You are doing good for your first time. I was raking on an 8n . Dad got off his tractor to talk. Standing in the tall grass alongside the field. Felt tugging on his pants. He was standing on a copperhead who wasn't happy. Tall field grass, field mice hiding from hawks. dodging the snake after him. You are braver than me with shorts and flip flops. 😊

Old sickle bar mowers really do work great for hay

End of the cutterbar is called a tackleboard. You've done a good job fixing it up. I grew up using one of a John Deere #5 first on an Oliver 70 and later on a Super C Farmall. Used the manual lift lever on the Oliver, then got the cylinder brackets and a cylinder to run off the Super C.

It's called a swath baord

You can buy a grease gun mounting for the finder to Carey a grease gun get them at T.S.C

Nice video. I think you would really like mowing with the John Deere A and a hydraulic cylinder once you got use to it. I mowed lots of alfalfa and grass hay with John Deere #5 and #8 mowers hooked to either a As or Bs. The late model As with the single stick transmission were good tractors. I have a short video of mowing tall grass hay with a John Deere B and #8 mower on KZfaq.

The mow board on the cutter bar end must be there to allow the inside shoe to run in a cleared space after the first round. Mow boards are mounted with a spring to allow some give. A board "stick" is mounted on the board at about a 30 degree angle to help roll hay away from end of bar. In some hay conditions the mower will work as you have it set up but not for long. Also a curved bar must be mounted on the inside cutter bar shoe curved forward up and toward the cut area to keep cut hay falling toward the cutting area and not toward the shoe especially in the wind or tall hay. Next the cutter bar must be flat or slightly down not angled up as you apparently have it. Finally 4 - 5 mph on a ford 8n or 9n tractors at full throttle should work. Now for driving. Start your field clockwise with left tractor wheel as close to edge, brush, ditch, fence, etc. If your mower bar is 7 ft and your tractor is 5 ft across the back tires leave a couple feet to the edge so after a couple rounds, you can turn around and cut the field edge safely and neatly with no danger of sickle hitting a post etc. Finally adjust your hitch so your back right wheel is about 6 inches from uncut foliage to avoid running down leaning or blowing grass while mower shoe is running in the clear.

Mind I ask, How fast were you going and how much rpm's were you using? I ask because I got a No.5 Jd sickle mower myself and i can't seem to find a optimal speed at which to mow at.

Flip-flops......are you nuts?

Your learning 👍

Nice I would try to put the grass board on that would make it a little bit easier

I mowed many acres of alfalfa in the Columbia Basin with this combination. Worked exceptionally well. I could hit the brake at the corner and do a nice 90 without even slowing down. I did have the advantage of having machines in excellent working order ... and a hydraulic lift for the bar. Bonus: The ringneck phesants that'd stick their heads up just as the bar reached 'em. Mama would have them ready for supper.

and fix those brakes, you are an accident waiting to happen, get rid of those flip flops, they are dangerous

Put it in second gear will cut a whole lot better. First hay I ever cut was with a 8n ford and a 501ford mower

This will be next year. Dont give up

I mowed another with John deere no5 sickle mower if you any help with it let me know

Also close down the throttle when you stop for whatever reason.

Lubrication

Invest in u a slip clutch to put on PTO cause I have an 8n myself if something is pushing the PTO it want stop no matter how good brakes are the slip clutch is a wonderful invention lol best 89 dollars I ever spent but u can get em cheaper

Be careful cleaning clogs. DON'T STICK YOUR FINGERS IN BETWEEN BLADES AND GUARDS!! You will lose them.

Also, don’t mow through hay you already cut, that causes bunches and wads on your cutter bar

That’s cool! What size mower is that? How well do you think it could go down into a modest ditch? and whats the toughest thing it can cut? sapplings or really just straw and grass?

Paint it red to match the ford

I was wondering if you could weld something to use the top link to use the three point hitch to raise the mower?

What year is sickle bar mower

Try raising the lift arms to lift the sickle bar when you want to raise it in the field. Shouldn't need a top link for that and would save a lot of getting off the tractor.

Either the sickel needs sharpening or you have a bunch of bad guards and slow down

We had a foot petal attached to the John Deere which was a Deere part maybe you could find one or a schematic and make it.

You need a swath board with a grass stick. For that particular tractor a Dearborn mower works good. That mower is meant for a John Deere b

Farmer flip flop.

Need to oil the sickle and grease the head of the pitman

Just avoid cutting with the wind . I never got a clean cut doing so .

if your tractor doesn’t have brakes then you might want to fix them

Is that mower too big for that tractor?

go backwards and forwards, you are running over the same ground doing nothing

Screw that .. just buy a modern mower

Lose the head cam.....makes people sick.

You need to buy something better to cute the grass. That is too much work, getting on and off. I'm tired just watching you getting on and off. Lol

What a joke. You don't have a clue.