Changing sickle sections

Hayfarmer · Jun 18, 2011

I was reading an old operator's manual for The Dearborn Mower, rear attached. It said to change sections you rest the sickle back on a vice and rap on the back of the section to shear off the rivets. I had never heard of doing that before. Always ground off the rivet head and punched them out. HGave others done it this way?

Bob · Jun 18, 2011

Yes.

Stay out of it's flight path, though! Who needs a knife section stuck in their forehead?

old · Jun 18, 2011

Works very well and if you have a 2nd person top hold up the end it is the cats meow. You do need to have the vise set so as to not be to tight or to loose and you learn what is just right but one or 2 blows with a big say 2lbs hammer and you have the old section off and if your lucky the rivet falls out also. Just did one on my BA and replaced all the rivets with section bolts

JimB2 · Jun 18, 2011

Hi, in the shop we did it with a vise all the time.
Out in the field, there was a flat portion on the mower frame that I would rest the bar that the section was riveted to and a couple blows with the hammer and rivets were sheared off, punch old rivets out of bar.

JimB

johnw (OR) · Jun 18, 2011

A length of railroad track laid on its side best thing i've used, nice angle.

Scotty HOMEy · Jun 18, 2011

I learned to do it that way. Only thing to watch is that too much hammerin' can throw a bow into the backbone of your knife. Swift blows with a HEAVY hammer will keep that bow to a minimum, which will straighten out with the heat of the friction once the knife goes back to work.

Nebraska Cowman · Jun 19, 2011

Oh yeah, 32 oz hammer and you get a rhythm going it's one swing per section. Wear gloves.

VernMN · Jun 19, 2011

Yep, used the railroad track all the time.

Harold Hubbard · Jun 19, 2011

The knife generally drops straight down, but I have shot out a couple of shop windows with the rivet heads.

Roger46 · Jun 19, 2011

My dad taught me that way of changing sickle sections back in the 50's. It is amazing how well it works vs chisling off the rivet heads. Now that I think about it, I think he learned that procedure back then from a neighbor as before that we chisled off the heads first. Roger

Rumplestiltskin · Jun 19, 2011

That's the way my uncle used to do it. He would set the vise jaws just far enough apart to accommodate the blade, lower the blade tip through the opening until the frame rested on the vise jaws, and then whack the blade with a hammer.

Mark W. in MI

Weldon K · Jun 19, 2011

I use an anvil that has been here forever. On the horn end of the anvil, there is a step that is the perfect height to rest the bar on with the knife resting on the face. Place my foot on the anvil face with toe of my shoe covering most of knife section. Strike rear side of knife section once or twice and rivets are sheared. With my foot on the knife section it can not go flying.
Diagram of Anvil

wolfman · Jun 20, 2011

Only for the last 53 years. Have a one-foot section of railroad iron, set it perpendicular to knife backbone & one whack per rivet with the ball-pein.

wolfman · Jun 20, 2011

Out in the field, the mower or haybine each have a frame part square enough to rest the knife backbone on to whack the section off, Mower tractor always has a ball-pein to rivet.

Changing sickle sections

Hayfarmer

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Bob

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old

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JimB2

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johnw (OR)

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Scotty HOMEy

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Nebraska Cowman

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VernMN

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Harold Hubbard

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Roger46

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Rumplestiltskin

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Weldon K

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wolfman

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wolfman

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