Broken pitman stick

[wildsawmill]

I'm cutting hay with #9 JD sickle. My first season with this mower. and it keeps clogging up then breaks the drive stick I got tired of buying them so I been making them from Oak.
Seems if I'm in virgin grass it does pretty good. I hit a mole hill broke stick. Using 70 HP case with 8 forward gears in 2 or 3 . seems to like 3 but they break quicker. On my 7 th stick for 10 acres. Ideas.???
All ledger plates are new. Sections are new or sharpened when started this field

 

[old]

Sounds like you have something in a bind. Can you move the sickle bar it self by hand in and out?? Also do you have it timed correctly?? With it all the way in and all the way out the sections should pretty much be centered in the guards and if they are not it can cause problem like your having

 

[wildsawmill]

OK I'll check it's time thanks

 

[paul]

Sharp sickles and sharp edge to the ledger plates. You say that is covered.

Hold downs holding the sickle down firm and level to the guards. Obviously there needs to be enough room to move, but you are creating a scissors at every sickle and
ledger, they need to be straight level and tight enough to cut on each other, loose enough to move. You need the sections flat on the ledgers, not angled or tilted from
one another.

Especially the hold down nearest the pitman ball and socket is typically a bigger stronger slot, and needs to be shimmed or welded up and ground to fit tight, not allow
wobble up and down, it has to absorb the up and down action of the pitman and turn it into smooth back and forth, no lifting action. (By tight again I mean it moves
freely, but can?t have much slop to it, a close clearance.)

In time as mentioned.

Does the end bunch up first/ worst? They make that special section and a half blade for that, as the end only cuts only half the time without it.

What are you mowing? Fine stemmed damp grass can be miserable. Course stemmed alfalfa or mature big grass should be easy.

Naturally you can?t mow over something you already mowed. You are always in standing grass with the blade.

Is it nice hay, or matted down mess from 10 years of never been cut, driven down mess? Or nice standing this years clean grass?

The ball clamp on the sickle is tight, the bolts to hold the pitman on are snuggled up tight and not coming loose wobble here will wreck a pitman fast.

In some fine damp grasses, a serrated ledger plate and a serrated sickle will cause the grass to make little fibers and build up and bind under the sickle. You typically
only want one or the other serrated, tho bottom serrated sickles often get along well in most any condition as they are only lightly serrated.

Very occasionally they cut better if you speed up, if you drive too slow the grass piles up and overloads the blade. I don?t think this is your problem, just mentioning it in
the list.



Just trying to cover the basics here?

Paul

 

[wildsawmill]

OK thanks
Its fescue & some weeds, clover
Cut last year for hay.
Any time making turn I get in previously cut and clog. Fresh grass not much problem

 

[wildsawmill]

I guess using Oak would be OK for stick?

 

[Leroy]

In right at 50 years using pitmam mowers never had one break. You have other problens that need figured out. Once in a while one rotting from setting out in all weather I could see but not multiples in one year. And only ran underserated sections with seratred guards with that double end section. And at times the bar will go easy under already cut hay.

 

[showcrop]

Sounds to me like the hold downs aren't firmly enough on the sections, allowing the grass to fold over the guards instead of being cut.

 

[SVcummins]

The correct sickle register on a John Deere is passed center

 

[fixerupper]

Lots of good ideas. The slip
clutch should start talking to you
before the pitman breaks. Are all
mounting bolts tight? If the bar
with the guards is walking in and
out with the movement of the
sickle the knives won't stay in
register and it will pull hard.
The mower will be shaking like a
leaf too.

 

[old]

My IH A-16 sickle bar mower has a metal pitman on it and has had since I got ti years ago. It is thin wall 1 inch tubing. I have also used oak for them in the past

 

[SVcummins]

This is the correct register for a John Deere sickle
mower . By the way I?m running 8 mph 7th gear on
a John Deere 3020 powershift . I threw away the
old single guards with the ledger plates

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

A nice straight-grained piece of white oak I think would be best.

 

[SVcummins]

 

[John G. Williams]

Your tractor has a lot of HP for that mower which would explain why you break a pitman shaft if something sticks or locks up. I am not familiar with JD but there should be some kind of release on the mower to give way if it locks up. Are you maintaining a
proper ratio between RPM for blade speed and the right gear for ground forward speed? Clogging up with cut grass when you are turning is a
nuisance but should not break the shaft. Do you have metal plates on each side of the pitman shaft where the bolts go through to link the
bolts in tandem so that the load (force) is distributed equally among the bolts?

 

[Roger in Iowa]

Might try raising the tip of the guards up to help the cut material flow off the cutterbar. Won't cut as close to the
ground but would help reduce the load on the cutting components, by not recutting the cut material.

 

[MtMan]

You should have a slip clutch on the PTO shaft. Look and see if it is working properly. It should slip before any thing gets broken. The clutch should maybe be adjusted. Make sure it's not rusted together.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Pitman mowers have their limit as to what they will cut,and if a section has had a grinder to it,it ain't ever really sharp again.Look for a JD 350/450 or a NH 451/456.

 

[300guy]

I broke several sticks on my old IH 27V mower because the slip clutch was set too tight. I finally set it really loose so any clog would ratchet the clutch and no more broken sticks.

 

[jacksun65]

Listen to the mower sounds like you are going to fast for the crop. It will talk when the chatters sound more like a thump slow down.

 

[Lazy WP]

Throw away the single guards. Set the register
correctly. (I disagree with SVCummins as they have
to shear the same both directions no matter what
brand) angle your bar up in front a bit, make sure
your hold downs are close but not in a bind. Slow
the rpms down to about 350 on the pto. LISTEN TO
THE MOWER if it?s talking you are abusing it.
I have broken my share of pitman sticks but usually
it?s from hitting a stump or T post.
I have NEVER SEEN a slip clutch on a mower and I
have operated many.

 

[Leroy]

Only on certain models, The No. 5 is center to center.

 

[SVcummins]

Again From the manual you do not time a John Deere that way! It travels passed the same distance both ways you can disagree all you want but it isn?t right

 

[James Howell]

"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]have NEVER SEEN a slip clutch on a mower[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]"

Take a look at the [b:654c4848f0]POWER SHAFT, TRACTOR TO MOWER[/b:654c4848f0] diagram below.

Note the slip clutch descriptions (Key 8 - Key 14).

Take a look at the photo below.

Hope this helps.

 

[SVcummins]

The only limit the Have is people that won?t read the manual and won?t adopt the ideas used on the newer mowers I can cut short wiry grass or triticale 8 mph with no issues

 

[SVcummins]

The biggest problem people have getting a machine to work is failing to either read or failure to understand how and why you adjust it . Here?s the right way and even the sales brochure on why it?s that way

 

[Traditional Farmer]

You are running 8 MPH with a pitman mower? Some of the guys with disc mowers need to trade for your sickle bar(LOL)

 

[lastcowboy32]

My guess is that it's out west somewhere.

In those fields on the prairie, two men can lay down at opposite ends of the field a quarter mile apart, and still see each other through the grass stems.

I have patches of thin, wiry grass that are thick as hair on a dog, and I'll eat a hot steaming plop from said dog if anyone buzzes through it at 8MPH with a sickle mower.

That being said, reading the advice I've seen, I'm sure that SV's sickle mower is tuned in top notch condition.

 

[Farmallb]

Who sharpened your sections? I always thought I could sharpen a sickle, but I finally took mine to
a professional sharpening business, and they did a great job some 20yrs ago. Need to do it again.

 

[showcrop]

Wildsawmill, I bet you won't look for advice here again, LOL.

 

[SVcummins]

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src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvvideos/c
vvideo30277.mov"
controls>http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/cvvid
eos/cvvideo30277.mov</video>

This stuff is pretty easy cutting but it gives you an
idea

 

[SVcummins]

I bought the manual for the mower when I got it then
I try to always get the sales brochure for what ever
piece of equipment I have just cause I like
brochures then I studied those and my John Deere
hay and forage fundamentals of machine operations
manual night and day all winter long and also came
here to ask questions that?s where I posted the
single guard I had just bought James said don?t Use
that style and I?m glad I didn?t

I was having a little knife plugging issues on this
stuff the old knife was getting pretty bad I put a new
one in and away i went going to rebuild the old one
this winter

 

[SVcummins]

That?s why a person needs the manual to the piece of equipment he owns or be lucky enough to have a site like this where someone else has the manual

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 08:07:44 07/20/19) I bought the manual for the mower when I got it then
I try to always get the sales brochure for what ever
piece of equipment I have just cause I like
brochures then I studied those and my John Deere
hay and forage fundamentals of machine operations
manual night and day all winter long and also came
here to ask questions that?s where I posted the
single guard I had just bought James said don?t Use
that style and I?m glad I didn?t
&lt;img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto30280.jpg"&gt;

&lt;img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto30281.png"&gt;
I was having a little knife plugging issues on this
stuff the old knife was getting pretty bad I put a new
one in and away i went going to rebuild the old one
this winter

SV, If you really want to learn how to make hay you need to read the "New Holland Hay Makers Handbook", LOL. When I started in 1988 it was before internet, but I found out about that book and got it. There is a lot of good information about the principles. Not about particular brands and models of equipment.

 

[SVcummins]

Mr show crop I have two New Holland manuals and
the John Deere and three other John Deere books
makes fir good reading on a quiet evening . I figure
there is no way these sickle mowers could have
been as big a pos new no matter what brand or all
the stock would have staved to death years ago. I
set out to make one cut the best one could cut

Not all hay here is thin

 

[wildsawmill]

I have only heard the clutch slip once .that's probably part of it
Need to add it

 

[wildsawmill]

it's all good man thanks