Side mounted frame is 82S.  Huge box frame is 80S.

AaronSEIA

Yes.  The 82 has the small side mounted frame.  The 80 has the massive rectangle frame that mounts front and rear.  The 82S really is a side mounted mower.  The 80S is more of a mid mount.  80S is really hard to mount and the 82S is hard on radiators.

AaronSEIA

You didn't explain.....I'm assuming because it might have a tendency to twist the frame?

I have an 82S on a WD-45 and haven't had that problem. However, I did attach a link to the LH frame to provide more lateral support.

The 82S is far and away the better mower not only for ease of installation but because improvements were made in the hinge system using ball bearings, increased thickness of the bar from 5/8" to 3/4" and a much heavier "cage" around the gear box.

Some of the later 80S mowers may have also benefited from those improvements but I'm not sure.

The 82S has its own hydraulic cylinder which gives it the ability to be raised fully vertically right from the seat.

 

I don't know whether or not they are supposed to do it....I messed with the chain lengths

a bit to make it happen. Where I mow, it makes life a lot easier and you can 'trim" the small limbs on trees while you're mowing.

You didn't explain.....I'm assuming because it might have a tendency to twist the frame?

I have an 82S on a WD-45 and haven't had that problem. However, I did attach a link to the LH frame to provide more lateral support.

Dad shook the radiator out of his WD twice running one.  Just too much vibration hanging off the frame.  I'm sure I'll be told his is the only machine that ever happened to.  In my experience none of the 80/82 mowers as balanced as they needed to be to run smooth.

AaronSEIA

 In my experience none of the 80/82 mowers as balanced as they needed to be to run smooth.

AaronSEIA

They run fairly smoothly when everything is set up correctly......I thought cutting a foot and a half off the cut bar might cause some balance problems but its not noticeable.

What?

Dad would grind the sickles and reuse them as long as he could. 

Neighbor farmer used to loan me a mower tractor every year to clean up around the property before I had a tractor of my own. The first one was an 8N with a side mounted Dearborn sickle mower that also raised vertical with hydraulics. Then, he got this nice D-17 with an 82S mower which he also loaned me.

The one thing that always amazed me was how he cut straight corners without stopping.

I had always thought that was possible only with a rear mounted mower.

When he came to a corner, he would pull the PD into low, hit the right brake and give the wheel a quick turn and the bar would come around and make a perfect corner without leaving a stalk of hay. Power steering was a big help in making this possible. This picture of me on the borrowed tractor was taken in 1965.

Most people I know that sharpened sickle bar mower sections quit using a sickle bar mower and went to a haybind because the mower wasn't getting the job done.I still cut all my hay with a sickle bar mower and get it  cut just fine.

No amount of sharpening will get the section back to cutting like it was when it was new.I have bought a lot of sickle bar mowers over the years that I assume were being used to cut hay of some sort and I have never bought even one with a blade in it that I would take to the field to cut hay.Even a slightly dull sickle will cause all sorts of problems.And I'll take rivets over bolts too but that is another discussion.

Looks like the R3 came out in 1963 but it looks like it was still made for a good while overlapping the 82 series?  

AC720Man wrote: Gary, I am using bolts instead of rivets for the pure ease of replacing them in the field. Loose rivets or a broken knife requires the removal of the bar to repair. Can be repaired in the field I guess but not so easy. By using bolts I can remove the guard at the effected area, replace the knife and be on my way in 10 minutes or less. Originality is gone, but the time and aggregation it will save me means more seat time on my WD with a smile.

What I do is to buy riveted blades they are cheaper and I think the riveted section don't break out as easy.When a section breaks out I take the guard off with an impact.drive the rivet out the blade and knock bolts into the section .Then put the section in and the nuts will be on the bottom so no tall hold downs are needed.plus if you notice the unthreaded

part of the bolt goes beyond the section and into the blade since the section is thinner giving a more secure fit.

I'll add the New Holland guards that are on the NH 456 mower I'm now using don't have

quite enough clearance for the nuts on the bottom and have to have about 1/8 inch ground off.But AC guards are made a little different and the nut has good clearance so since I have several hundred AC guards around here I'm putting them on the NH mower as needed.