Hooking up and running the sickle mower

farmallmaniac · Aug 22, 2011

Can anyone tell me what hydraulic port to hook up my sickle mower too? I have a farmall M and I think an international sickle mower, model 100 I believe. It looks to just have a one way cylinder. Also, can anyone tell me how the hydraulics work?

On another not I tried mowing with the mower and all it did was clog up bad. The sickle bar is new. I was running full throttle and first gear. First gear seems way too fast. All I was doing was mowing weeds. Will it work better when I actually have pasture grass to mow? Otherwise I better find something else.

Sorry for the dumb questions. This is all new to me.

rustred · Aug 22, 2011

3/4 throttle is plenty in first gear. if its a pitman driven sickle you risk breaking the pitman running too fast. even if it has a gear box they dont need to run that fast. they will plug in short stuff as it dont clean the sickle. in timothy or brome they work real good. i like the mower as its a fast way to make hay for small amounts. dont have to wait forever for it to dry.
also make sure you have the board at the end of sickle so it cleans a path for next round. without this board it also causes lots of plugging.

AJB-830 · Aug 22, 2011

Here are a couple of pictures of my IH 100 mower on my Farmall H. As you can see, it uses a single one-way cylinder. Mine is hooked to the front port on the left side of the H. But you can use the right port if you want. We used it for years when my father was dairy farming. Now just use it to cut roadsides and weeds around the farm. It's been on this H for at least 35 or 40 years. Usually cut in 2nd gear, but when we cut hay, you could even cut in 4th gear. It does not work very well in very short grass. Hope this helps. Send reply if you have other questions. Al

Anonymous-0 · Aug 22, 2011

The reason it may be plugging,your wear plates could be worn out.if they are your sickle will have too much movement front to rear.they are fairly inexpensive.i just replaced mine in a JD no. 8,$23.00 for 7 of them. hope this helps. Jim

Dave H (MI) · Aug 23, 2011

An IH sickle mower set per the manual will cut all day long if everything is in good condition. Everything from lawn grass to brush. If it is clogging it is likely out of adjustment/dull and/or one of the following is an issue:

No grass board to turn over the end of the swath can cause clogging up on the tractor end of sickle on the next pass.

Make sure you have the "one and a half" tooth at the end of the sickle. If not the sickle end will not clean itself under some conditions.

Depending on where you are, you may have a lot of dew down in the hay. A dull sickle will cut dry hay but a lot of moisture can clog the best of them. Watch your cutter bar and tires to see if they are wet when cutting. This is why we always mow after lunch here in August.

HTH, Dave (never used anything BUT a sickle!)

Hooking up and running the sickle mower

farmallmaniac

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rustred

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AJB-830

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Anonymous-0

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Dave H (MI)

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