Purchasing a # 9 Mower

Anton, your questions are good. My understanding is that “trailer gear” was made for 1 or 2 mowers to be pulled behind early tractors with some sort of specific hitching mechanism to pull them in the right relationship to each other. The “high gear” means that the knife runs approximately 10% faster at the same ground speed compared to a “regular gear” mower.
In terms of what to look for, things I look at are first off, check the frame and wheels for cracks or breaks which generally eliminate a mower from easy rebuilding, in my experience. (Some really good welders can weld cast steel- it always seems to be a challenge to get it right). I then check the amount of wear on the crosshatch on the axel where the driver’s feet rest, amount of wear (or lack of it) on the wheel treads. I check to see how much play is in the pitman shaft (if it has play in it, the bushing at least needs replacing as it most often does). If indeed the mower is “field ready” that bushing will be tight. Replacing it with out the right tools is a bear, with the right tools it takes less than 2 hours. If the pitman shaft needs replacing as well, that’s about another hour plus the $35 for the shaft. The bushing is about $10 from Norm Macknair. I charge $30/hour for shop time. In my experience, the biggest single (!) thing criticle to a mower running really right is that there is NO slop in the 1)pitman bushing or pitman crank bearing, 2) the knife/pitman ball/socket connection, 3)the knife is sharp and the register is dead on,4) the ledger plates (if any)are all good with sharp serations, 5) the lead is at least not far from where it should be (about 1″ of lead). If these things are right and the rest of the mower is decent, it should mow reasonably well in my experience.

I figure it costs about $300 to put all new parts on a 5′ cutterbar. That is new guards, hold downs, wear plates, bolts ledger plates, and knife. The original bushing on the pitman crank is a cronic place for slop to start. I as a rule replace it with a good bearing set up made for that appication.
I’m apt to sound like a broken record on this – any slop in the whole set up and when the going gets tough, the mower will plug on you. Don’t be cheap like I used to try to be and make sure everything is snug, sharp and runs smoothly. Sure makes mowing a pleasure when you get it right.

A couple more thoughts on mowers in general: in my experience, of more importance than the # of the mower (7 or 9) is the general condition of the mower. My favorite is still the #7 I’ve had and used for 35 years, though I also have and use a couple of #9s and I like them as well. Rubber tires are nice – smooth if you have to go on a paved road much, but they are expensive to replace – they require more care than steel wheels do. My mowers are all on steel. If you have a fast walking team, you probabaly aren’t interested in a high gear. If you have a team that works well at a slow speed and have thick heavy hay, a high gear mower might be worth considering. (I’m sure this’ll bring some comments from others). This is a start anyway. Jay

I’ve never seen or used a trailer gear mower, but Paul Hauser (who farms in southeastern PA) gives it a ringing endorsement. Thanks to Stephen Leslie — the quote below comes from his book “The New Horse Powered Farm.”

Hauser: “We purchased several ground-driven mowers during what I refer to as our ‘learning curve’ before we purchased the mower I still use today: an International no. 9 trailer gear mower that has the extra-wide wheels. The International no. 9 series of mowers consisted of three models — high gear, regular gear (the most popular), and the trailer gear model. These were the last ground-drive mowers that International made and featured enclosed gears. In our locality the trailer gear model is now the most sought-after model — it is a slower-geared machine and when properly tuned it just quietly hums along. The extra-wide wheels give the slower-geared model added traction and keep it moving in the heaviest stands of hay.”

Yes, it is certainly possible to replace the gear in question with one from a different model if you have one. My understanding is that the only difference between the “High Gear” and the “Regular Gear” is 1 extra tooth on the regular gear gear, making it turn slightly slower. Otherwise the gears are the same, so I would imagine from the description that the trailer gear gear would have one more tooth than the regular gear gear. I’ll have to count again, but I believe they are 11 and 12 teeth on the small gear on the rear end of the pitman shaft. Jay

But Mitch that ration you found is close to the 10% that jay found. That is also what I have heard. Anton, I think the benefits of high gear, trailer gear, and regular gear are subtle. They might depend on the length of bar, type of hay, and nature of the animals being worked. I have had success with both #7 and #9, but both need to be built and maintained to do the work I ask of them. Seven foot cutter bars require all the cutting parts, action, traction, drag, timing all be near perfect. Paying someone to tune a mower may be a good first step, but pay close attention to what they are doing because you will likely want to fine tune it your self before long.

In my opinion new cutter bar parts go on almost every mower. Field ready only counts to me if it just left the field last Oct.

There should be good Amish shops down near you but the closest in NY state is probable John Herschberger, no phone but his Address is 348 Parker Road, New Berlin, NY 13411.

I have mower parts and do some repairs here (Donn’s Mower Shop) but I have been recommending John to folks looking for more of a rebuild. Let me know if I can help.

For Peachey I have 717-483-6883. For Leon Brubaker I have 212-207-7224