John Deere No. 5 smoking

[tycteach]

I"m new to sickle mowers so please bear with me. I got my J.D No. 5 sickle mower operational. I mowed a little and noticed smoke coming from around the metal on the end of the pittman that connects to the place on the machine that causes the whole thing to move back and forth. I didn"t know what else to do but shut it off. Upon inspection (after it cooled), there is a little play on that end of the pittman connection. I had this part greased and it appears to me that there really needs to be a bearing because of the number of turns this part makes and the speed which it makes them but it"s clear that it was not designed for one and there is not room for one. Should I just continue to grease (how often) and press on or is there something else that I need to do. I sure didn"t like the looks of it smoking and how hot it appeared to be. I have no idea what is "normal" on these things since this is the first one I"ve been around. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated. I know there are lots of seasoned users on here so I thought I"d see what the experts had to say. Thanks Before it started smoking, it sure cut like a dream though. I was impressed.

 

[johns48jdb]

sounds like you've got all the hold downs to tight on the blade. can you at least move it a little back and forth? which end is smoking, the end that connects to the blade or the other one?

 

[Hayfarmer]

If you are talking about the end of the pitman that hooks to the flywheel ahead of the gear box, there is a bushing inside the end. It should be kept greased, can't remember the interval but think it is every 4 hours. As mentioned sickle should not be that tight on the bar. I would suggest you get an operator's manuel, there is generally one advertised on e bay.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I know whats wrong with it exactially-its a Deere-hahaha

 

[Anonymous-0]

mine did the same thing on the end that connects to the flywheel. i had a local welding shop put a bearing in it for me so it would not do that. have not had a problem ever since. the bushing has little holes in it that is suppose to hold some grease but your right that thing makes alot of rotations.

 

[tycteach]

The end that smoked is the end that connects to the flywheel. The sickle seems to work fine otherwise. I"ve quit using it until I knew for sure what was causing it because I didn"t want to mess something up. I cut probably 300 yards down the lane to my farm before I noticed the smoke and it layed down that old johnson grass, etc like butter. That side of my lane has a deep ditch and I"ve always been afraid that some day I"d get too close and turn the tractor over on me so I wanted this sickle mower for that and to cut my 2.5 acres of alfalfa. Any suggestions/ideas? I"ll look at it and check into that bushing and grease it up again and give her another try if nothing else. Would anyone happen to have the part number for the bushing? My John Deere guys aren"t too good at looking up older stuff and nobody has used one of these around here for years.

 

[Indiana Boy]

Can you easily turn the mower over by hand by turning the flywheel? If you can't, the problem may be your hold downs are too tight against the bar or your wear plates are adjusted a little too tight against the back of the bar and making the mower pull too hard. If the mower turns over easily, the pitman just needs to be greased or the bushing in the pitman needs to be checked out. My family has used the same #5 for over 50 years without many problems by greasing the pitman every hour during use. A couple of shots of grease is pretty cheap compared to downtime.

 

[johns48jdb]

sounds like it was just any bearing the machine shop could get to go into the space alotted. i would want a bearing that i could keep greased i think.

 

[Allan in NE]

Look closer.

There is/was a grease zerk on that bushing. Needs serviced every half day's operating time.

Allan

 

[Oldmax]

Sounds like the zerk is stopped up not letting Grease into bearing, replace and try again.