New Idea Sickle Mower - broken Pitman ball joint

I've managed to keep up with them, but this time the cast part at the outboard end of the Pitman that is one half of the female end of the ball joint broke. If you are familiar with such, it broke at the inboard end of the slot that the adjustment cam is in.

A friend who is a very good welder tig welded it with a high quality rod and expected that the weld was now at least as strong as the original. It held up for perhaps a half acre, then the weld metal broke at the same place. That suggests that something else is not right putting too much stress on that part.

I'm looking for suggestions - replacement part, replace it with a modern ball joint adapted to fit, buy a replacement mower. What else should be looked at to prevent the same in the future? Other?

I suspect that I've never quite had the mower properly set up. It has all new sections, and I generally adjust the clearance between the sections and the ledger plates every cutting. Ledger plates are not very sharp, but still, it jams much more often that I would expect.

The lips of the female part of the ball joint are worn, particularly at the bottom on the side that broke. The snugness of the ball joint, after tightening using the cam, no longer holds, possibly because the detents in the cam are worn. To keep the ball joint from slipping out, I wrapped a piece of fairly stout wire around the two halves of the joint just inside the ball socket. That seemed to cure that problem, but the better solution is a new ball joint.

Another problem is that cut gets caught between the wheel that the inboard end of the Pitman is attached to, and the hub that rides on the shaft an dis attached to the Pitman. As it wraps, it adds to the turning resistance and can get tight enough to cause the slip clutch to slip - jammed!

Suggestions on any of the above are very much appreciated.

Thanks!
Chuck, WA

Donovan from Wisconsin

Thanks...don't expect I'll want to do anything with the NI, at least not soon. Too busy right now.

Thanks for the offer.

Chuck, WA

If you don't take the parts, I think I'll just put 'em up on ebay and see what they bring- or I could make my boss an offer on a NI he's got with a busted pitman... Fix it and sell it...

Donovan from Wisconsin

What's this flat-rate shipping thing? I don't ship a lot, so never heard of such a thing. Must be some size or weight limitation? I'd be interested to know. I'll check UPS web page also.

Thanks again!
Chuck, WA

I tried posting a pic in the parts & peices but for now it must be down. I can email you some of the pictures I took- [email protected] - The stick is the only thing that wouldn't fit in one of those boxes because it's too long, but separate shipping might be worth it. I can't remember where I put the guards and ledger plates for now, but I know they're around somewhere.

The end that grabs onto the ball of the sickel has an eccentric ring in there right? Turns out in the wire full of sickle sections there is a second eccentric to go with the one on the pitman. The sections don't look like the ones on the sickle bar in the rafters, but that it has the eccentric part with it makes me think ithey are for the NI. they're just shorter than normal ones to the point of the edge. Top serrated and still shiney between the sections on the wire so they're brand new.

Donovan from Wisconsin

The retired school teacher who refurbishes tractors and implements that I bought my MF 35 from has a MF sickle mower that I'm taking a look at today. It is belt driven, not Pitman, so may be a model 41, which is a good mower from what I've read on this forum. Depending on what I find, I may be very interested in your parts, or may have my own NI for sale as a parts mower.

Please post pics here in the implements gallery, or send to [email protected].

Thanks!
Chuck, WA