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?