1958 Wheel Horse RJ with CBR-32 Front Cutter Bar

[Lane Ranger 10,945]

 

D.J. Harrison of Coatesville, Indiana took this nice video yesterday of me operating the CBR-32 front cutter bar on the 1958 Wheel Horse RJ.    This was across the street from Scott Mehlberg's  Meet and Greet,

 

You don't get to see these in opearationmuch so I am posting it for  Red Sqaure members to view.

 

https://www.facebook.com/dewayne.j.harrison/videos/1221926974496866/

[ztnoo 2,298]

It was fun to me to watch that mower run.

You were having a blast running that, Lane!

As I understand it, those are fairly rare birds........the front mounted ones, that is.

 

I kinda have a fascination with sickle bar mowers in general.

They were once extremely common on farms.....the larger, rear mounted, PTO driven ones.

Those mowed lots of roadside ditches and hay fields, but you seldom see them now.

 

Effective at what they did, but definitely high maintenance implements.

Edited October 2, 2016 by ztnoo

[Lane Ranger 10,945]

It did work pretty well as wet as it was and  just a little out of alignment but I am going to keep it on for  now and try it out again a few times this Fall.

 

[MalMac 1,331]

Front mount sickles are a very prequler piece of equipment. They work well and can some unintended side effects as well.  Case in point, we were using a very rare one that was actually made for a 701. We were cutting some very high over the hood grass/weeds that was very dry. As you cut going forward the cut grsss/weeds  fall back toward the operator. Well those dry weeds got on that hot exhaust and POOF! Up in flames. Had one heck of a fire. Lesson learned. Since sold that bar to a member on here with word of warning. I should have been a whole lot smarter and anticipated that stuff falling back. Stupid is as stupid does.

[Lane Ranger 10,945]

MalMac:  Those words of caution are heard loud and clear.     Those cutter and sickle bars are dangerous in many ways,   I was jokingly commenting on the video that I might hit a pipe next in the tall grass.   Unless you really know where you are cutting you really don't know what  danger might lurk in tthat spot.    Wet vs dry grass  does act different.   When you use the larger sickles (like a 50 inch one we have on a 1054 Wheel Horse) -my brother says you are really busy!  Clutching, changing gears,  throttle,  engaging and disengaging the sickle clutch,  watching for the area you are cutting , etc.   I can see where tall grass and weeds can build up on the front cutter bar even in the video DJ took of me.   The side sickle bar did have a bar guard on the side but you could still create a pile big enough to ht the exhaust pipe or muffler.