People familiar with IH sickle bar mowers...

Dave H (MI) · Jun 3, 2009

...could you tell me:

I am spending a lot of time making sure my mower is adjusted properly. Put in a new knife and was noticing that a couple of the knife clips are not keeping the sections close enough to the ledgers. In other words, when the knife section slides thru the guard it is almost 1/8 inch above it's ledger plate. Clearly not what is intended and not going to give me the best cut. I tried removing the shim from under one of the clips but that lowered it only a little and I still have a gap. I was hoping some of you all with experience with these mowers could tell me what the fix is. I replaced the bolts on the guards in those areas also and snugged them as tight as they would go. Does something need to be "modeled"? I don't want to go banging on stuff without knowing what I am doing so I thought I would ask first. Some of these parts look cast and I am not sure how much of a hit they can take.

k560 · Jun 3, 2009

Take a hammer and tap the hold down clip down against the section

wolfman · Jun 3, 2009

With a good hammer (I use the back side of the ballpein that I use to rivet sections) give the hold-down clip(s) a whack til the knife rests down where it belongs. Don't draw the knife down too tight.

ScottyHOMeY · Jun 3, 2009

Always remember the Second Rule of Hammers -- Hit with progressively bigger hammers until you break something, then back down one size.

The others are right, those clips may be cast but they are malleable, so they can be beat down. Not-over-gumptious blows (how else to describe????) with a 24 or 32 oz hammer ought to do it. And do observe the caution of not driving the clips down too far. You need to have a little slack between the knife sections and the ledger plates -- these things weren't made to slice paper so you're not looking for a scissors fit. Are you working with new clips or worn? CaseNHIHFord still sells new ones, if yours are worn (I replaced most of them on my 21 for just that reason) or you should bust one.

HTH

GeoMo · Jun 4, 2009

MAKE SURE THAT THE GUARD IS NOT BENT.

Andy Martin · Jun 4, 2009

Don't be afraid to try mowing with it. Speed and stiff stems make a lot of difference. After you've mowed a while, and broke loose a few sections, and plugged it up a few times, you'll get a good grasp on what will mow and what will not. The main thing is sharp sections.

GeneMO · Jun 4, 2009

I'll weigh in too. Watched my dad bonk those hold down clips many a time. He was also not afraid to give the end of the guard a good whack UP it if was bent a little down.

Dont get the hold down clips bent too much. I have even seen my dad weld a fitted piece of flat iron to the bottom of a worn out hold down clip to get more use out of them.

Gene

mkirsch · Jun 4, 2009

I have whaled away on the guards and hold down clips on both my sickle mowers with the biggest BFH I own.

They don't move.

Dave H (MI) · Jun 4, 2009

Hi Scotty....working with a brand new knife complete with sections. The old one was too much trouble to save. I also was pulling thru a lifetimes accumulation of odds and ends from auctions...leftovers from box lots...and found three real old boxes marked IH. One had NOS sections, one had NOS ledgers, and one has something that might maybe be a rotor. The former two will come in very handy.

Dave H (MI) · Jun 4, 2009

Well, not much I grant you that! I took a big sum-b of a rolled leather/wrapped in iron hammer to both of those and actually narrowed the gap some. I think I am ready to go and appreciate all the help below!

People familiar with IH sickle bar mowers...

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member

k560

Member

wolfman

Well-known Member

ScottyHOMeY

Well-known Member

GeoMo

Member

Andy Martin

Well-known Member

GeneMO

Well-known Member

mkirsch

Well-known Member

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member

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