Case 555 parts problem

[Creekside Quarters]

Just recently bought a used Case 555 sickle bar mower conditioner. Well after using it for about a couple hours it broke the ball joint that drives the sickle bar. I was hoping i could just call our local CaseIH dealer and get the parts, but no, all of the parts i needed are retired. So now i am stuck with a useless conditioner unless i can find parts. Please help, just starting out with the haying process and need to get some bales in the barn before winter. Thanks alot for any advice.

[JasG]

How old is the mower? Case and Case IH had allot of the hay equipment made by others and in most cases painted it red. I am not familar with a 555, but I know a lot of there stuff was made by Heston until the merger with Fiat and NH. You might want to try finding out if that is the case with your mower.

At YTmag they say some Heston PT-10 (?) are the same as a 555, hope this helps.

[LBrown59]

Just recently bought a used Case 555 sickle bar mower conditioner. Well after using it for about a couple hours it broke the ball joint that drives the sickle bar. I was hoping i could just call our local CaseIH dealer and get the parts, but no, all of the parts i needed are retired. So now i am stuck with a useless conditioner unless i can find parts. Please help, just starting out with the haying process and need to get some bales in the barn before winter. Thanks alot for any advice.

Should have checked the parts angle befor buying.

[bill in ny]

thank you mr. obvious.

[flusher]

Just recently bought a used Case 555 sickle bar mower conditioner. Well after using it for about a couple hours it broke the ball joint that drives the sickle bar. I was hoping i could just call our local CaseIH dealer and get the parts, but no, all of the parts i needed are retired. So now i am stuck with a useless conditioner unless i can find parts. Please help, just starting out with the haying process and need to get some bales in the barn before winter. Thanks alot for any advice.

Looks to me like you'll have to do the repair yourself. Is the ball joint salvageable? Can you weld the pieces together?

If not, I'd head for the auto parts store to see if there's a ball joint you can use. You may have to cut and weld to get such a replacement to fit.

Without pictures of your moco, it's hard to say more.

[RickB]

Post your dilemma here:

Implement Alley Discussion Board

Perhaps the Case 555 was built by another manufacturer, or there is an aftermarket source for parts. The guys at YT will know better than the group that lives here.

[Creekside Quarters]

Thanks for all of your help (except for LBrown59)

JasG, it appears you were right. This piece is identical to the Hesston PT10, with the exception of the paint. The unit is actually a 1969 or so. Was able to call our nearest AGCO Hesston dealer and they ordered the parts for me, should have them by this weekend. Almost had a stroke when they told me 190 dollars for that one part which is smaller than the palm of your hand, I had figured 40 or 50, but oh well.

I would've like to purchase a newer conditioner with better parts availability, but in our area (Worcester County on Eastern Shore of Maryland) there's not a whole lot of hay equipment around and if there is any they always want a fortune for it. So hopefully we can bale atleast what our horses need for the winter and sell some extra and possibly look around for a newer conditioner next year.

Any ideas for good replacement conditioner model to look around for?

Thanks again for all of your help.

[JasG]

Some good models which should be easy to get parts would be New Holland 469, 489, and 492. All 3 models were very popular around here. When it comes to a sickle bar model with conditioner New Holland is hard to beat.

If it were me, depending on how much you cut per year I would want a diskbine, but I don't know how much you are willing to spend. Disk mowers cost more, are easier to maintain but when something goes wrong it gets expensive real quick.