Engine speed for a sickle bar mower

How fast should I run the engine and what gear would you recommend while I'm cutting with my A24 mower on the back of my Super A? It has a new last year engine rebuild so it has plenty of power.

Now thats a loaded question just what shape it the mower good ledger plates and a GOOD sickle You always mow at full throttle the gear is whats important and what you are mowing. 51 B John Deere in 4th mowing good alfalfa at full throttle was a great mowing unit but it had a good mower behind in top shape.

PTO usually requires wide open throttle, try 2nd gear, otherwise 1st, 3rd is too fast.

As stated depends on the condition of the mower. Worn out ledger plates and a marginal sickle and 2 gear is top speed for any grass. Then you have the grass that you are cutting. Native grasses are tough on everything.

OK, The sickle is in great shape and the ledger plates are in good to fair shape. I'll be cutting native grasses so I'll run the throttle wide open and run it in 1st to start. If that goes good I'll try 2nd. Thanks again guys.

(quoted from post at 19:00:45 08/29/12) OK, The sickle is in great shape and the ledger plates are in good to fair shape. I'll be cutting native grasses so I'll run the throttle wide open and run it in 1st to start. If that goes good I'll try 2nd. Thanks again guys.

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Any time you are running a piece of used cutting equipment off a tractor PTO for the first time it's a good idea to start in 1st gear. You can always go up a gear but if you start in a higher gear you may break something. Then you find the gear where it works best.

Rick

i have mowed with sickle bar mowers and i never, ever run a engine with throttle wide open; with sickle bar mower or without, unless i am in a really hard pull. high rpms will shake the sickle too much. i recommend about 1/3 throttle, possibly 1/2.

i was taught to hardly, never run a full throttle; uses lots of gas and is hard on the motor.

These pitman mowers shake a lot, and you may find that running at full throttle causes the mower to shake the whole tractor. Slow down.

Feel it out. If you find the mower plugging a lot try running at a higher RPM in a lower gear.

With my Cub, I run 2nd gear at a about 5/8 throttle. Much faster and the harmonics build and practically shake you off the seat.

I generally mow at about 1/2 throttle and speed the engine up or down as needed if the crop is patchy.
Zach

agree with others - open it up until it shakes "too much".

Ideal is full throttle, but with bearings and bushings being worn, it's going to shake the teeth out of your head.

Hi I have a IH model 22 mounted on my Earthmaster and per the manual the sickle should run at 1700 cycles or 850 RPM's on the pitman wheel, I think most tractor PTO rpm's hit 540 before full throttle. I found with the Earthmaqster/22 mower that about 3/4 throttle and 2nd gear works very good as posted I started out in 1st gear but found the a spped od 2nd made for better cutting, here again a lot depends on mower condition mine has a very good sickle and the guards and ledger plated are like new how every it does shake.
GB in MN

Just thought I give an update. I mowed about 5 acres of hayfield that has been fallow for 5 or 6 years, on uneven ground, here in the hills of Vermont. After 15 years of sitting outside I had a lot of freeing up, lubing and sharpening to do before I got the mower going. I ended up doing most of the mowing in first gear at full throttle. I tried 3/4 throttle in second gear but it was just to fast on uneven ground and it seemed to clog more. As far as the vibration goes, she had some shake to her but not too unbearable. I bought a jell filled seat pad and that seemed to help a lot. I saw 2 snakes, 3 rabbits, one ground wasp nest and two paper wasp nests. I went through two teeth, 3 ledgers and a pitman arm before it settled down and resigned itself to being pulled out of retirement. It cut white pine, poplar, apple and maple saplings along with the brush and grasses without a hiccup. Well, maybe one. I got cocky and tried for a white pine that was a little too big. That's when I broke the teeth and pitman arm. It didn't cut it but it did pull it right out of the ground though! Oh well, now I know how big a sapling it will cut. Despite the neglect and after I get through resealing the power head the old iron is in remarkably good condition after some TLC and will continue to run for a long time to come. I LOVE AMERICAN OLD IRON! It sure isn't like the crap they import from China these days.