Case Sickle Mowers?!

When asked what the purpose of all my old tractors are, I am usually happy to reply that I just like to drive them around. With that being true I love it even more when I have a task for my old equipment.  I brought Old Smokey home because I love the tractor itself and it has a lot of sentimental value.  I also have a properly dated Case Sickle mower that goes on it.  I showed the picture earlier of Grampa digging the mower off from the stone wall where it sat for over twenty years.  I got the mower home, hooked up, and properly lubricated and it worked decently until the Pittman arm end broke.

 
Since this mower is from the 50's this part is very obscure and nobody can find one for me, so I did what any respectable man would do and I bought a whole new sickle mower.  The new one is a 7 foot mower compared to Grampa's old 6 footer.



The new mower is a case mower as well but it was made to go on a VAC case so it fits a little bit differently.  It was a bit of a pain to get on the tractor but with Allyssia's help we got it on. 

The new mower is complete with the part on the end of the mower to clear the grass off from the end of the blade.  There are a few quirks to this mower such as it doesn't angle up when you lift it off the ground - but that is fixable.  After getting some new Pittman arms made, I cut one to length, installed it on the new mower and got to test it out.  It worked great for almost a whole minute until I hit a t-post with the end of the sickle and shattered the Pittman arm.  After cutting, drilling, and installing a new arm I was able to mow just like new again.

This new mower does well in the thick tall hay because it has the serrated cutter teeth and rock guards.  After mowing for a good hour I happened to break the opposite Pittman arm end.  It had been welded before and I believe that weakened it considerably.  Now I am back to waiting for Wayne to weld the ends back up so that I can go back to mowing. 

      Case DC with EH7 sickle mower

So while I wait for the parts I am working and dreaming of mowing some more.  I have quite a few projects going now that I will share with you all very soon. Be prepared for a rapid succession of blog posts over he next few days.
  Until then stay tuned and make sure to let me know what you think.