replacing a pitman stick on a John Deere 8w

[redsky47]

Took the pitman stick off of my John Deere 8W sickle mower to check for cracks and when I put it back on, I had trouble compressing the spring. Ultimately the spring expanded and broke the spring socket drilled into the end of the wooden pitman (some irony there... ), so I ordered another one. Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to re-install a pitman arm that doesn't involve wrestling, a red face and lots of sweating?

Redsky47

 

[mark kram]

Took the pitman stick off of my John Deere 8W sickle mower to check for cracks and when I put it back on, I had trouble compressing the spring. Ultimately the spring expanded and broke the spring socket drilled into the end of the wooden pitman (some irony there... ), so I ordered another one. Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to re-install a pitman arm that doesn't involve wrestling, a red face and lots of sweating?

Redsky47

The only way I've been able to compress the spring is by using the mechanical advantage built into my jd9. Bolt the flywheel end of the stick on. Clamp the brackets to the stick, I use C-clamps. with the fork and spring installed between them and the spring extended. Loosely place the fork and brackets around the mower knuckle. Clamp the cutter bar in the full retracted position and hand crank the pto shaft until the holes in the shaft line up. Quite often they won't quite lineup and I push phillips screwdrivers through two bolt holes to complete the alignment.