Combines The best sickle styleIJ

[Tom]

Ken, I have made the same observation: faster speeds are possible in tall beans that stand straight or are tipped toward the sickle. But I would never go back to wide sections for many reasons. Take a look at your sickle. Are the sections tight against the guards or do they ride up like mineIJ I can remove shims until the sickle wont move but I cant get the sections to lie flat on the guards. My 315 head was the same. Maybe this is the reason your friend can do a better job with a standard barthere are more hold-downs and the sickle can cut against the hold-downs as well as the guards. Tom Russell

 

[Dan]

I found a standard wide spaced sickle to cut better when stocks a tough. A wide section will cut and a narrow will try to shear. If you want to stay with quick cut do this. Flip every other section over and fasten a full set of bottom guards on the top and shim properly. Slot out two normal guards for the pitman area so there is room for the longer sections. You would now have live sections in front of guards and it will cut tough stalks 100% better. There are different size wobble box drive pulleys if you feel you need to slow down or speed up sickle.Good luck. Dan

 

[Hyper_Harvest_II]

Ken, Chances are you have a factory installed narrow spaced sections and guards.Probably worked great when it was new,but,now it is starting to show some wear.(Guards don't have a sharp square edge,hold downs letting front edge of sickle ride up,wear plates worn also causing sickle to ride up,tip of the section have some teeth missing,causing ragged cut.)A 3" cutting system will only be able to run 4-4.5mph. before you over run what you are cutting.Stay with the 1 1_2" cutting system,but,consider looking at the Tiger-Jaws 2000 system.Not only is it a 1 1_2" system,but,it has several refinements.It has a wear plates that runs the full length of the head,sections with 7 serrations per inch instead of the common 10-12,and hold downs that are springloaded so that it keeps the tip of the sections down on the guards so they keep cutting(Easily adjustable with a wrench,no shims!)Two things to keep in mind with a 1 1_2"cutting system.(1)The live tip(section extending past guard)works great for keeping sickle shatter to a minimum,if you keep the tip down against the guard.(2)1 1_2" cutting systems need to have the RPM's checked!(Anything over 600rpm is too fast and will make the sickle act as a wall and not cut cleanly.)Check these areas out on your system and maybe you can correct the problem.Hyper Harvest II