JD 350 sickle mower and a B7610

[notnew2diy]

Recently bought this mower. PTO shaft and coupler were rust froze.
Both issues have been fixed. There are a couple of cracked shields my son-in-law says he can weld/fix.

I can hook mower up to my B7610 3pt w/o a problem. Tractor will lift mower, albeit tilted.
I think the tilt is related to the wide vs. narrow setting, but Im not 100% sure.

Problem.... the Kubota drawbar is to high for the kickback bracket. Bracket hits PTO shaft.


I do have a drop down trailer hitch, pinned to tractor as the drawbar.
This resolves the bracket/PTO shaft issue, but now a new problem.
Once I enlarge the hole in the hitch, the chain will still be to short.


There is a bolt connecting the chain to the mower, should be an easy fix.

My question..... the trailer hitch was made by my son-in-law for a small around the yard trailer.
It's no where as beefy as the drawbar.
Would you use it? Is there a drop down drawbar?

Thanks much...notnew...

 

[cerlawson]

Since there is a person with a welder, why not just beef up the flimsy thing? Adding metal where the most bending is present would appear to be easy.

 

[notnew2diy]

Since there is a person with a welder, why not just beef up the flimsy thing? Adding metal where the most bending is present would appear to be easy.

He's 2 hours away. In the big picture I would have him make me another hitch.
I have a guarantee from the seller, I can return if it doesn't work, that expires this weekend.

Thanks much...notnew...

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I personally think your over thinking it, just put a clevis on the drawbar and a connecting link to connect the chain to the clevis.

 

[notnew2diy]

I still get this:


Cutter head will drag the ground during transport.
I've played w/the chain that's hanging, but almost got in trouble.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Maybe this will help.
http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=jd&th=283392%253E

or this:
http://www.qmstore.com/JOHN-DEERE-3...ANUAL-SERVICE-ADJUSTMENTS-SICKLE/p170396.html

P.S. I jealous I want one of those! They are hard to find up here!

 

[notnew2diy]

Chain from mower goes to the bar.
Slide in factory drawbar so its a stubby, add 3 clevises and a link.

FWIW...photobucket rotated my pic, I don't know why and can't fix it. Sorry.

Success!!


A manual is next on the list.

I've been looking for a sickle bar since February. In my area, smaller implements are few and far between, cost a ton of dollars, and usually need a lot of work. I know this will need new serrated knives. All after I RTFM.

Thanks much. I do appreciate it.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Looking at your other pictures on photo bucket I can now see that it also has a connection to a bar along with the chain, That being the case I would get a drop draw bar made to fit it, It would end up being a lot less slopply on the connection.
But at least it's working for now.

 

[notnew2diy]

Looking at your other pictures on photo bucket I can now see that it also has a connection to a bar along with the chain, That being the case I would get a drop draw bar made to fit it, It would end up being a lot less slopply on the connection.
But at least it's working for now.

What gets the head to lift is the pivot arm.
A chain connects the arm to the mower.
The arm is chained to the drawbar, which seems to be under a lot of tension when the mower is lifted.
I agree, this connection needs improvement.

A manual is next. Clean off the crud to look for cracks. Find a source for knives. We'll see what happens.

Thanks much.

 

[notnew2diy]

Getting late in the year, made some time to get the mower in the field.
Got the manual, read it twice, half of it made sense.
Cleaned things up as best I could, found no obvious issues.
New sections, guards, hold downs, convert from rivets to screws. lube as stated in manual.
Still in the barn, ran it slow, seemed to work well. Checked all nuts-n-bolts.
Ran it some more, still did well.
Got it in the field, head almost drags on the ground, outer shoe barely lifts.
Made one pass, it cuts well but clogged quite a bit.
Adjusted chain inside big spring for inner shoe.
Adjust chain for outer shoe.
Removed connecting link from draw bar.
Mower head lifts a bit more, outer shoe still a bit low.
Back to complete field mowing. Overall, it worked well. Still a lot of clogging.
Im hoping more experience will help(smile).

Let me tell ya...this mower is a very tight fit behind my tractor.
Notice the right rear tire:


To avoid rubbing, it's adjusted over to the left, which now hits the lift arm:


I also should make one more adjustment of the inner and outer shoe.
I'll do it next year.

Thanks all for your help.
Have fun...notnew...

 

[notnew2diy]

Life changed in my neck of the woods, sold the mower yesterday.

Overall, JMO, this mower was a bit big for this tractor. It just fit between the rear tires, but hit the stabilizer arm on one side. Very light outer head adjustments, to enable lifting, I think, was causing clogs towards the outer shoe. It was a decent mower. Ran nice and smooth.

After it was said and done, lost $100 on the whole deal.
I sold it to a farmer who lets me fish his pond.

Learned a lot, Had fun...notnew...