Hooking a New Idea 30A sickle bar to a Ford 8N

[DeltaRed]

Not at all hard to mount the drawbar kit.Should take a half hour with common hand tools.IIRC. a 15/16 socket and either a 9/16/5/8 or 11/16 (not sure which one anymore) socket;1/2 drive ratchet.

 

[hd6gtom]

Dad bought one of those at a farm sale.
If you don't have live power on your
tractor, forget attempting to use it. Get
yourself something like a 82 Allis or a
New Holland.

 

[Leroy]

It was built before most tractors had hydrolics. That mower instead of being fixed up belongs in the scrap yard. Obsolete when New Idea closed the factory doors, No parts from New Idea. It was built at Coldwater Ohio (40 mile from where I lived) and shipping to dealer to farmer was less than others here because of distance, you could go to factory to pick it up and try to set it up your self to save money. Obsolete 40 years ago. One of New Idea's worst ideas. I actually scraped 2 of them years ago.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

The hitch clevis is completely missing off of the hitch & going by your later photo, the PTO shaft is twisted & it's mount is broke. I think someone
broke it & salvaged some parts from it already. If anything was taken from the lift mechanism, that mower is really junk then. The other issue is, the
8N needs the standard drawbar for that tail heavy mower. I used the stabilizers on my 8N to keep the 3pt from lifting & the weight of the mower just
bent them. Maybe find yourself a Ford 501 mower or one of the 3pt Dearborn mowers made before that one.

Mike

 

[Northland Nicholas]

(quoted from post at 20:20:38 06/13/23) I've also had a thought about that twisted pto shaft. I don't know if New Idea put a slip clutch on that mower driveline anywhere, but if they did, it isn't working.

It appears to be a direct drive (if that makes sense?). Everything turns smoothly now and I would think the pitman arm would've broken before the shaft would twist. I'm sure it has a bit of history.

 

[Northland Nicholas]

(reply to post at 21:26:10 06/13/23) Not at all hard to mount the drawbar kit.Should take a half hour with common hand tools.IIRC...

Regardless of where this discussion and the mower ends up, I'll probably look at purchasing a kit regardless. Seems like it would handy to have.

This post was edited by Northland Nicholas on 06/14/2023 at 06:30 pm.

 

[lastcowboy32]

(quoted from post at 19:55:19 06/13/23) It's some type of plastic tubing that the pervious owner used to run a cord / rope though to operate the lift mechanism. I'm not sure why as the clearance for the rope to the tractor for operating the lift seems fine.

Those ropes from tractor to implement are best kept in some form of tube or other means to define where they hang at all times.

Letting them free-hang, even if there is lots of clearance, is a recipe for disaster.

Ropes and such around PTO shafts are an accident waiting to happen, unless careful thought is taken to manage their paths under all circumstances... field use, road travel, straight line field use, turning field use, etc.

 

[lastcowboy32]

I use a "Crocodile Dundee" style hat that I use for fieldwork, in order to protect my head and face from the Sun. I just bought a new one this year, as my old one was worn out.

My wife noticed me wearing it while I was greasing the baler and getting it running for the season, and she reminded me about the string on it... That string met the knife soon thereafter.

Our son-in-law works on a paving crew. They have a standing rule... no stringed hoodies... you can have a hoodie for chilly days, but the strings must be cut.