be interested.I am at a point of needing to make a new jig for drilling the bars and want to make a decision if I should make a new and improved jig to speed up the process. MPH, as for what the bars are made of... 1/4 x 3/4 cold rolled steel.
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what do you charge for making the bar. Mine is working but the guy who owned it before had welded on it, I had to grind his weld down to make it work, so I might be interested in getting a new bar for future. I believe someone said Gravely makes sickle knives that will work on ours. Can anyone chime in on replacement knives and rock gaurds etc?
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I have maybe 6 sets of extra rock guards,but no knives.Another thing to remember,my lil ol 700 sim.[7 hp] cuts 4 foot hay with no prob.as it dosent take much power to run these.And for bigger tracs keep eng. speed less than half throttle.or bar will self destruct!,
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Off topic, but still close. I have a McCormick -Deering one horse mowing machine that I was intending to modify to tow behind my Landlord. After reading all the above comments, I think I'll simply restore it to basically original condition, and use it for a lawn ornament!
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We just got ready for sale an AC 410 with their type sickle.Very advaced sys over the older sim stuff,auto lock in up pos,runs at 90% elec pto,3 pos spring assist lift handle .
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I just came across some sickle bar parts that will work on our Simplicity stuff. It is off of a JARI brand walk behind sickle bar mower - check out their website. The knives are identical to my NOS stash, and the guards will work as a great replacement. The top side of the guard is shaped a little different, so it's out for a real restoration, but is just fine to use. I will try to get back to this with the model number off the machine I used for comaparison. Tim
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A number of farmers I know have great luck with welding broken sickle bars after V'ing the ends well and making sure they are clean, followed by making sure weld penetration is good. They almost never break in the weld area if they do break again.
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