New Holland 499 Pivot Hitch, Stub Guards, Aftermarket Parts

[RedNeckRacin]

When swinging my pivot tongue new holland 499 haybine there is a lot of slop in the drawbar of the tractors that I use as well as the hitch pin. Some of this slop is necessary to get some articulation in the hitch connection. Looking for a way to make my turns faster with less stress on the drawbars, I was looking on the NH parts page and came across a drawbar hitch extension with a pivot ball in the end. Think lower draft link mounted horizontally. I just went and priced a drawbar hitch extension for my nh 499 haybine today. It is a piece of flat stock that uses a bolt to locate it on the drawbar and a cap that bolts farther back to add support. On the other end, a pivot ball allows a solid bolt to be mounted in the tongue of the haybine without any slop taking place in the pivot ball.
Anyways, I was all for it until I got the quote from my local blood thirsty dealer. Around $220?UCH! I am pretty sure I can live without it or attempt to make my own. Anybody have any experience using the drawbar extension?


Also, Any tips or tricks to adjusting stub guards? I priced out .010" shims from NH and they wanted $3.25 a piece!!! I don't know that I need them, but there is supposed to be approximately .005" gap between the knife and the hold down/stub guard and I figured having a handful of them would be useful to get everything trued up.



Is there any aftermarket places for parts that are pretty decent? I have been eyeing up the parts at soupparts.com and they seem reasonable. I think it was around $160 a piece for an entire sickle with knives. (A 499 has two sickles)

 

[art]

For many machines the added hitch plate helped with the pto to center the joints to reduce the chance of driveline chatter.

 

[zzvyb6]

TSC sells replacement lift link ball end caps for Cat1 and Cat2 sized pins. Your dilemma gives me an idea for my own equipment. Just bolt or weld on the end cap to the implement hitch. Now you have a hitch connection that swivels and articulates.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Thats exactly what I think I'm going to do! I priced it out at another dealership for the hitch and they wanted even more. I'm thinking 3/4" plate above and below the hitch to sandwhich it would would out well and give me plenty of clamping ability.