[AT] Cub - Update

[John Hall]

Sickle mowers can be a pain.

First off keep anything you don't want to cut from the area in between 
the guards--especially when raising and lowering the blade/working on 
mower. I always grab by the back of the blade or the heavy cast piece 
out on the end.

Second, run the sickle mower for edge/ditch trimming first. They don't 
like thatch/debris form rotary mowers, tend to bunch up right where the 
blade bolts on. Also if you head into a field that was previously 
overgrown and has been bushogged while leaving large clumps, you are 
going to hate life as the blade will choke up often. Sometimes you can 
hold the blade up or install a clipping wheel on the end to manage this 
situation.

Third, they either are in mowing condition, or not. Unlike a rotary 
mower with dull blades that you can limp along with, these things tend 
to be all or nothing. One broke guard or section and it just plain won't 
work. I have found it cheaper and easier to NOT put new ledger plates in 
the guards replace the whole assembly. Also when the blade is worn out, 
I order a new assembly instead of changing all those sections. Lot of 80 
year old guys will talk about how easy it is to do, but they aren't 
doing it. Also they are basing it on their memory of doing it in 1975 
when parts were more pricey, Its not that bad to buy a complete blade 
sent to your house ready to change out. FWIW, I have one of those tools 
you brad rivets with, works great if you break a section and want to fix 
it in the machine.

Here is where I get my parts from if I have to "overhaul" a cutterbar. 
Last one I did was a 7' IH two years ago. https://www.cuttingcomponents.com/

Any kind of grass/weed/vine these things do great in. Small trees much 
more than a couple feet tall and you risk breaking a section and 
possibly a guard---or even the blade. Be sure to ask for whatever spare 
parts the guy has to go with it.

You should be able to adjust the pitch of the blade, but more than 
likely its already set up OK. I'd try it first.

I'm sure you know, but to save some cussing--if one of the guard bolts 
has to be pulled off and the square doesn't want to stay in the  hole 
(think plow bolt), don't use your thumb to hold it in!!!

John Hall



On 7/6/2020 6:09 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
> I've never run a sickle mower, so there's going to be some fun with 
> experimentation.  I keep about 3 acres of our 15 mowed; the rest is 
> forest and wetlands.  I have a zero-turn for the lawn-like areas, and 
> a DR Brush mower (mini walk-behind bushhog) for the coarse areas.  I'm 
> told some of this property was cow pasture several decades ago.  The 
> house was built in 1990, and when we purchased in 2002, the old 
> pastureland had disappeared under heavy overgrowth of the finest 
> invasives New England has to offer:  autumn olive & multiflora rose, 
> that seem to like to grow together in clumps, plus bittersweet, poison 
> ivy, and wild grape.  We've been slowly clearing bit by bit ever 
> since, and as soon as a patch of ground is opened up, grasses 
> magically re-appear.  This is how I end up with 3 acres that now have 
> to be clipped or the invasives will return.  Nothing is really flat, 
> but then again we don't have serious slopes either.  Rocks, yes, 
> multitudes. They're generally of the "tip of the iceberg" variety, 
> appearing flattish and roundish and only protruding a couple inches.  
> I know the location intimately of every single one that interferes 
> with a mower.  I think some of the coarse areas may work for the 
> sickle.  I suppose the guards will ride up and over those flattish 
> rocks, seems that is the intent of the design.
>
> SO
>
>