Ford 501 Sickle Mower - What did I bend??

fpappal

Member
A few months ago I was mowing swamp grass around 12 ft tall. Worked great until the pitman arm broke, never hit anything, it just broke while I was mowing the tall grass. I bought a replacement pitman arm at Tractor Supply and thought I was good to go. Tonight I decided to put the new pitman arm on but something is not right. The pitman arm does not line up with the blade. Nothing appears to be bent. I thought that maybe the safety trip mechanism needed to be reset but that was not the issue either. Any suggestions? The pto turns free as well as the pulley the belt is around. Me and my father stared at this thing for 30 minutes and nothing appear to be bent or out of place.
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Little difficult to see with the different angles, I thought you sprung the neck of the mower at first, it looks like the mower bar isn?t in line with the frame. But I think that?s just optical illusion.

But your stick is angling backwards, not in line to the sickle?

So, when your stick broke, it dragged on the ground and pulled backwards, rotating it hammered it some and pulled the sickle side backwards.

This bent the two tabs that you have bolted onto the stick back. Which I circled. They need to be straight across, they clearly look angled back. Those bolts are so close to the pulley you need to line up the notch in the pulley to get them out - it looks like there is enough room you could just pull the bolts out?

Might be a little tricky, as one tab might have stretched, one might have shrunk some. Have to massage them back straight, parallel, and the holes even across.

Paul
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It looks like the pitman arm pulley is also out of alignment. The belt looks like it goes at an angle off this pulley towards the drive pulley. It might be the angle of the picture, but you might want to check this alignment also. Maybe when the pitman broke, it hit something and bent the pulley and or where it attaches to the frame.
 
fpappal,

Paul has it exactly right. The two arms that stick out that the pitman bolts onto are bent. Ford calls that part with the two arms on it a "pitman box". It is easily removed by unscrewing the cap that is on the end of the "box" and then removing a nut that is on a shaft inside the cap. There are two bearings in there (one on either side of the "box"), and a grease seal.

If you can't get the arms exactly perpendicular to the "box", there's probably enough give in the arms that you'll still be able to attach the outer end of the pitman bar onto the knife assembly with just a little bit of a push to get it into alignment.

If you want to buy a new pitman box, the part number is 147871. It is item #13 on the parts diagram on the New Holland website.

Tom in TN
 
Thanks for the replies. I took a few more pictures. The two arms on the pitman box sure look like they are straight. I was putting some pressure on the end of the pitman arm and I do believe I can get it to attach to the knife assembly. It would be nice if I could get that bend out of it however.
Thanks for the info on the pitman box Tom. I may just order a new one.
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Are you sure that safety trip mechanism/breakaway bar is fully seated as far forward as it will go? Grab the far outside end of the cutter bar and force it toward the front of the tractor to make sure. How about a couple of pictures from the outside end of the cutter bar and from the back toward the right side of the tractor. It doesn't look like those two pulleys line up at all.
 
I thought the safety trip was not seated as well. I tripped it and reseated it. The trip is designed so the pitman arm swings with the cutter bar so it does't matter what position it is in. I got it back together this morning. I just put a little pressure on the end of the pitman arm and it had enough flex to attach to the cutter arm. Something still must be off just a little but it seems to be working. Time will tell for how long.
Thanks for all the help.
 
looks like your rock guards are a little messed up also. they should all be in line, and just allowing the knives/sections to pass over/through them. can you move the blade in and out?
 
what is your pitman arm hooked up to. there is a piece that goes onto the little ball that moves the blade. doesn't look like its even hooked up to me. Theres a spring that hooks to that piece that goes up inside the pitman arm. at least that's the way mine worked.
 

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