# Sickle Mower Horse Power



## Autumntrain (Aug 16, 2020)

I am retrofitting a Haban 405 (48") sickle mower for use with a GE Elec Trak tractor. These tractors are powered by a 36 volt deep cycle battery pack as used in golf carts. The 36 VDC also powers all attachments. In lieu of any factory information concerning the H/P requirement of the DC motor required to run the sickle mower, I am wondering if anyone knows about what is required for a 48" bar used on these mowers. This mower was previously attached to a Bolens 1050 tractor which had a 10 H/P Wisconsin engine. As memory serves 10 H/P was more than enough for tractor, rider and mower.


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## Wethay (Jul 17, 2015)

You might look at walk behind sickle mowers, they have smaller gas engines for power. Might shed some light on hp used per given width.


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## Ray 54 (Aug 2, 2014)

I have a McCormick ground drive 6 foot cut out my window,that was 2 horse.................power. :lol: When horsepower was a horse. :lol:

Sorry I cannot be of real help.


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## bool (Mar 14, 2016)

When James Watt devised the horsepower unit he was conservative, because he did not want to over-promise the performance of his steam engines. A decent draft horse can do the work of about a 4 horsepower tractor.

I have a photo of my grandfather using a 4 foot 6 inch mower behind two horses.

My father's first hay mower was a walk-behind 3 foot sickle unit (an English Mayfield) with a Villiers Mk 12 engine of about 1-1/2 or maybe 2 horsepower. Then he bought a Bamford horse drawn ground drive sickle mower with 3 foot or 3 foot 6 inch cut, which was designed to be pulled by one horse. It was converted to tractor pull and he pulled it with a Farmall A (which is about 14 engine horsepower, maybe 10 at the drawbar). Then he had a Bamford Major 6 foot PTO drive semi-mounted sickle mower, which he ran behind the Farmall A. Then we ran a MF 32 6 foot 3-point sickle mower behind a grey TEA Ferguson (26 engine hp, I think).

That's my experience of low horsepower mowing. You might also consider that a man can put out about 150 Watts, which is one-fifth of a horsepower. A man with a scythe can cut an acre or two in a day.

A couple of other points. Electric motors perform well under constant load. You might find an electric motor with a given horsepower will out-perform an internal combustion engine of the same horsepower. And to make the best use of limited horsepower, make sure the cutterbar is in top condition. Everything aligned and sharp and all the clearances set properly.

Roger


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Roger, made me think of sickle bar cutting with the old Ford 2000 (28 HP), cut all day in 2nd gear (3.5 MPH), with a 7' bar. Was known to cut maybe once in 4th gear (12-14 MPH, road gear), kind of ragged cut (Dad didn't see the end results of that experiment  ). Seems the driver was influenced by the quicker hay was cut, sooner he could go swimming with neighbor girls. 

Larry


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## clowers (Feb 11, 2011)

I also cut o 2000 ford, used a 9' 350 john deere sickle. I used that into the late 80's maybe even as late as 91. fire ants became to bad here.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

It takes very little power to run just a sickle by itself. Take a look at Jari mowers. A quick search makes it seem as though a 36" bar and 5 hp was pretty common, and I think that 5 hp was also powering the wheels.


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## dvcochran (Oct 1, 2017)

Autumntrain said:


> I am retrofitting a Haban 405 (48") sickle mower for use with a GE Elec Trak tractor. These tractors are powered by a 36 volt deep cycle battery pack as used in golf carts. The 36 VDC also powers all attachments. In lieu of any factory information concerning the H/P requirement of the DC motor required to run the sickle mower, I am wondering if anyone knows about what is required for a 48" bar used on these mowers. This mower was previously attached to a Bolens 1050 tractor which had a 10 H/P Wisconsin engine. As memory serves 10 H/P was more than enough for tractor, rider and mower.


So does the GE Elec Trak already have a rear 3-point lift and PTO? If not, how do you plan to power the mower and match the 540 rpm shaft speed? This will be a big factor, especially if you have to do some speed increasing to get to the correct final speed. There is some degree of ramp when turning on the pto for most tractors, this would not be true with a DC motor. They are close to full torque/full speed from jump. This could be a problem if something cannot slip. You could use an inverter/VFD to vary speed; it would Not vary torque. Speed/rpm and torque/current are friends when it comes to motors. When they are frequently far apart it heats up a motor and can lead to premature failure.

I was taught (with no concrete evidence) that it takes about 6 horsepower for the driven side of an average sickle mower and then about 1 horsepower per foot, assuming the bar is moving free and clear. If this tracks you would be right on the edge. Speed of cut and what you are cutting would also be big factors.


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