Ford 860 - Oil Pick-up Tube

[blong99]

I was recently changing the oil on a ford 860 I just acquired and noticed that when I removed the oil pan plug there was no screen attached to it, so I ordered a new plug with screen. When I went to install the new plug, it would not go into the pan, and it was then that I noticed that the oil pick-up tube (probably not the correct term) was bent and off to the side in the pan opening (so there was no way to get the screen up into the pan). I have a couple questions related to this I was hoping you all could help me with:

1) Is there any harm to running it without the screen on the plug? I talked to a local guy and he said he rarely sees any accumulation of debris on the screen and by changing the oil filter with each oil change I should be fine - is this good advice?

2) Even though the tractor runs 40-50 lbs of pressure consistently, should the fact that the tube bent cause concern (is it more likely to fail or quit working)?

On another note, the proofmeter does not work. I just replaced the cable and that did not help. I disconnected the cable from the proofmeter, ran the tractor and the cable is spinning. Would the next step be to replace the proofmeter?

I am still learning about these tractors so any feedback would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance!

Brett