Ford 501 Sickle Mower

martyh · Sep 26, 2015

I just brought home a Ford 501 sickle mower. It needs a few parts but it has virtually no real corrosion and I look forward to tearing it down and building it back up.

Tom in TN · Sep 26, 2015

Marty,

The only hay mower that I have is a Ford 501. It works fine for what I need.

I might be missing something by looking at the picture rather than at the actual mower, but the two things that I see missing in your picture are the pitman bar and the sickle bar itself. A new pitman can be bought at TSC for about $20.00, and a rebuilt sickle bar can be had for about $150.00. I guess that "tearing it down and building it back up" might involve more than I can see in the picture, so good luck with your project and your "new" mower.

Tom in TN

martyh · Sep 26, 2015

It needs the pitman arm and a bearing at the flywheel and a couple other small things. The bar itself is there with new cutters. A couple rock guards need to be replaced. My intent is to disassemble the entire mower, clean, repair and repaint. I just ordered a set of owner and parts manuals. Is there anything special about the Pitman arm? Any reason I can't cut my own? I have pine, Douglas fir and Sitka spruce in the shop.

Denny K · Sep 26, 2015

We made our own for a mower years ago and I think we used oak and it lasted for years. Just remember the sickle has to be in register (sections change directions in the center of the guards). The manual should cover this.

M Nut · Sep 26, 2015

Doubt those soft woods will work for a pitman stick. Break too easy.I remember my grandpa making his out of white oak, and possibly ash? If no white has had at the time he needed a new one. He always had a couple extra on hand.

old · Sep 26, 2015

You need a hard wood for the pitman or you will not be cutting much. I have parts and pieces of a 501 and 515 around. The 515 is the better of the 2 since it does not us a pitman. Guards and sections are easy to find at most any farm and home place.

Traditional Farmer · Sep 27, 2015

You need to make sure its exactly the same length as the original

paul · Sep 27, 2015

Won't he need the clamp and spring and such on the other end of the pitman stick, those bits can be kinda scarce to find.

There are two sizes of mower, one has more room for a bigger tractor, so a short and long pitman stick.

I'd buy one, soft wood isn't going to hold up, need some nice grain wood. You don't want to substitute metal stick instead, likely your next question, but something has to give if you hit something hard; if not the wood stick, you are gonna break so etching else somewhere....

Make the bolts tight, and double nutted or lock nuts. The wood shrinks, you need to re tighten you need to clamp the wood tight.

Paul

martyh · Sep 28, 2015

(quoted from post at 00:07:33 09/28/15) Won't he need the clamp and spring and such on the other end of the pitman stick, those bits can be kinda scarce to find.

There are two sizes of mower, one has more room for a bigger tractor, so a short and long pitman stick.

I'd buy one, soft wood isn't going to hold up, need some nice grain wood. You don't want to substitute metal stick instead, likely your next question, but something has to give if you hit something hard; if not the wood stick, you are gonna break so etching else somewhere....

Make the bolts tight, and double nutted or lock nuts. The wood shrinks, you need to re tighten you need to clamp the wood tight.

Paul

37 11/16" is the pitman arm length. This is the small version. I did order a pitman arm and there's no problem duplicating it. It sounds like the consensus is to use Oak, even red if that's all that's available. I'm curious to see what wood I am sent. I have full woodworking capability and can get whatever. I only mentioned the spruce, fir and pine because that's what's sitting in the shop right now. As for substituting metal, NO WAY. I understand why the pitman is wood and I understand the value of shear pins.

As for the little springs and arms, I have all of that. They're just not in the pictures.

Ford 501 Sickle Mower

martyh

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Tom in TN

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martyh

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Denny K

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M Nut

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old

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Traditional Farmer

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paul

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martyh

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