Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

Had some time today to continue trying to get that sickle mower back in shape. As usual I’m working without any real plan or timeline, but it sure feels like this is taking longer than it should!

First order of business is to put the shoe back on the inside of the bar. The inside and outside shoes give the bar something to ride on across the ground. These are homemade and set really high PO must have been mowing some really rough ground. I changed the mounting location but I need to take some of the bend out of it. What to do I think this is a job
for the 648. I know I’m supposed to be digging holes with this but it’s so handy around the shop I just can’t help it! Work like a charm! Shoe is on. I think it will work ok. Time to make a pitman arm. I stopped by a local shop and they happened to have this nice piece of hickory. Should be able to make 2 out of this.

As I mentioned before I’m not a woodworker so let the butchery begin! I took my time and remembered to measure twice and cut once! No way I would ever call this a faithful copy, more like a rendition that shares some similarities to what it’s supposed to look like! It’s a straight grain hard wood so hopefully it holds up better.

Checking things over I see the knives are not registered in the bar. if they’re not timed right it won’t cut right. Just like if the timing is off on an engine it won’t run right. I took it loose per the book and I can’t get it to budge!
I’m starting to get aggravated and tired. Trying to learn from past experiences I realized there is a high probability of bad things happening at this point and it’s getting late. Time to call it a day.

I was hopping to try it out today but at least progress was made and I got to spend some time with the 648 so I’ll take it as a positive. Crossing my fingers I can try it out next time!

Looks like you still made good progress

That pretty good progress in my book Jeff. I'm sorry that the knives aren't registered right. The tall grass will not go anywhere in the meanwhile, it'll wait for the knives to be registered.

In working on this particular implement, you really want to have your wits about you and plenty of patience.

Because if you make the wrong mistake working on this, then you'll be less of a man than when you started!

Yikes!

thebuildist wrote: ↑Thu Sep 28, 2023 5:48 pm In working on this particular implement, you really want to have your wits about you and plenty of patience.

Because if you make the wrong mistake working on this, then you'll be less of a man than when you started!

Yikes!

Just a little off the top please!

Seriously you’re absolutely right. On this particular piece of equipment the two biggies are staying away from the PTO, and not getting into the knives. The tractor PTO runs at 540RPM but there is a reduction in the pulley size on the mower. I’m guessing but the knives are probably moving a lot closer to 1000RPM. If you were to get an appendage in there I’d be gone before you knew what happened.

Not to get to morbid but most of the old stuff we all mess with probably has at least a half dozen ways to either seriously injure or out right kill you. Not stopping equipment before you get off the seat, a blown hydraulic hose when your standing somewhere you shouldn’t be, etc. of course this is mitigated with common sense, keeping equipment in reasonable condition, and a little learning and experience.

I didn’t mean to go off on such a tangent, but I figure a safety reminder now and again is a good thing.

Well there’s my “ old equipment can hurt you” ramble for the evening.

Dad and his 3 brothers farmed together. Dad and his youngest brother were changing sickles on a Gleaner CII and a 24 foot header. Probably because thee pitman end of the sickle broke off. It was getting close to midnight and thier light source was a 61 Chevy pickup. These Sickles were prone to being difficult to align and push in the last 5 feet of insertion. Uncle was on the pitman end with a hammer and Dad was guiding the sickle between the guard slots. Dad was guiding the sickle with the tools he was born with. To their dieing day, they still argued about whether Dad said "hit it". At least the emergency room wasn't far away and the ends of a couple of tools were reattached.

There are places where fingers do not belong.

Spike188 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2023 8:20 am Dad and his 3 brothers farmed together. Dad and his youngest brother were changing sickles on a Gleaner CII and a 24 foot header. Probably because thee pitman end of the sickle broke off. It was getting close to midnight and thier light source was a 61 Chevy pickup. These Sickles were prone to being difficult to align and push in the last 5 feet of insertion. Uncle was on the pitman end with a hammer and Dad was guiding the sickle between the guard slots. Dad was guiding the sickle with the tools he was born with. To their dieing day, they still argued about whether Dad said "hit it". At least the emergency room wasn't far away and the ends of a couple of tools were reattached.

There are places where fingers do not belong.

Great story! I can clearly picture the scene, been in plenty of similar ones myself! And I can almost hear the bickering about it after the fact! And a great point, here’s 4 guys that were well versed on the equipment they were using and it still required a trip to the hospital. Glad they were able to patch him up. You can’t live life being worried all the time but keeping safety in the back of your mind sure can save you from trouble!

Well I’m really trying to finish this project up! Back at it again. I went back to trying to get the bar in time with the knives. It should slide on the drag link on the the back of the mower but it’s stuck. I mulled my options over and went with brute force!
I placed a block of wood and bottle jack to keep a strain on the parts that should move and got to swinging the sledgehammer! On a side note, I think there was a conversation here awhile back about jacks working in odd positions. I can confirm that at least my Hobo freight jack does work in a horizontal position.

Success! The tension and beat worked. It’s not perfectly aligned but it’s close enough to tryout! I put everything back together and in instances like this I usually try to follow the old German torque specifications and make it gout-in-tite. However in this case I happen to have the correct torque specs for this machine so it checked it after I was done just to see. The book says it’s supposed to 80foot lbs. I surpassed that by a bit but on old rusty stuff I think it will be fine.

I guess there nothing left to do but give it a whirl.
I took it out to the field and like the famous YouTuber says, “I just can’t believe it, but I guess I got to because I’m looking right at it”. The dang thing cuts! I made a couple of passes and it seems to cut fine!

This was proof of concept on the cobbling I did to attach it to the Ford, and confirmation the mower actually functions. Very happy about that!

Of course some issue popped up.

1) The 2N is made In such a way that the PTO and hydraulics work together. You can’t have one or the other, they’re either both on or off together. I’m not thrilled about that from a safety standpoint or convenience. @propane1 im curious if your Ferguson works that way?

2) when I lift the mower at the end of the row the PTO angle is still to sharpe. It actually binds and that’s going to ruin u-joints quickly so that’s a no go. I didn’t catch that when I was setting this up. I like having options so in a pinch I can use the mower on this tractor if I needed to I’d just have to be very careful about raising it.

I decided to try it on the 1941M and see what it looks like. The PTO angle is much better! And this gives me independent PTO and hydraulic function so the mower doesn’t have to be running to use the hydraulics, that’s a safer option for sure.

Now the problem I face is figuring out the final mounting set up. The geometry of the mower and the tractor lift arms are way different. So the barnyard cobbling will continue!

I’ve got an idea on how to make this work. I’ll be trying that next time and then I guess it’ll be time for test number 2!

I’d just like to say thank you to you guys for following along with my nonsense in the shop, I appreciate it!

Yes Jeff. My Ferguson works the same way. A 1953 Ford Jubilee has live hydraulics, so I believe that would help the trouble you are have there. And I’m not sure on the Fergusons, what year they have live hydraulics and live pto, but it would be 1956 or so and newer, I think.

Noel

One option possible to help your PTO angle a little is (and I can't believe I'm about to suggest this) to remove the overrun clutch on the PTO. That would save 3" or so I imagine. A sickle doesn't really have a whole lot of mass to wind down so it might not be an issue. I believe when we were running a Dearborne sickle, we didn't have the overrun. That came when we went to a rotary.