SCORE, Bryce-mice-ster Strikes Again!

Bryce Frazier · Dec 30, 2013

Hi all, just got back from town, talked to a good friend of mine in the local tractor club, and long story short he told me that he would "make me a deal" on this sickle mower that he had sitting in his barn, he said that it was three point and came on a 861 Ford, after I got there, I discovered that it was a 501 Ford, looks identical to mine, but in better shape. His "deal" was to just send it home with me!!! WOO HOO, I will get a picture tomorrow if anyone is interested. Bryce

Tony in SD · Dec 30, 2013

You lucky dog

super99 · Dec 30, 2013

If I was you, I'd put a little extra in the collection plate at church next Sunday.

samn40 · Dec 30, 2013

Ever thought of doing the lottery?
Well done!
Sam

JD Seller · Dec 30, 2013

Well You may have gotten a deal. LOL If a guy tried to give me a Ford 501 sickle bar mower and I HAD to take it home and mow with it. I would be MAD!!!!!

You will find out that unless the sickle bar is good and sharp with the grass DRY as a bone, they are miserable to mow with.

Dachshund · Dec 30, 2013

EXCELLENT! I have one, myself! Great little mowers - if you know how to use them!

Deluxe · Dec 30, 2013

I wish I had one just to play with because that's what grandpa had , but...... I seem to remember spending more time in reverse trying to unplug the bar than I did going forward. Ah the good ole days. Deluxe

Bryce Frazier · Dec 30, 2013

I am not quite sure about that, the one I already have is a mowing beast, I mowed all of our meadow with that and me ferguson 30 this spring, worked REALLY good in any gear. Here is a picture of my first 501 working at it's best. Also a picture of my lanky self posing for the camera woman (mom), while adjusting my JD 594, also being pulled be the 1954 Ferguson TO-30.

Bryce
P.S. How do ya like the Sombrero?

Royse · Dec 30, 2013

Wish you lived closer, I'd give you double your money for it!

jm. · Dec 30, 2013

Just proves the world is full of all kind of guys. I was like you thinking I sure would not waste the gas but again this is an old tractor board so I have to watch what I say about this old J///.

jon f mn · Dec 30, 2013

My dad had a ford mower on a jubilee and it mowed great. Cut most any kind of hay in 3rd gear. Now the moline mower we had was like what you describe.

JD Seller · Dec 31, 2013

Jon: Put any type of sickle bar mower into thick clover or alfalfa hay an see how much time you spend going forward verse backing up and cleaning the bar off. In a grass type of hay they will mow OK if the sickle is in good shape and it is dry. Try it in a wet season and the grass has that short regrowth down at sickle level. PLUG UP!!!!

For the light grass he has pictured he will be able to mow if it is dry. Let him go out if the ground is wet or there was a heavy dew. I can remember not being able to mow until 1-2 PM waiting for the dew to dry off.

He got it for free and I was mainly pulling his chain a little.

Sickle bar mowers are coming back in value. Many of the guys that mowed with them as a kid are having "fond" memories of mowing hay. THEY are also forgetting the reality if what a PIA they where most of the time. They want something to "DO" with their old tractor.

Mike (WA) · Dec 31, 2013

I'm watching for one at the local consignment auction- to cut up and use the 3 point arch to make an arch to pull firewood logs out of the woods. May even hang a 12 volt winch off the top, to make it even handier.

As for mowing with it, thanks, but no thanks. Used a sickle bar mower when I was a kid, and a couple years after we bought our place in '73, but got a Taarup disc mower in '75 and happily waved goodbye to the sickle bar rig.

JK-NY · Dec 31, 2013

My neighbor uses the U-shaped frame off a post hole digger foe just what you describe to pull logs.

jon f mn · Dec 31, 2013

All the things you just described are common where I live. Dad grew a combo of grass/alfalfa/clover most years and cut a lot of straight grass including reed canary swamps in the summer. The mower worked good on all of it as far as I remember. You do have to wait for the dew to dry off for sure tho. The mower was gone by the time I was big enough to do any cutting, but I remember dad's had a reputation in the neighborhood as being one of the best. I know he used to cut the swamp grass for more than one neighbor because their mowers wouldn't do it and his did.

jon f mn · Dec 31, 2013

Looks good Bryce!! Love the sombrero too.

Bryce Frazier · Dec 31, 2013

Well, now that I recall my memory, I did try to mow at about 8 in the morning, and it was just a wet grass mess, I couldn't even think about mowing until 9:30, however we are in a big hole basically, and we get a HUGE amount of dew, and a LONG drying time! I did have troubles with the mower clogging up though, it would seem to bunch up at at the tip of the bar, and because of how my grass board was set, it would clog up at the inside every once in a while too, HOWEVER, after the fact, my buddy came down to "have a look" and he said that it kept clogging up because it had too many Knife Holdlers on it?!?! He said that t hey should be in the every other hole, rather than every one? What do you guys think? Bryce

Mike (WA) · Dec 31, 2013

Hmmmm. . . Now why didn't I think of that? I've got a post hole digger with a removable arch. The top of the arch pins to the beam of the digger, but no reason I couldn't adapt a top link to it. I think the hole is even the right size.

I think I have a New Years Day project!

SCORE, Bryce-mice-ster Strikes Again!

Bryce Frazier

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Tony in SD

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super99

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samn40

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JD Seller

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Dachshund

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Deluxe

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Bryce Frazier

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Royse

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jm.

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jon f mn

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JD Seller

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Mike (WA)

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JK-NY

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jon f mn

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jon f mn

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Bryce Frazier

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Mike (WA)

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