David Bradly mower advice

I bought this sickle mower at an auction last fall. I?m getting ready to try it out. Do you guys have any advise or things I need to know about using it?

Well I?m trying to post a picture of it but I can?t get it to work. I?ll take any advise you got on maki g that work too!

Paint it or spray it with some drain oil. After that the juice from the grass should keep it lubricated. KEEP it out of the dirt!!! Dirt and grit mess the knifes up. Just be cautious. Keep animals and kids away. If it plugs up shut the blasted engine off. Fingers are hard to replace.

Please give a description of it. There are at least 4 different models of field mowers that I know of. Most popular I think was the PTO pwered trail type. with the horse drawn second and then there was a semi mount with one caster wheel and a fully mounted that would take a day to put on a Ford or ferguson. The semi mount was last model sold.

Thanks Jeffcat. I took your advise showed my son how it works and why he should stay away. He watched from the top of the field! I painted it with waste oil and gave it a try. It worked really good. It did plug up twice but I think the problem was too much ground speed and the grass was a little wet. I clutched the tractor right away cleared the plug then just ran in low gear. After I that all went well. Thanks again!

It is a PTO driven trail type. The PTO has a knuckle and carrier bearing about a foot and a half back from the tractor end of things that pivots with the tongue of the mower then the cutting bar is belt driven from there. I was trying to get a picture uploaded but I couldn?t get it to go. Anyway l think a semi mount would work better but this one was the right price at the auction and I didn?t want to pass it up. I tried it for the first time this afternoon it seemed to work well.

Good going. Another thing is when you fold and unfold the bar. A rule to follow as with giving a horse a lump of sugar. Keep your fingers flat. Less chance of loosing piddys. When a sickle mower is set up correctly you can stick a sheet of paper next to the knife and make one cycle. The paper should cut as if you used a pair of scissors. Razor clean cut. There are enough of us on here who can tell you what to look for and how to set them up. It really is an art. Not super complex, but once you have seen it done correctly it is magic

Look at the thread "sharpening a mower blade" by Danny Prosser.

That is the one I figured it was as I believe it was most popular. But I have never seen one. The horse mower I have seen 3 and that includs the one Dad had. The semi mount was only in catalog for one year and also never saw one. That mounted mower was same as Ferguson in early-mid 40's but kept in farm catalog untill about 56 when your model was discontinued, and the semi mount ended mower sales in 58. There will be no parts avaible listed for that mower but cutter bar parts for others can be matched up to work. Measure the belt and keep all measurements (numbers if to be found) as you will probably have to go to the belt place mentioned often on this site. And as old as the belt is it will probavly disentragate within a couple of hours running, that is why I say measure now (length, with and depth and also angle ov the V) instead of having to guess later. Bearings a bering supply house should be able to match up with something that works. There has been no parts support from Sears the ones that sold David Bradley for 40+ years. That would be a good item to be able to take to tractor shows as you probably would not find anybody that knows about them. I do have the farm catalogs from 54 up and that is how I know about them. Hay rakes way more popular than mowers and I had one of them. I am now 75 so that age machinery is what I grew up with. As for maintaing the cutter bar just do it the same as a JD or IH.

Thanks for the info. I don?t know why but I really hadn?t thought about the age of it. It came with an extra cutting bar and the belt appears to be in good shape it look like it was stored inside most of its life. I?m going to take your advise and take measurements of the belt I?ll need one sooner or later! Here is a like to the picture I posed of when I got it.
https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/viewtopic.php?t=1369035&highlight=

I hope that works and you can take a look at it.