Cutting Grass with the John Deere A and No 5 Mower
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2015
- I needed to cut a little grass, as it was very tall and about to be a fire danger. So, I took the opportunity to have a little seat/play time with the John Deere Model A and Number 5 Mower. It struggled through the really tall stuff, but did pretty good overall. Since I don't actually use it to cut with very often, I am not very good at it. But, I had fun doing so, and she got the job done.
As a teen in the 70's I was fascinated with the John Deere 2 cylinder tractors. It would be 25 years before the internet came along and I could learn all I wanted to know about them.
Doing a good job. Don't let anybody put it down. Its all paid for
Amazing how seamless old technology works. Thanks for the video
Shake Rattle & Cut. I have a no. 5 on my 1951 A. Use it for trimming field edges and mowing where the modern machines don't reach. Classic machines.
Always mow clockwise, keeping the bar facing inside the field. When the field is cut, THEN mow the outside by the fence. That way, IF you snag the bar on a post or tree and break something, you at least have the most of the field mowed and can keep on with raking and baling
I sill use mine.Be sure you have a operators book, because if the mower is old it need adj. which are very critical !If things are out of adj. it won't cut & things will brake including the pitman stick. So many farmers got rid a sickle mowers because as wear caused then to not cut. when all they needed was readjustment!!!!!!!!!!!
The greatest mower ever made matched to the A model tractor.I cut hay that was so thick it would still be standing when I got back around the field.I have had other JD mowers but they don't hold a candle to the #5.
Have not seen this type of mower in use for a very long time. Thanks for the memories
We used to oil the sickle, and make sure the pitman arm was in operating condition all the time. Thank you for sharing, and God Bless from Phoenix.
Russ Se yhhj
The old pump grease gun, in the tool box! We never oiled the sickle bar though.
Thanks for this! I learned to drive on a '49A on my uncle's lap. I was 3 at the time ...Great memories!
What a beautiful ranch! That is awesome to be cutting hay 70+ yrs later! How many metric bolts or plastic parts are on that sickle?? That was true American manufacturing!!!!!
What is wrong with metric bolts??? Nothing..
right! American steel American bolts
That brings back memories. Learned to drive on both a JD A and B models. Mowing aith a #5 mower was the first job I was given. I was taught to make first pass with the tire against the fence, then one more pass, then turn around and cut the row against the fence, then finish the field. I loved how tight you could turn the JD, hand to make a corner any better.
Great video!!! Love to see things being done the way as when we were kids... things were so much more simpler back then. Thanks for sharing and best of luck baling.
dustyanderson1 Thanks! The old sickle mower was well before my time, but I often heard grandpa and my uncles talking about it. That particular mower was owned by my grandpa, and he used to was pretty excited to see it working again.
This is one thing, however, where the dogs were not involved. Too dangerous to have them walking around near. So, they just watched from afar (from the yard of the house).
I still cut this way. #8 mower & G two cylinder. Excellent job in ditch. Looks like lawn mower mowed it after baling. Dad & I mowed Alot. Looks like fun that he is having. Keep sickle sharp.
I have a No. 5 on a 40S. Both were bought by my grandfather. I pulled that crappy cable lift off and put a hydraulic cylinder on the sickle mower to raise the bar. Looks and sounds great.
Good stuff, thanks! Brings back memory's.
Wow that's nice!
The first mower I ever ran was a #5 behind Dad's model 60 Jd. I was 11 years old.
Its so neat that it lays the grass so perfect
Garrett Edwards It does. With a perfect setup too, they really do a good job. It's fun watching the grass just tip over as you drive over it :)
Kyle Weber They dont even make sickle bar mowers anymore do they
Garrett Edwards actually, they do. Although I've never seen anyone around here buy/use one! www.deere.com/en_US/products/equipment/frontier_implements/hay_equipment/sb31_sickle_bar_mower/sb31_sickle_bar_mower.page
Kyle Weber wow, i never new they made them
+Garrett Edwards Got lucky with a JD #9 - the last sickle bar mower they made. Haven't used it yet - have to get the ranch up and running after being abandoned since Dad in law passed in 97. The #9 has a break away bar, and if there is a rock stuck in the blade - it kind of free wheels - must be a clutch or something involved, no? Plan on cutting my hay with it on a few acres - and maybe the grains - heritage, small patches, in N Calif.
Nice video. I,ve got one of those #5,s. Have heard in the past they were the best mower built. I had used mine a lot of years ago and was surprized at how fast it would cut. I have my Dad,s old 630 that he bought new.
nice video of that :) not much people as in farmers, don't mow hay like that now days....lol
I remember this when I was a boy in the 1950s. Was all we had.
The number 5 is a great mower. It's fun to play with, but I'd hate to do all of the crops with it!
Kyle I have watched a lot of your videos and love them. Very nice that you guys don't just keep the antique tractors and equipment in a barn you bring um out and use them. And the rare 4020 & 4640 with HFWD get used too very cool. Best of all the views you have of mountians WOW very nice.
Thank you!! Sorry it took so long to respond--I just noticed the comment :)
No problem at all I understand about getting busy with farm work.
I really envy where you live. That i a beautiful view!
That thing sure cuts nice. I wish my mower cut as good as that one does
Grampa had a 420 and a G iirc. Thanks for the recalled memories.
I spent a lot of hours on a tractor and mower just like this. Also an older A with a #4 mower, no hydraulic lift, hand lever and foot pedal. This hay is not too heavy. If it was he wouldn't be able to drag it around the corners like that.
If you look again, you may notice he was doing a sloppy job or the mower was poorly set up. I cut a few dozen yards with a rig like that, often before the dew was off, and his "board" was not throwing the cut hay clear of the "lineup" strip and it appeared the knives were dull the way the hay fell backwards only occasionally. Maybe I saw it wrong, but it appeared something was not right.
Thats a beautiful place, if you don't mind; what state is that?
Where is this farm?
Its so beautiful there i love it!
Reply to Brad not Landa
I have a #8 and it's book. It says to drive the edges of your field up against the fence with your tractor and with your sickle bar in the field. Then you come back later and drive on your cut as you cot the edge.
shabby job of mowing hay
What state is that in ?
I have driven this combination before, and it does look too fast for the PTO speed to mow the best. You said something about fast and slow transmissions, what kind of "tower" does your sifter stick up from? The older As had a round "tower" with an extra lever coming out of the floor to select two gears, the newer As had a retangukar "tower" like the 60s. The model B is notorious for being super slow. This is the tractor of choice for a SLOW race.
+Lee Peterson Thanks for the comment. It didn't really need to be cut & I was just playing--it was more for fire control than anything for once it gets dry.
As for the speed, it has the mushroom high/low transmission. However, I know they had a special transmission--I'm not sure if it was just a year run or a special offer--which was really fast. Tractordata.com says the late-styled As top out at 13 MPH. I have a 51 A, which goes 13.8-ish. However, this '47 A goes a whole whopping 19.5 MPH down the road. It's crazy fast--so fast that I only idle down the road in 6th. I have a 2010 Utility that I passed in a field in 5th gear. It was in 8th, and the '47 was in 5th with the throttle mostly open. I'm not sure what the other gear speeds are--I should clock them all and compare it with the speed lists online. I also have a 49 B. Love the thing, but it needs a little work so I can post some videos of it too :)
Thanks for watching and commenting!
We had a # 5 on an Farmall H
A little fertilizer might help with the thin areas?
OR more likely shooting the woodchucks would do the same only better.
that would make some nice hay
That’s a different way of mowing hay, I have a 1950 JD B with a #5 mower I open the field by going around the outside first next to the fence and then turn around and run the left wheel next to the standing hay.
Does your mower stick out to the left? What you described is exactly what I did... First time around the blade was next to the fence, second time I was driving on the cut hay going opposite what I just cut...
Agree Fred with a 7foot cutter bar I always went around the way I was going to mow usually twice then I'd mow the backswath, then get to mowing. With a haybine I always mowed the backswath first.
@@KyleWeber You opened the field the right way Kyle and there's reasons to do it that way. Did you notice the mower cut the grass just fine even though it had been driven on in the opposite direction? That's cause you did it right. 7 foot cut gives the tractor plenty of room to drive along the outside of the field after opening as you did. I use a #7 on a 49 B and still have them. It's a good combo. Glad you didn't delete because of the critics. Glad you could get your Grandpa's mower running so nice. Yes it's a known fact that 6th gear was noticeably faster than the 1950 and later A's, not sure of the reason why but the way it is. I do believe the 6th gear set is right behind the flywheel, easy to get to so maybe there was a high speed gear set that could be installed. Just enjoy and use it to your advantage.
+Kyle, looks like you were in fourth gear? Did you try a slower gear for the tall grass? I grew up with a 1949 John Deere A and a 1951 John Deere B, and much of Dad's equipment was purchased new just before and after WW2 into the fifties. We had a No. 5 sickle-bar mower like yours. Nice to see your video - thanks!
+PlutoSLAM Thanks for watching! I think it was in first or second. However, I believe this machine has the high-speed transmission. In 6th gear it goes 19 mph. I rarely touch 6 because it just feels dangerously fast...
+Kyle Weber Never heard of "the high speed transmission", unless you know something I don't (and I'm no expert), more likely there is something put together incorrectly in the transmission. If such a thing exists, it would make the tractor worthless as a farm tractor. Most everything - plowing, cultivating row crops, planting - required slower speeds. The tractor couldn't pull most implements at higher speeds anyway, and it would be dangerous to operate a John Deere A at such speeds in the field, not to mention on the road. Your instincts are right about "dangerously fast", the A was never meant to go more than 12 - 14 mph in road gear (6th). TractorData.com has a chart of gear speeds shown in mph and kph at
www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/008/4/9/8492-john-deere-a-transmission.html
PlutoSLAM I think the newer ones like late 40's early 50's had a hi lo range which would get you to 5 and 6 gear? That's road gears for hauling. Maybe 13 mph tops, downhill is anyone's guess. Any field work, cultivation, plowing, planting, picking is not done in those gears, possibly 2nd or 3rd, any higher gear, tractor couldn't do it let alone the operator trying to keep up while being bounced all around and yes extremely dangerous. I think the B also had a hi lo lever.
Duane Dean there were at least 2 versions of the shifter. the change over was somewhere around ‘52
later did not have the 2 speed range lever
If I left several strips of standing hay 4 or 5 yards long in the mowed area like he is, my Dad would have kicked my ass all over that field. We had a "mortar board" on the outboard end of the cutter bar to flip the cut hay away from the standing leaving a clear space so the cutter bar would not jam and tangle with previous cut hay on the next pass. This guy's "board" was a bar or rod, bent and tangled with cut hay, not doing the job of flipping a clear strip at all which may partially account for his sloppy job.
It's kind of funny--you take an old mower and get it functional (with no practical purpose or reason to do so, as we have modern equipment) and take it into the neighbors overgrown pasture just to "play" with it, and get criticized for everything not being perfect. I think I'll probably disable this video. Guess you can't just have fun.
Anyone know how much a Oliver 82 sickel bar is worth
Is it complete? And does it move or frozen up