timing a massey mower

not sure if this is a model 41 ,massey sikle mower ,it looks like it but the tag is unreadable,,,it seems to me that the timing is a little off ,, but I don't know how to improve it ,, does anyone know how , and can they teach me ? thanx jim

I have a 41 and as far as I know there is no timing involved.

looks that way to me too ?//////

I have spent many hours using a sickle mower but have never heard of timing one. What is it doing or not doing that you would like to change? There are many things that can be done to one to make them perform well, depending on what problems you are seeing.

I have a MF #32 mower and I timed it this spring. The instructions are in your owners manual.
My #32 has a Pittman, which may make a difference.

You move the flywheel so the blade is pulled all the way in, then rotate it 180 degrees.
If properly timed when the blade is pulled in, the blade section will cover a ledger plate. Then when rotated 180 degrees, the blade will be as far out as it can go, it should be over the next ledger plate.
If they line up you are in time, if not you have to add or take out spacers in the blade bar connection.

Hope this helps, but may confuse you.
Instructions are in the manual.

does good until very heavy hay ,I gear down an get thru , hay hangs on cutter bar ,, I tipped center link back nd that helped .. the guards points are drifting to the rite

Been a long time since I worked a sickle mower, but from what you have said, there are some things I would address. If you tilted the bar back some, that is probably a good idea. Can't tilt it too far, but if it isn't cleaning well, that can help. But what I would look for is space under the knife blades between them and the guard plates. If the cut material I hanging up more in one area of the sickle more than another, start your search in that area. The brackets that hold the sickle blade down against the guards get worn. You can often hit them with a hammer and bend them down to tighten them, but that only works for a limited time before the ends of them will be worn off enough you will have to replace them. To tighten them, you may have to pull the sickle blade out and then adjust the hold downs one at a time as you reinsert the blade. If you get one too tight, you won't get the blade back under it. Use grease! ! ! Makes a big difference.

Check the material that is hanging. Is it actually cut or has some of it been pulled? If your ground speed is too fast you can be pulling material and have clearing problems. If it is being dragged in under the hold-down brackets, it would again make me suspicious that the brackets are not holding the blade down tightly enough. What about broken sections on the cutter blade? One broken section can cause a lot of problems.
I presume you have spares and know how to replace them.

On my Pony mower there is a solid bar in front of the pitman. The casting on the end can be unbolted and turned in or out to register the knives. Adjust them when the cutterbar is flat on the ground because raising it changes the position of the knives.