ledeger plates

later days mate,
Jim

First, remove the sickle knife. I would lubricate the sickle and the bolts that hold in the guards to help you get the job done easier.

Next, take off the guards. Look close at the inner most and outer most guard or set them aside as they are generally special in shape, so be sure to get them back where they belong.
Also, mark the holes that accomodate the hold downs so you can get them where they belong. Take note that the knife head hold down should have a taller arch, make sure it goes back to the spot you removed it from. The rest should be interchangable.

Inspect your wear plates and hold downs. Replace any that are badly worn. This will pay in the end.

Check the ledger plates that are on the inner and outer shoes, if they are worn, be ready to replace them also.

The ledger plates are held on by long rivits.

You should have an anvil or other suitagle heavy metal piece, a good machine hammer and a punch.

Be carful not to bend the guard, place it face down and hammer out the old rivit. You will see where the rivit is in the center of the guard.

Go to your impliment dealer for the correct rivits and plates or you may find the parts at TSC or similar farm store.

Rivit in the new plates, making sure you are getting them sitting squarely on the guard and tightened down.

Now do the inner and outer shoe plates.

Re install your wear plates and guards and hold downs.

Tighten well. Now install the sickle a few inches and see if you need to adjust. (Which you will)

Try to make your adjustments right ahead of your sickle, push it in a little, adjust a little, repeat until done.

You will want your sickle sections to sit flat on your ledger plates. You may have to smack your guards (they are mallable) to raise them or lower them, make sure not to hit the thin piece of iron on top as it will break.
Hammer the hold downs enough to snug it up, but make sure you don't get it too tight. Use used oil to lube the sickle and guards.

When all is done, gun the mower for 15 minutes at 1/2 throttle with the tractor sitting still and the bar down.

Shut it down and check for any metal overheating which you can re adjust and for loose bolts.

It would be a good time to check your other adjustments such as bar tilt and having the bar adjusted so the outer shoe is approx 1 1/2 inch forward of the inner shoe.

Then you ar ready to knock down some hay!

Good luck!

Don't GUN the mower as my typo suggested, RUN the mower. I forgot to mention that you should trun the mower over by hand to see if there are any obstructions before powering up.