Hi all,
I picked up a used and abused BCS 725 walk behind tractor a couple of years ago that I was told was nonop, and needed a new engine, It came with a sickle bar as well as the tiller box. Sickle bar had some broken teeth and was rusty. I'm sure to the average person it didn't look very encouraging.
Turns out the kill switch was out of adjustment on the Acme engine, and I have been using it to till tight places I can't get the Bolens H14. The Acme engine is not well thought of, but this one is still working well, although it has a couple of quirks, just like the operator. 10hp, btw.
The brush is encroaching on our yard, and the sickle bar mower looked like just the ticket for the problem. I discovered that the local farm store had the correct teeth and rivets for this bar, regardless that it was made in Italy. Go figure! Removing the rivet heads on the broken teeth and punching out the rest of the rivet was easier than I expected, as was riveting in the new teeth. I ended up just peening them over with a ball peen hammer. I sharpened the rest of the old teeth with a grinding wheel in my dremel tool. I had thought of taking some pics, but the job went too fast!
The 722 has the power necessary to attach an array of attachments such as the 26' Rear-Tine Tiller, 45' Sickle Bar Mower, Chipper/Shredder, Log Splitter, Dozer Blade and more. However, like the 718, this model is limited in brush mowing applications due to its lack of a third working speed and Differential Drive. Aug 25, 2016 BCS sickle bar: Dailey's Farm & Walk-Behind Tractors going over some basic setup notes for attaching sickle bar transmission to the sickle bar blade assembly, etc. We put this together to.
The handle bars swivel around 180 degrees to run the PTO forward, or they should if the joint is not rusty. The extension handle for the PTO engagement and gear shift for ground speed also swivel around. The PTO engagement has a mechanical lock out to prevent the tractor being engaged to go in reverse while the tiller box is running. This was rusty and would not turn, giving me no forward motion with the PTO engaged. After several days of soaking, it consented to move this evening.
This tractor with the mower is one cutting machine! It has no problem with the 4' high brush what so ever, and I discovered afterwards that it had clipped off a fir that was 1.5' in diameter.
I have needed to clear brush back for a larger firebreak, and looks like I have the tool to do that. We should have a good sized pile for a fire come winter.
I have to give a big thumbs up on this tractor mower combination!
![Bcs sickle bar mower manual 2016 Bcs sickle bar mower manual 2016](https://smhttp-ssl-17653.nexcesscdn.net/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/g/t/gt106_hi.jpg)
Getting this tractor and mower running also helps reduce the resistance to my dragging home some broken piece of rust that I actually paid money for! ; ) she really has been pretty patient, even though this is out of her realm of experience. No one in her family fixed anything!
Regards,
Doug