You are one of a kind. You say, part of it was my fault, most people today will not admit fault for anything. And since you left your job, you look so much more relaxed and at ease. Glad you did it.
I bought a new-to-me IH sickle bar mower and used it to mow my hay this year. I used your videos to tinker with it and it worked! Thanks for being part of my success. 😊
Now your farming!!! Don’t have the right part ... let’s take the welder and build/repair the part. Great video and awesome perseverance in sticking with it until it works right. Hope your back is doing well!!
One more tip, they make a special knife section for the end, it's kind of like a knife and a half. It helps get a clean cut near the shoe. It's one more peice of the puzzle. The bad news for you is sickle bar mower like to be "tuned up" so what you are doing will be on going. When they're right and everything comes together they cut like a dream.
You definitely did your research Evan. Thats what you gotta do when working with older equipment. Google and TH-cam is the best way to get answers and resolve most all your problems. Looked to be cutting great now. Theres still a lot of life left in your mower. Routine maintenance and grease are your best friends. LoL
Was totally waiting on this. I came on here just to check and see if you posted something, and you did. I told a friend about your channel. Just can't get enough. Love your homestead. Love your presentation. Love love love the channel.
Great video. I'm living vicariously thru your videos with the older farm equipment. I bought a new tractor two weeks ago and I miss having to work on the old Massey to keep it going. Keep them coming.
JudithB Its interesting to watch all the tweaks on a mower!! I will have to go look at our old mower! It has been sitting 25 yrs and taking up space in front of the barn door.
You are a winner Evan and you deserve every success in everything you do, your enthusiasm and dediccation to everything you attempt makes for very enjoyable entertainment, love your channel, a job well done...thanks...
Just keep plugging away at that sickle bar and it'll be as close to or better than original ! Looked like the kitty was kneading a bed while holding her, pretty cool ! Thumbs up Evan.
Congratulations on 50, 000 subscribers, found your channel a month ago and am working my way through previous videos. Great job, enjoying following your journey. Thanks
,when you pickup the sickle bar to put it away for traveling be careful because the sickle will move so don't get your fingers by the knives . Keep fingers straight and push with hour palms of your hands
I watched him do that correctly and remember that was rule number 1 when my dad taught me how to use the sickle bar. It does make you nervous though doesn't it? It is a perfect design for a bad accident waiting to happen.
@@vernonvest9927 the one I ran had a rod mounted on mower and you used it to hold bar You would stick it through the bar and put a nut on the threaded rod after raising the bar
@@vernonvest9927 well his looks like it leans way back so they probably don't need a rod the bar on the one I used stuck about strait up but that was in around 1964 so talk about bad eyes lol
Ok, you cant fool me.With your awsome workshop and just the expression in your face, hammering, welding, grinding, and fidgeting is right up your ally. Keep up the good fight. Tommorow always brings another battle.
That is exciting to see the sickle bar working better. Sometimes as old as this bar is you need to replace everything and just start fresh with new parts. 👍👍👍
Hey Evn you may be getting sick & tired working on the tractor but we love it and you make it interesting. From where I live it's all boat stuff with only a little farm stuff so you capture my attention. Great job bud.
You need to put a stabilizer bar on the three point to stop it from swaying. This would solve most of the problems you are having. I grew up on a farm and mowed the hay for 110 cows. We used a 8N for tractor and this problem happened until we put the stabilizer bar on the three point.
We don't farm but really enjoy farm videos.We are interested in about how much materials (parts) cost on repairs.Could you remind viewers the age of equipment every now and again.
Those sections you removed looked good. We sharpened ours until there wasn't much left of them and they cut good. We used a file or a special carborundum stone made specifically for sharpening sickles. Later we got a powered grinder made to sharpen sickles.
You're such an inspiration man. I bought 25 acres in perry county ohio and I have about 12 acres of hay field. I'm in the process of getting some hay equipment and bailing my field and hopefully a bunch of other places to make some side cash. Keep the videos coming please!
Enjoyed listening to you, remember your first time trying to attach the mower to the AC, what a potential disaster that could have been, Now listening to you talk, you sound like a New Holland mower engineer, you have learned a lot, Good luck with it and be safe, keep your fingers out of that thing, Corn picker, mowers and combines can be very cantankerous machines,
Good job with your repairs and replacements. I think this machine will give you many good years of service. Just have a few back up parts like springs, bolts, washers etc. for the necessary maintenance. Have a Blessed day.
Evan, I think you did a great job on the sickle bar mower and you went through that tall grass with no problem, so you worked the kinks out of it and what you did corrected the problem, so when hay time comes, you will be ready.
Good video! There's not much information on the web about how to adjust one of these. It really helped mine to point the tips on the rock guards up some which I did with my top link.
Good job Evan, you’re doing better every time you use your equipment and learn more about just how it works. You will get it all working like it should !! 👍👍 Thanks for sharing your journeys!
Not sure if you can get one nowadays but a punch was made that allows you to make a head on that rivet that is round as factory. I have one that I use on my sickle sections when I replace the rivets. Works wonderfully!!!
@@Dan.Whiteford check this tool www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/163210489544_/New-Sickle-Bar-Mower-Repair-Kit-for-MASSEY.jpg , if it were a punch I'd expdct to hit it with a hammer, and those are easy to find
I remember dad using used oil for lube and run the sickle and he'd hammer down clips that wernt putting sufficent pressure on the sickle sections. Kinda like burn it in before hitting the meddows. We used serrated sections and guards. We used two double bar mowers on 1.48 sections of Sandhills prairie hay every summer. Frame mounted IH balance head mowers, double 9 Rouse on a Farmall M and double 7 Kramer on a Farmall H.
I've already been through everything you just did. My wobble box broke 3 yrs ago. So, where all the zirks are, one side broke. So they come as a set and all new bearings. Pretty much a new machine. But worth it
Get some over and under serrated sections with nuts and bolts. We use brass shim stock as well as a pipe on the guards to get things flat, when done correctly it should be hard to pull sickle bar out.
It's getting better on the cutting, back in the day sickle mowers were used to cut the grass along side the highway, now it's all bush hog or brush hog I've heard both terms used.
Webb Cutting Components in Nebraska is a good place to get parts. I run a 456 NH which is same as yours, just on a dolly. Much easier to hook up to. Good luck!
I very much enjoy the videos - takes me back to my childhood of growing up on a farm similar to yours! My dad had a full time job and the farmstead - we had a mower similar (but wheeled) - no 3 point hitch. Thanks for allowing me to reminiscence. Just a thought - I would like to suggest a hat! Be careful of that sun damage and premature skin aging. Take it from one who has experienced it!
Definitely cutting better! I still don’t like the sections that are bolted on, but they seem to be working. That hold-downs were worn is a manifestation of buying an older, more-worn machine. You’re overcoming the age/wear, and fairly impressively at that. Welding and grinding a hold-down to make it work is awesome. Overcoming the prior owner’s modifications to fix the show and swath board was also good. I did wonder why you were using a framing hammer to shear your rivets. Then I saw you had bought a new heavier hammer for the rivets. We always ground rivets instead of shearing, and had a ~40 oz ball peen hammer to mash the ends. I bet that heavier hammer will shear the sections off better next time. Keep up the good effort!
Oh ya... That's mo better!!! Those carriage bolts are only grade 2... You need an implement bolt... like you would use on the wearbar of a scraper. Other than that, it works great!!! Good job
Hey don’t forget about the little cows that are coming . They will need hay. You didn’t say anything about your septic so it must be working ok. I will be waiting for the hay cutting. Take care,
A lot of guys spray that sicklebar down with automatic transmission fluid it keeps it from rusting up lets it move a little smoother till things break in
You have other options for over winter animal feed then just hay bamboo is a great winter animal feed for them. Another option is to cut branches off the trees when they still have leaves then hang up to dry so you can toss to the animals in the winter as tree hay.
Looks like it's doing better from here. I had to replay the part where you cut down that little patch of tall, heavy grass. That was too cool! I think it's the spot where the failed leech line leaked to the surface.
As much of a pain as it has been to replace parts & tweak things here and there, at least trouble shooting will be easier in the future. I'm glad that I only had to repair an old sewing machine! (Loose screw, cleaning & oiling.) :)
*smh* love your stuff, just hate to wait for the next one... YOU have to step it up : P ~ We know you don't have ANYTHING else to do but entertain us ... !! Seriously you are so humble, studious, and a great teacher... just an all.around really nice job with your vids...
Enjoy your videos, thanks for taking the time to make them. I would suggest looking at bolting your sickle sections on instead of rivets, makes changing our knifes much easier in the field. Our local new holland dealer keeps the bolts in stock and they are relatively inexpensive and last a long time.
I have been using a New Holland 445e for years, and trying to get it to run nicely. You might want to think about clamping the knife sections to the bar before striking the rivet - you can end up with a gap, which will make the rest of the adjustments misleading. nice video.
Great content, living vicariously through you! I am no expert but might try partially depressing your clutch, I had and old tractor that had a dual disc clutch , I could stop forward motion and not kill my PTO ... Worth trying. Keep up the good work!
Just found your TH-cam page, looks like you have your sickle bar figured out. It actually looks like the one I used to run in a cattle pasture, we had put an extra piece on the outside shoe like that to raise it up a bit, would also raise the 3pt to cut about 4 or 5 inches high to jusy cut the weeds and tops of the grass in the pasture. I would bet the little clumps of grass in the field was field mouse nests, I had a field that was full of the little turds and would plug up my sickle bar at least once a round. I see you have a Robinson address I am just outside New Hebron, and also bale hay on a small farm.
Hey Evan, I've got the same mower very good machine, FWIW mine mows better when the knives tip down a little, don't go nuts just a little, they also make an end knife for this, it's a blade and a half helps keep the mold board from plugging up, anyway its a great mower
You are one of a kind. You say, part of it was my fault, most people today will not admit fault for anything. And since you left your job, you look so much more relaxed and at ease. Glad you did it.
You have gotten to know and understand this machine. 👍 👍
I bought a new-to-me IH sickle bar mower and used it to mow my hay this year. I used your videos to tinker with it and it worked! Thanks for being part of my success. 😊
Now your farming!!! Don’t have the right part ... let’s take the welder and build/repair the part. Great video and awesome perseverance in sticking with it until it works right. Hope your back is doing well!!
One more tip, they make a special knife section for the end, it's kind of like a knife and a half. It helps get a clean cut near the shoe. It's one more peice of the puzzle. The bad news for you is sickle bar mower like to be "tuned up" so what you are doing will be on going. When they're right and everything comes together they cut like a dream.
You definitely did your research Evan. Thats what you gotta do when working with older equipment. Google and TH-cam is the best way to get answers and resolve most all your problems. Looked to be cutting great now. Theres still a lot of life left in your mower. Routine maintenance and grease are your best friends. LoL
I know nothing about farm equipment, and still ALL of your videos are sooooo enjoyable!
Buddy, I'm rooting for you and the sickle bar!
Me too, I love the sickle bar mower!
I've said before, "The Joys of working on old equipment". You're getting the hang of it. Keep up the good work. Stay safe.
Looks good buddy be safe out there see you next time
Was totally waiting on this. I came on here just to check and see if you posted something, and you did. I told a friend about your channel. Just can't get enough. Love your homestead. Love your presentation. Love love love the channel.
Great video. I'm living vicariously thru your videos with the older farm equipment. I bought a new tractor two weeks ago and I miss having to work on the old Massey to keep it going. Keep them coming.
JudithB Its interesting to watch all the tweaks on a mower!! I will have to go look at our old mower! It has been sitting 25 yrs and taking up space in front of the barn door.
I think I'd add a lock nut to the bolt with the compression spring. And use my 3 lb hammer for breaking the cutters off the bar.
Finally was able to see the holder for your bar ,when you are traveling.
This is great!!! Helping me so much with my, new to me, NH 451 sickle mower. Thank you!
Very interesting how all of that works. I remember seeing those when I was young but never thought about how they work. Great job as usual!
You are a winner Evan and you deserve every success in everything you do, your enthusiasm and dediccation to everything you attempt makes for very enjoyable entertainment, love your channel, a job well done...thanks...
Just keep plugging away at that sickle bar and it'll be as close to or better than original !
Looked like the kitty was kneading a bed while holding her, pretty cool ! Thumbs up Evan.
Congratulations on 50, 000 subscribers, found your channel a month ago and am working my way through previous videos. Great job, enjoying following your journey. Thanks
Rebuilt mower. Wow thats gorgeous!
..lookin' good, fine tuning will get it even better, nice job, stay safe..
,when you pickup the sickle bar to put it away for traveling be careful because the sickle will move so don't get your fingers by the knives . Keep fingers straight and push with hour palms of your hands
I watched him do that correctly and remember that was rule number 1 when my dad taught me how to use the sickle bar. It does make you nervous though doesn't it? It is a perfect design for a bad accident waiting to happen.
Does the sickle bar have a lock 🔒 down for traveling from place to place it should have.
@@vernonvest9927 the one I ran had a rod mounted on mower and you used it to hold bar
You would stick it through the bar and put a nut on the threaded rod after raising the bar
Yes Tom I did not see one on his mower, Because I may need Glasses 🤓
@@vernonvest9927 well his looks like it leans way back so they probably don't need a rod the bar on the one I used stuck about strait up but that was in around 1964 so talk about bad eyes lol
Ok, you cant fool me.With your awsome workshop and just the expression in your face, hammering, welding, grinding, and fidgeting is right up your ally. Keep up the good fight. Tommorow always brings another battle.
That is exciting to see the sickle bar working better. Sometimes as old as this bar is you need to replace everything and just start fresh with new parts. 👍👍👍
You always like to things the right way. Appreciate that
Great job Evan! Looks like its working great God-bless!
Hey Evn you may be getting sick & tired working on the tractor but we love it and you make it interesting. From where I live it's all boat stuff with only a little farm stuff so you capture my attention. Great job bud.
Congrats on 50K!
You gained on it big time.
significantly better
Great video! Thanks. I just bought an old one of these but a 450 model and this showed a lot of the in and outs for me, cheers
Love watching your TH-cam shows I'm a farmer in Hastings New Zealand
You need to put a stabilizer bar on the three point to stop it from swaying. This would solve most of the problems you are having. I grew up on a farm and mowed the hay for 110 cows. We used a 8N for tractor and this problem happened until we put the stabilizer bar on the three point.
Also spend more time looking at the mower
Looks good.
Great vids and channel! Some great recommendations being made by seemingly experienced folks.
You sure are a smart guy...! I think you got it to his time.
You can just slide a bar(you may have to fabricate) and bend them slightly into place. Keep the tool as it will come in handy for years to come!
I really admire your dedication and determination to fix your equipment.
Congratulations on 50k!!
We don't farm but really enjoy farm videos.We are interested in about how much materials (parts) cost on repairs.Could you remind viewers the age of equipment every now and again.
Those sections you removed looked good. We sharpened ours until there wasn't much left of them and they cut good. We used a file or a special carborundum stone made specifically for sharpening sickles. Later we got a powered grinder made to sharpen sickles.
You're such an inspiration man. I bought 25 acres in perry county ohio and I have about 12 acres of hay field. I'm in the process of getting some hay equipment and bailing my field and hopefully a bunch of other places to make some side cash. Keep the videos coming please!
Enjoyed listening to you, remember your first time trying to attach the mower to the AC, what a potential disaster that could have been,
Now listening to you talk, you sound like a New Holland mower engineer, you have learned a lot,
Good luck with it and be safe, keep your fingers out of that thing,
Corn picker, mowers and combines can be very cantankerous machines,
I learned a couple things for my jd 38, thank you
Glad ya got it working!
Good job with your repairs and replacements. I think this machine will give you many good years of service. Just have a few back up parts like springs, bolts, washers etc. for the necessary maintenance. Have a Blessed day.
Evan, I think you did a great job on the sickle bar mower and you went through that tall grass with no problem, so you worked the kinks out of it and what you did corrected the problem, so when hay time comes, you will be ready.
Good video! There's not much information on the web about how to adjust one of these. It really helped mine to point the tips on the rock guards up some which I did with my top link.
That sickly kitten's you got. Got better then a month back. It's health has improved.
Thank you information good work my friend
Good job Evan, you’re doing better every time you use your equipment and learn more about just how it works. You will get it all working like it should !! 👍👍 Thanks for sharing your journeys!
you are doing good keep up not give up
You are good for a good laughs. You cannot find rivets because we now use bolts. They are changeable in the field.
That mower is a big job. Even kitty cats need attention. 👍💓
I lot of people have good suggestions.
Not sure if you can get one nowadays but a punch was made that allows you to make a head on that rivet that is round as factory. I have one that I use on my sickle sections when I replace the rivets. Works wonderfully!!!
Used to be a tool you could get for your ratchet wrench that would do the same thing, but we got away with just using a ball-peen hammer.
It is called a riveting punch!
@@Dan.Whiteford check this tool www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/163210489544_/New-Sickle-Bar-Mower-Repair-Kit-for-MASSEY.jpg , if it were a punch I'd expdct to hit it with a hammer, and those are easy to find
Looks like a WHOLE BUNCH of New Holland rock guards!
Enjoyed your video
I remember dad using used oil for lube and run the sickle and he'd hammer down clips that wernt putting sufficent pressure on the sickle sections.
Kinda like burn it in before hitting the meddows.
We used serrated sections and guards.
We used two double bar mowers on 1.48 sections of Sandhills prairie hay every summer.
Frame mounted IH balance head mowers, double 9 Rouse on a Farmall M and double 7 Kramer on a Farmall H.
Awesome video and God bless
Excellent video Wish i had seen it before I bought my disc mower. I am going to try some of the bar adjustments on mine and maybe keep it.
I've already been through everything you just did. My wobble box broke 3 yrs ago. So, where all the zirks are, one side broke. So they come as a set and all new bearings. Pretty much a new machine. But worth it
I think that you have it tweaked in pretty good now.
Those old NH 451s will cut even if the mowers is all worn out, long as you have decent gaurds and sections.Keep havin fun !
Get some over and under serrated sections with nuts and bolts. We use brass shim stock as well as a pipe on the guards to get things flat, when done correctly it should be hard to pull sickle bar out.
You have developed a new trade, "Blacksmith", use it for a back up to your present job. Enjoy your video's, keep em' comin'!
Looks like it cut really well, especially in those tall, thick weeds. Should cut your alfalfa field like butter now.
It's getting better on the cutting, back in the day sickle mowers were used to cut the grass along side the highway, now it's all bush hog or brush hog I've heard both terms used.
thanks very interesting, good Job
That cutting area looks a lot cleaner than in any of your previous attempts.
Looking nice hope it works out better for you man great video
Well done
Good video
I see you made it to 50k Subscribers , good going.✌✌✌
Webb Cutting Components in Nebraska is a good place to get parts. I run a 456 NH which is same as yours, just on a dolly. Much easier to hook up to. Good luck!
Working with a sickle bar mover is never ending. Always something needs fixing. Does a real nice job when done though.
I very much enjoy the videos - takes me back to my childhood of growing up on a farm similar to yours! My dad had a full time job and the farmstead - we had a mower similar (but wheeled) - no 3 point hitch. Thanks for allowing me to reminiscence.
Just a thought - I would like to suggest a hat! Be careful of that sun damage and premature skin aging. Take it from one who has experienced it!
Definitely cutting better! I still don’t like the sections that are bolted on, but they seem to be working. That hold-downs were worn is a manifestation of buying an older, more-worn machine. You’re overcoming the age/wear, and fairly impressively at that. Welding and grinding a hold-down to make it work is awesome. Overcoming the prior owner’s modifications to fix the show and swath board was also good. I did wonder why you were using a framing hammer to shear your rivets. Then I saw you had bought a new heavier hammer for the rivets. We always ground rivets instead of shearing, and had a ~40 oz ball peen hammer to mash the ends. I bet that heavier hammer will shear the sections off better next time. Keep up the good effort!
Shoe, not show. Derned autocorrect
Oh ya... That's mo better!!! Those carriage bolts are only grade 2... You need an implement bolt... like you would use on the wearbar of a scraper. Other than that, it works great!!! Good job
Hey don’t forget about the little cows that are coming . They will need hay. You didn’t say anything about your septic so it must be working ok. I will be waiting for the hay cutting. Take care,
A lot of guys spray that sicklebar down with automatic transmission fluid it keeps it from rusting up lets it move a little smoother till things break in
Needs another washer, it is still angled too far back when it is cutting.
Yes, the lead needs more washer.
You are getting their. With your mower does the outer part line up ok 👌
Well done, its been a drawn out process for you. big learning experience, can be very frustrating.
You have other options for over winter animal feed then just hay bamboo is a great winter animal feed for them. Another option is to cut branches off the trees when they still have leaves then hang up to dry so you can toss to the animals in the winter as tree hay.
Looks like it's doing better from here. I had to replay the part where you cut down that little patch of tall, heavy grass. That was too cool! I think it's the spot where the failed leech line leaked to the surface.
We always had a sprayer full of oil after we got finished sprayed it down saves a time of wear
As much of a pain as it has been to replace parts & tweak things here and there, at least trouble shooting will be easier in the future.
I'm glad that I only had to repair an old sewing machine! (Loose screw, cleaning & oiling.) :)
l had one of those mowers , on the grass broad end l put a old car valve spring on the grass broad maybe that might help great videos, say safe..
Salut super vidéo tank you vidéo magnifique super
The crop will flex the bar backwards too, running of at the end of the rows will helpp to put a lot less stress on the bar and the whole systm.
*smh* love your stuff, just hate to wait for the next one... YOU have to step it up : P ~ We know you don't have ANYTHING else to do but entertain us ... !! Seriously you are so humble, studious, and a great teacher... just an all.around really nice job with your vids...
Enjoy your videos, thanks for taking the time to make them. I would suggest looking at bolting your sickle sections on instead of rivets, makes changing our knifes much easier in the field. Our local new holland dealer keeps the bolts in stock and they are relatively inexpensive and last a long time.
I have been using a New Holland 445e for years, and trying to get it to run nicely. You might want to think about clamping the knife sections to the bar before striking the rivet - you can end up with a gap, which will make the rest of the adjustments misleading. nice video.
Great content, living vicariously through you!
I am no expert but might try partially depressing your clutch, I had and old tractor that had a dual disc clutch , I could stop forward motion and not kill my PTO ... Worth trying. Keep up the good work!
I love them on horse, but on the tractor I prefer a hay binder
I have a Ford 501 sickle mower, Iam just trying to get through this hay season with it and buy a disk mower next year.
Just found your TH-cam page, looks like you have your sickle bar figured out. It actually looks like the one I used to run in a cattle pasture, we had put an extra piece on the outside shoe like that to raise it up a bit, would also raise the 3pt to cut about 4 or 5 inches high to jusy cut the weeds and tops of the grass in the pasture. I would bet the little clumps of grass in the field was field mouse nests, I had a field that was full of the little turds and would plug up my sickle bar at least once a round.
I see you have a Robinson address I am just outside New Hebron, and also bale hay on a small farm.
The TH-cam channel just a few had some really good information
On the hay baling equipment especially the sickle bar
Check the channel out it might be some good information
Hey Evan, I've got the same mower very good machine, FWIW mine mows better when the knives tip down a little, don't go nuts just a little, they also make an end knife for this, it's a blade and a half helps keep the mold board from plugging up, anyway its a great mower