mounting a ford 501 mower on a 641 Work master

My neighbor asked me to help him mount the mower on the tractor. We struggled to get it mounted. What is the secret to get it mounted more easily? He had the arms attached to the mower when I got there, but the top link didn't look like it would ever reach the upper bracket. The tractor and mower were in a shed and the mower was in a shallow depression, with the bar in the upright position. The sand was so loose that a pry bar was useless. I suggested attaching the top link first and then we got one arm attached and then we drug it out of the shed. With the bar down, it wasn't that hard to pull on the cutter bar to get the second arm attached. I assume that he should have stored it on blocks, with it as high as the tractor would have lifted it, before unhooking it. ?????????????????
TY
SDE

Just to be clear... You are using the special top link that comes with the mower, right? (not the standard top link for the 3pt). I'll try to upload some pictures from the manual, but I thought I'd first be certain you have the correct link.

Go to the other Ford forum and download the manual from the manuals forum.

Dean

Here are some photos...

SDE, You are absolutely right about setting the mower on blocks when you disconnect it from the tractor. Two other things, the top link controls the spring that allows the mower to float. The top link has two pins. One is the regular old hitch pin that attaches the mower to the tractor, but the other one is integral to the top link. It is really short (about two inches long) and is held in place with a short pin and a cotter pin or spring loaded cotter pin. When dismounting the mower, it is essential that the mower is level horizontally when it's on the blocks. You level it up with the leveling arm on the tractor. Then, when it is horizontal on the blocks, you raise the mower all of the way up and install (or remove) the little pin depending if you are attaching or detaching the mower. I have found that it is virtually impossible to attach the top link to the tractor with that small pin in the top link.

I don't know if anything I've written makes sense, but I have a 501 mower that I mount on my Ford 2000, and following what I've just written allows me to mount or dismount the mower in about 10 minutes with no grunting or groaning.

Good luck.

Tom in TN

Get a good pallet to sit it on.

Your neighbor definitely needs another tractor so the mower can be left mounted all the time! :lol:

Stored with the arm up, it is not very stable as you work with it. Be careful. My method you could have problems with the arm up, as it gets unstable with the weight up high...... also be very careful not to put a finger in the teeth of the sickle, the blade can fall down as things move, the pto get rotated slightly. You dont want that to happen! I really dont like the blade up when stored.

Be careful.

Normally, I pin on the lowest 3pt pin. Lift the 3pt to get the other pin the right height, shouldnt take but an inch or two. Pin it.

Unpin (or unbolt on the older models) the short straps from the big spring to the middle of the upper arm. Then it is pretty easy to rock the mower fore or aft and get the upper arm pinned to the tractor.

Hook up the pto.

Lift the 3pt, and pin the short straps onto the upper arm again.

Those short straps cause most of the problems, you end up fighting the big spring. If its bolted together, find a pin to fit in and use a quick pin.

Done.

Paul

before you take the mower off,raise it up with the 3 point hitch. the position of the cutterbar in unimportant. take the pin out of the front of the big spring. there should be no tension on it when raised. Then you can let the mower down and remove the toplink and the lower lift links. When remounting it hook the spring up last with the mower raised. I put one on and off many times years ago and don't remember it being very difficult, but then that long ago a lot of things weren't so difficult.

Now you see why I would not give a sh t for 3 pt equipment. He needs another tractor dedicated to the mower. Like Wore out said. Wresting with 3pt stuff went out the window with the dodo. 3pt and junk are synonymous.

Yes. Your diagrams are the mower we mounted on the tractor. It has the spring loaded top link.
TY

Thank you to all for the replies. My neighbor is the son of a farmer and I am not. Oddly enough, he wanted to do the opposite of what I thought we needed to do to get it done. Eventually we did things my way and we got it done. He's a nice guy, but he learned how to get others to do for him what he can not do, instead of learning it for himself. I will pass along all the info you have shared.

My mower is an old, old international that hooks to a horse shoe draw bar and it has the tail wheel all the way in the back. So I used that experience to get his hooked up.
TY
SDE

Just needs to buy a decent mower like a JD 350,easy to hook up and will cut circles around the 501