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Mower Talk: How about 3 point sickle mower?

SD51555

SD51555

5 year old buck +
Thinking out loud, I got to wondering about more mower solutions. I've squashed the flail mower idea for the time being. I'm trying to keep the capital requirements as low as possible so this thing doesn't get out of control. I'm wondering if a sickle mower mower wouldn't have lower HP requirements and still meet my goal of getting my residue laid down evenly and without running it over before cutting it.

 
I'd think it would be perfect for TnM.
 
Driving over my crops before cutting (with a flail) has almost no impact on most of them. They bounce back up after a few hours. A sickle bar mower will require a tractor......as far as I know.....unless your talking about a walk behind mule. Those are allot of work if you got a large area.......IMO. I still think you should use a pull behind flail mower and live in peace.
 
SD51555 said:
Not right now, but I wonder if a lesser tractor could run a sickle mower.


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I dont think it takes allot of power to run a sickle blade mower. I remember when lots of mowing and baling was done with the little 8N Ford tractors. We sold allot of sickle mowers for haying back in the day. But.....sickle bars take some pretty good maintenance and lots of blades need to be changed and sharpened, etc. Not many use such mowers anymore.....to many other ways to skin the cats.......IMO. I think a more modern disk or trum mower may be more appropriate if you are shopping for a three point mower. $$$

One thing about sickle mowers is that they do not play well unless on a decent flat field....IMO. If you hit stumps or tree roots, rocks, fence posts.....your gonna break stuff. No fun replacing rivets in sickle bars and guards wear and fail too.

Mowing and mulching with rotary or flail mowers takes a good amount of power......but you can also get narrow mowers or simply reduce your speeds when the going gets tough. That is where a hydrostatic tractor and things like load match shine.

I think your trying to swim against the current on this issue.....lol.
 
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Foggy47 said:
I dont think it takes allot of power to run a sickle blade mower. I remember when lots of mowing and baling was done with the little 8N Ford tractors. We sold allot of sickle mowers for haying back in the day. But.....sickle bars take some pretty good maintenance and lots of blades need to be changed and sharpened, etc. Not many use such mowers anymore.....to many other ways to skin the cats.......IMO. I think a more modern disk or trum mower may be more appropriate if you are shopping for a three point mower. $$$

One thing about sickle mowers is that they do not play well unless on a decent flat field....IMO. If you hit stumps or tree roots, rocks, fence posts.....your gonna break stuff. No fun replacing rivets in sickle bars and guards wear and fail too.

Mowing and mulching with rotary or flail mowers takes a good amount of power......but you can also get narrow mowers or simply reduce your speeds when the going gets tough. That is where a hydrostatic tractor and things like load match shine.

I think your trying to swim against the current on this issue.....lol.
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I always seem to end up in that position.
 
SD51555 said:
I always seem to end up in that position.
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When many thousands more are using rotary cutters and flail mowers to do the cutting your want....than are using sickle mowers.......do you ever ask yourself "WHY Would I want to buck the trend of what works for so many others?" .....Just asking.....grin.
 
Sickle mowers definitely have a place, but probably not for the average mowing/haying. The guy that puts up our hay still uses them, mostly because he cant afford to upgrade to a swather of some type.
 
I haven't run a sickle mower in many years. They work ok in a field but they're slow and high maintenance. I remember getting off the tractor a lot. They do not take much power to run, the last one i ran was on an m farmall. Once i bought my first disc mower, I never looked back.
 
Note the driver orientation as to the tractor drive wheel W/ no fender and sickle bar and the visibility that operator enjoys .. if you cannot watch the bar working and guard it against foreign objects and unexpected protrusions you will be working on it constantly if you do not outright destroy it first encounter ..
Most tractors today place you even or forward of the center of the drive wheel plus add a full fender and you very possibly will not be able to see the sickle bar down in the working position
Worse yet the pictured sickle is much longer away from the 3 point lift arms placing the bar further back than most of the old 3 point sickle mowers ..

Not trying to be negative here ..just pointing out success needs a certain combination of things to keep it from being a serious FUBAR
 
Brokenbear said:
Note the driver orientation as to the tractor drive wheel W/ no fender and sickle bar and the visibility that operator enjoys .. if you cannot watch the bar working and guard it against foreign objects and unexpected protrusions you will be working on it constantly if you do not outright destroy it first encounter ..
Most tractors today place you even or forward of the center of the drive wheel plus add a full fender and you very possibly will not be able to see the sickle bar down in the working position
Worse yet the pictured sickle is much longer away from the 3 point lift arms placing the bar further back than most of the old 3 point sickle mowers ..

Not trying to be negative here ..just pointing out success needs a certain combination of things to keep it from being a serious FUBAR
Click to expand...
I can remember many sickle mowers were side mounted in order to have a better view of the cutting action. Seems that Allis and Formal had some side mounted mowers....and there may have been a Dearborn model too....but much of their equipment was 3 point. I remember farmers cursing about sickle blades and rivets and high expense of such stuff. I doubt many new ones are sold anymore?? .....except in the walkie models.
 
I don't own a tractor, but if I did I'd use a finish mower. Cut that stuff up small. Clumping with a brush hog is usually either too fast or to slow a tpm on the pto.

Some finish mowers are more open underneath, rather than have alot of shrouds around the blades like a lawn tractor belly mower.

My swisher tow rough cut mower is very ope nunderneath. Just has a small shroud when the blades will start throwing the grass back up from the rear to the front. Maybe a 1/8 turn on the aft when rotating the blade again towards the front.

It's about a coin toss seeing a shrouded vs pretty open model for sale used. Often under $1000 easily.
 
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