New idea Horse mower

[PeytonM]

Does anyone have any information on the New Idea No. 10 sickle mower? I just picked one up for 50 bucks from a guy and before I got it I talked with a few amish and I guess I was lucky enough to talk with one that at one point owned 2 of them and said they were really nice mower. This mower needs a little bit of work and I cant find any pictures of it or any information from anywhere. I talked with the guy I bought it from and he said he wrote New Idea years ago and got a book on this mower but since then has lost it.

Thanks for the help

Peyton

[Carl Russell]

I have one…. know nothing about it, but I have interchanged many parts from the McD and Farm-all mowers. Mine has a cracked fly wheel housing, so I’m babying it these days, trying to find a replacement. I have really enjoyed the mower though over the years.

[video]http://youtu.be/TYddNJR-Lks[/video]

[video]http://youtu.be/LWMF9vaE1dw[/video]

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Peyton, I have worked a little on one. The one I worked on was a nice mower and it was a later model. I am guessing it was a later model as it had an adjustable lead which was introduced to most sickle bar mowers with their first tractor models. Built in the 40’s perhaps. Both ends of the pitman are unique to that mower although it might be possible to convert the ball end. BW Mcnair has told me he has these pitman parts, but he has also failed to send them to me. No one else I have spoken with has them. I believe the guards are interchangeable, but I would have to double check that. Knife head and knife head ball I am not sure about, they were often slightly different from make to make. My Amish neighbor with the new idea wanted axle seals (leaking oil big time) but unfortunately these were not available that I could find. Good Luck, Donn

[PeytonM]

Hey Carl, you must have a newer one then mine, I have steel wheels. also post a picture of where your fly wheel is cracked.

I also don’t have any adjustments for lead or timing what so ever I think If timing was off I would have to do it with the pittman arm i dont know if that is right or not..

the lugs on these wheels are pretty wore down, I think I’m going to have to do what you did to your mower Donn. I was also thinking about finding some tractor tires that were smaller and cutting the tire out of it and maybe bolting it on like they do to some of the old steel wheeled tractors…

I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to use this mower.

I found out yesterday when I was in Amish country that people steal the bars off tractor sickle mowers and they swap right out. I think my case mower and this new idea are very close. I noticed that this New Idea is missing the arm that locks the sickle up and that whole assembly looks just like my case so I plan to copy that one if I was able to.

I have been looking at different mowers and I’ve found a few other work’s in progress McCormick’s a No 6 and a No7, I know that the No. 7 and 9 or I think that those two are the more popular models are there much difference value wise if the mower is all there and just need to be gone through? between a 6 and a 7 that is.

I’ll post some pictures of mine up here in a little bit hopefully

[PeytonM]

Alright I just got in from working on both my New Idea No.10 and my Case No.5 I have questions for both and I’ll start off with the New Idea.

First I want to go through the whole bar and put on new guards and knives. I had a hard time pulling the sickle out of it, mainly due to all kinds of dirt and mud being on the bottom part by the ball that the end of the pittman bolts to, I finally did get it out after I used a rope and tied it to it and pulled on it pretty good. The first think I wanted to know is every guard on this bar is a single, one per knife. I found some new guards that went to my dads old NH haybine, not sure what model but I held them up and all the bolt holes lined up. these do not have the ledger plated in them and with the 5 ft bar thats on this mower I would use 7 of the NH guards ( a single guard will guard 2 knives also) and I’d have to find a NH single guard to make it all work out right. I was going to used the knives that are jagged I think they are called haybine knives also? not really sure.

The question I have on my case when I got it the guy put all new guards and knives, I assume the guards are off a JD of some sort due to the fact they are green and they have ledger plates in them also. This bar has the jagged knives on it also and I noticed tonight when I was replacing the pittman arm that gap on the knive and the guards are a healthy 3/16th of an inch. I didn’t really see much for shims on the hold downs. can anyone help me out and tell me what the gap should be? I got it all timed in and seems that it would work ok but I think that the knives have too big of a gap and it would just plug up with hay/ grass.

the other think I wanted to know if on the bottom part that would float across the ground I don’t know that the term would be the Case has a plate welded on to it so it would only be able to go 2 inches from the ground, there is a plate on each end so if the bar is dropped it would run a level 2 inches from the ground, the guards would never be able to touch the dirt is that right because on the New Idea it just has a flat wear plate, nothing to hold the bar up from touching the ground.

thanks for the help, I’m having a hard time getting pics on here with my phone. hope to have some soon though.

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