Anyone have a 501 mower to sell parts from?

I have a Ford 501 six-foot sickle bar mower that I need a part for. It's a bar that's about 18 inches long with two tie-rod ends on it. It's called a push rod. It connects from the frame of the mower to the actuator lever on the big coil spring that controls the sickle bar. That part is not available on this site. Ford/HN wants $360.00 for it. I found a really junky mower at a used implement dealer, but he wants $300.00 for it. If I can't find the part somewhere else, I guess I'll bite the bullet and buy a new one.

Anyone have one to sell?

Thanks,

Tom in TN

I actually have a very good machine shop in Columbia, TN. I took it to them first, to see if they could do anything. Here's the problem, one of the tie-rod ends is stripped where the nut screws onto it to hold it into the actuator arm on the big spring. The ends are not replaceable like automobile tie-rods. The machinist tried to cut the threads down from the 1/2 inch that they were originally to 7/16 inch, however, the tie-rod end is very hard and he was unable to keep it from turning in its socket while he was attempting to thread it down to a smaller size.

Maybe it would be possible to buy a tie-rod end from another application and have it welded on in place of the bad one. I have no idea where to begin looking for the specifications on tie-rod ends to try to match the length, diameter, and pitch of the end.

Do you have any idea where that kind of information could be located?

Thanks for your help.

Tom in TN

• Hobby farm

Thanks for the note. I'm actually about 40 due miles south of Nashville. I don't remember for sure, but I was thinking that Athens was northeast of Chattanooga.

In any event, I'll try to scan a picture of the push rod and get it to you. In my Operator's Manual, the rod is pictured in figure 5 on page 6. It's also item #4 in figure 15 on page 18. But who knows, your manual might be different from mine.

Thanks again, and I'll try to get the pictures to you later today.

Tom in TN

• Hobby farm