Sickle mower gathering cuttings

[clintmo]

What are some causes of my Cub 22 not shedding it's cuttings? I started the fall mowing today and had a heck of a time keeping the mower clear. Sections are good, ledger plates are pretty good, belt is tight. I've never had this problem where addressing one of the previously mentioned issues didn't solve it. I'm wondering if it's the stuff I'm cutting. This field is a real mix and the previous cuttings are down underneath it all. This hasn't been such a problem in the past, though. The mower usually slips right through like butter. Not today!

[WaMoo]

Is it clogging up over the entire length of the bar? Or just near the inner and outer shoes?

You mentioned sections and ledgers, are hold downs tight?

Is tractor speed fast enough? Does it change if you change the height; cut higher or lower?

Residue from old cuttings or lodged grass can definitely wreak havoc.

[clintmo]

It's happening in all areas of the bar. Yeah, I believe everything is tight. I usually mow in 2nd. I tried different speeds. I would get a good stretch and then it would start again. I'm afraid it's the material combined with old cuttings. Just hoping I'm overlooking something.

[Curtis]

When I cut my pasture this time of year, it is thin and patchy and grass will lay on the bar, as opposed to when the grass is thick.

[Puffie40]

The chances of previous cuttings clogging up the sickle depends on how thick those cuttings are. If the mower is digging into it then that would be a problem.

With my experience with sickle mowers, they don't like matted or tangled grass very much. Cutting Height might play a part as well.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Never did much with a cub mower, but have many hours with a larger mower on our H, and other than length the cutter bars are almost identical. Sharp knives, good ledger plates (in bottom of guards), top of guards being down close to knives, and the hold down clips being down next to sickle are all critical. If the problem is grass falling forward onto sickle you need to move faster, such as if you are mowing in 1st go to 2nd, and open the throttle up so the sickle is past the grass before it can fall on it. Also make sure the sickle is either flat or with the points of the sickle lightly down, but not down much.

Many years ago I was living in another part of the state and came home to help Dad bale hay. We had a small bottom field where the hay was thick and a strong wind had come through the valley and laid the entire field over. Dad had some heart problems and had made himself sick trying to mow that field with only a small part of it done. I went down and tried the mower he had been using, don't remember the model but it was the bolt drive with a trailing wheel and mower bolted to the drawbar, but I didn't have very good luck. He told me he had been told a bush hog would work, but I didn't have any luck with it either, finally I got out the old McCormick Deering No. 12 mower which was originally designed for an F-12 and put it on. that was the mower I had used for years behind our old H. I didn't have much better luck with it, but watching closely I saw the grass was falling forward into the sickle rather than behind it, So I backed up enough to clear the sickle, shifted the H into 3rd (5speed tranny), pulled the throttle all the way back and in a couple hours the small field was done. I was moving fast enough the sickle was further on by the time the grass had time to fall into it.