F20 drawbar/sickle hitch height

Newbie here. Just finished my F20 project and I have a sickle mower I'd like to use on the tractor if possible. The drawbar is 23.5" high. The angle that the sickle mower hitch is at doesn't seem right. I've already flipped the sickle mower hitch so that the C portion of the hitch is up but it still doesn't seem right. Is there a way to lower the hitch? Am I missing something. Thanks.

Move the brace rod at side of tractor drawbar to front hole instead of the back for safty on ant job as it will lower that drawbar to a normal height and will lessen the chance of a tip over backward.

Great looking tractor!! Yep, Leroy has it right for the procedure. I would like to add, in most of my manuals it mentions the drawbar height should be around 18" - 19". I use that as a rule of thumb & adjust up or down from there if necessary. Another thing that comes to mind is a minor, yet helpful detail. Clean the paint off of the splines on your PTO shaft & apply a light, thin coating of grease. That should help keep the shaft on your (New Holland?) mower & other implements from getting stuck on there.

Good luck! :v)
Mike

A lot of tractors the drawbar height is about 15" high. And for a tractor pull normal max height is 18" or not allowed to pull. This is on stock antique tractors. A hitch I would not think would be normal to even be able to set that high so I wonder if hitch could have been made for a tractor with 28" wheels and used on a tractor with 36-38" wheels? I know our H could not be set that high.

Your gonna want to put a regular bar from the end points on the C of the drawbar and have a hole in the center of it, and another piece of heavy flat iron running from that hole back and over the C drawbar and coming out around a foot past the 20w drawbar if your gonna make tight turns. Tractor looks great. Ive had around 4 or 5 ofr the 20s and 2 30s in my time. Farmed with them.

See that brace where your can of penetrate oil is setting? Move it to next hole forward. Move the one on the other side to. That will get drawbar height where you need it. But you also need to put a "tongue" on your tractor hitch. The way it is now you will bend the mower clevis at first turn.

Hi Dennis, I made a drop hitch for my F-20 and bolted it to draw bar. Put a piece of square tube on it for a receiver so it is easy to change out for a ball hitch or other applications.

Look at the pto assembly on your mower. Lift up on it and you can raise it several inches.
It looks like it is at its lowest point now.

Yes but as high as it is hitched he would not be able to set the tilt of the cutter bar.

Oooops! You are absolutely right. I made a mistake. It should read 15" - 18". I think the highest it will go on my H is 17" on 11.2 x 38 rears & 6.00 x 16 fronts.

Mike

I know on our 41 H the drawbar was a few inches higher that the Deere's at about 15". I was on the pull commety for our local tractor pull of antique tractors, strictly out of field and 56 newest. The height limit was set at 18" and wi had to revise that because prople were abusing that by on the JD with the 15" high drawbar taking a 5/8" bilt and putting a stack of washers on top of drawbar to get the full 18" and pulling on a twist on the bolt to where we felt it was a danger of breaking. We changed the ruals to be aming for an 18" max height but had to be a non modified drawbar to do that. Some of the Farmals if the drawbar was set in the high position we had to disqualify because they were over the 18" height bur if they rebolted the hitch they were OK. Then there were some tractors that came with a factory hitch that were to high to meet the 18" rule like a John Deere D or some Molines and after the rull change as long as factory unmodifyed even higher than the 18" they could still pull. Some were shortning the u shaped hitch on the Farmals to get the hitch pin closer to rear axle and that was stoped as well as any modification of hitch was out. I had the job af measuring the drawbars for around 20 years. And any tractor that had redi rods to bolt extra wheel weights on, only allowed 2 weights, that the redi rods were longer than just putting on the nut to hold the weight on the tractor was not allowed to pull. First year total pull tractors were down but when they realised we were serious they started following the new safty rulls and numbers were back up. I am retiring from the pull commity this year as a new club president is insisting on changeing classes to something that does not make sence like putting the 9N and 2N Ford in different size classes when they are the same tractor with just the radious rods for front axle made of a different shape piece of steel and the way the hood bolts on. Classes were not by weight but by plow size. My 41 H left the farm in 84 so cannot measure the drawbar.

I don't know much about pulling, but I do know about splitting hairs & that sounds like what is happening on your end. What if someone shows up with a 928N (a hybrid of parts from all 3 N's)? Would that be considered modified? Guess that's one of the reasons why I never got into pulling. Too much nit-picking, in such a simple event, for my taste. It' is quite understandable when it comes to safety. I do like the idea of classes by plow size & thought that's how it always was. There was a local tractor show a couple weekends ago that had pulling, but I don't know how much regulation was going on. It appeared that it was open to anyone.... would almost think there would have to be some kind of inspection. Like you said, have to keep the drawbar low & whatever else that's covered for safety's sake. I must say, that open pull had me thinking of trying it out someday. Looks awful tempting.

Mike

There are several types of tractor pulling including what I call the hot rod tractors that look nothing like any tractor ever made for anything but the pull to see how fast they can go. And make as much noise as well/ The Pull I worked was part of our old tractor show and they were supposed to be just like if you pulled them off the plow to come to the show. Most pulls go by weight but we do not have a scale. Your Farmall H or SH would be in 2 plow class on classic that is 40 to 56, older is up to 39 and antique. The porblem with the rulls was we had that orignal M pulling against a Farmall 400 in same class, it needed to just be seperated into light 3 plow or heavy 3 plow but the gut trying to take over has some wierd ideas. We have not had a tractor in the antique 1 plow class for several years, Farmall F12 or F14, so that class should be elimited but he thinks it should be expanded in ways that cannot happen. If no one enters there is no class but it seems as thow he does not understand that. And we have also not had any Ford pull for years either so puttin tractors that don't come into different classes does not to me make any sence. The way it was ran I think you would have liked it. But not the way it is going to be this year. That is why I told them I am not going to be a part of it.

Looks like you need a drawbar