Ford 501 Sickle Mower Parts Manual
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Looking to do my own hay next year and just picked up this Ford 501 7ft sickle bar for $75 - pretty good deal in my area. The seller said it he used it last year and it worked well. Looks like it needs a couple of teeth, but otherwise in decent shape. Got it home and unloaded and can't seem to make sense of how it mounts on the tractor. I have a L3710 with a regular 3 pt hitch.
From the looks of it, there are 6 points of attachment on the sickle bar. Stihl 090 g parts and repair manual. It looks like maybe something for a stabilizer and something else to raise and lower the bar. Can I just run it without the other attachment points? I've attached a picture of it.
Hope it's not a stupid question, but can anyone tell me how this works/offer suggestions? I have one also. It should hook up fine to your 3 pt, but it looks like your missing the top link on the mower. It should have a solid top link that attaches to the main spring. It looks like you have the left arm clamp that supports the cutter bar, but it looks different than mine.
It probably doesn't matter as long as it can attach to the 3pt arm. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the right side clamp is missing. This isn't a big deal as long as your tractor has sway control.
The bar is supposed to be raised and lowered manually, but maybe yours is modified. If you can't find a manual online, I've got one I can post. Take some time going through the user manual and make all of the adjustments.
My mower cut like crap until everything was adjusted right. Hopefully Sweettractors will be along soon. He is a dealer and seems to be an expert on sickle bar mowers.
He was a lot of help to me and probably a good source for parts. Thanks for the help everyone.
I went to ntractorclub and found a manual - that will be a lot of help. Looks like I'm going to have to find/make that top link, but other than that I think I'll be able to make it work. My tractor has the lower arms with drop pins for stabilizers l so I won't worry about the right stabilizer. I'll make some sort of clamp for the left stabilizer. Sweet tractor is just down the road from me. I think I'll just run over there and take a look at the mowers he has and ask some questions. Maybe he'll have a top link.
Thanks again - I'll post again once I get it up and running. Got the sickle bar going the a couple days ago and thought I'd share the results. I managed to do it without getting any new parts. The end of the push rod on the left side had some contraption that the previous owner had used for his tractor. I took that, cut some things off of it, burnt another hole in it, and now it will bolt onto the lower arm of the 3 pt on my tractor. When I raise the mower, it multiplies the lift and raises end of the cutter higher. Here are a couple pics.
Ford 501 Sickle Mower Parts Manual
Now for a question. It's got a lot of bad sections. Almost all of them actually. Is it better to replace each section or just get a whole new blade assembly? Pros and cons of each option?
Ford 501 Sickle Mower
If I do go with a whole new blade, are there any good online sources?