[Jay]

@Does’ Leap 35698 wrote:

Geoff:

I have only done this job twice (on 2 different mowers) and I used 2 seals both times. So far so good.

George

Ditto for me. Jay

[Jay]

In my experience, what I check for most carefully in evaluating any mower is play in the bushing at the front (flywheel) end of the pitman shaft. On the #6s, It is a bronze bushing that is no longer available. A person handy with babbit can, I am told make them new again if the shaft is true and smooth. The same goes for the bushing at the back end of the pitman shaft, though the front one is the one that seems to wear the most, generally. If it has no play, then most of the rest of the mower is not too hard to redo in good shape. Good luck, Jay

[Jay]

Neal, it looks very similar to the New Idea rakes I’ve been using for years. It may take a bit of time for the boys to learn to lean into the turns. There can be a bit of side draft when turning those rakes, particularly when pushing a windrow around the corner. Keep at it with them gently and they should figure it out before long. Your hitch looks fine to me. I don’t think I’d mess with it. Jay

[Jay]

Billy, I have had the same experience as Donn. I rebuilt a Big 4 this past winter and ended up putting haybine guards on it and it is working great. The guards I took off it were half McD guards…. I was not able to find a JD single guard to fit (new). good luck and let us know what you end up doing. Jay

[Jay]

Good for you! We’ll have to dry out a little, but we’re hoping to be right behind you. How do you like the bale wagon for loose hay? Do you unload with a fork in the barn? Jay

[Jay]

I have replaced the grass board spring with an old valve spring on occasion and they seem to work fine. Jay

[Jay]

Geoff, are you looking for the grass board with hardware or just the wood? I have some wood blanks… Jay

[Jay]

In my experience we are better off flying below the radar and just doing things the way they feel right to us. When you start having to justify doing
what is right for the land to people, the problems have already started. It is very sad, but the $ paying those teacher’s salaries come from the interests which gain from the “get big or get out” philosophy (at our expense, too). Our support for each other in places like this will do much more for the good I’m thinking. Jay

[Jay]

George, Usually there is a pulley attached to the wall or the track support near or just beyond the trip where the fork goes down to the wagon. On a system where the track runs out the gable end of the barn and down to the wagon outside the barn, our barn has a 1/4″ metal strap 3″ wide about a foot off the end and a foot below the track with a ring in the end for the return pulley. So the main rope goes up the back of the barn, to the track and out to the trip, and down to the fork to pull the load up and into the barn where it gets dumped. Another rope goes from the carriage on the track through the pulley on the end near t he trip and down. This doesn’t need to be very heavy as it is only a return rope for the empty carriage and fork. In our big barn, there is no return rope other than the trip rope to the fork with which I pull the carriage back to the trip over the wagon. We have a high floor on which we dump the hay from the fork, then push it off into the mows, stacking it as we go. “Stack the edges and the middle will take care of it’s self” as an old timer once said. Hope this helps. Jay

[Jay]

Scrap or scrap + makes sense to me. If he is motivated enough to sell it on the internet, let him. Check back in a week or 2 – if all the hardware is there, that’s the best in my book, if you don’t mind the time to go over it. I just mowed a 1/3 acre today with a rebuilt mower – what a pleasure to hear it hum and see the hay fall nice and smooth…. Good Luck, Jay

[Jay]

I use a piece of hardwood rather than a chisel to drive against the gear to help break it loose. Several sharp raps usually seem to do the trick. That’s sounds like good improvising to get the flywheel on, Donn. Jay

[Jay]

George, no, the flywheel needs to turn counter clockwise as you look at it from the front (the same righty tighty, lefty loosey as any right hand thread). I assume he is looking at the flywheel from above the gear box and therefore from behind the flywheel. You are not the first to have been confused as to which side he was referring to. As to the clutch foot lever shaft – I haven’t yet done one. I’m sure that Norm Macnair has them (the seal) and I find his prices competitive with the local parts stores, even with shipping. His # is 717-543-5136. I believe it it fairly straight forward to take apart and replace. Donn, do you have any experience with this? Jay

[Jay]

Mitch, thanks for the perseverance to go through that figuring. Fascinating to see it all laid out like that with the comparisons too. Jay

[Jay]

Daniel, my understanding of the flywheel lopsided weight is to reduce the vibration caused by the weight of the knife it’s self going back and forth- therefore necessary otherwise they wouldn’t have made it on the originals. What a nice looking machine. When are you going into production? Jay

[Jay]

Geoff, Thank you for letting us know – we need to know when one of us is hurting or has a loss- the bigger the loss the more important it is. We have no way of knowing what may come of it, but at least we can know we are not alone and the rest of us can’t help if we don’t know. Blessings on you. Jay

[Author]

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