[Farmall] Sickle Bar Mower Question

[CDHORN at aol.com]

A riveting machine would be nice, but I replaced a lot of sickle sections  
when I was young a never had a problem with loose rivets.  My Dad taught me  to 
chisel the head off the old rivets at the sickle section side and then punch  
the rivet out.  This way you avoid enlarging the hole in the sickle as you  
can when you drill out the section.  When replacing the new sections, it  was 
important to have a good backing plate.  We used an old chunk of  railroad track 
which was slightly curved at the top.  The new rivet is then  "flattened" 
with a ball peen hammer (round end down) to form a dip in the center  of the top. 
 The idea is to get the barrel of the rivet to expand and fit  tightly in the 
holes.  I never had a problem with loose sections, but I did  beat up my 
hands a few times until I got the hang of  it.