Woods RD 7200 on a Ford NAA

[OrtisEvans]

Has anyone used a Woods RD 7200 with a 1954 Ford NAA? To hook them together, I had to point the pins towards each other because the lift arms do not spread far enough otherwise. Because of that, I can't figure out how to attach stabilizer bars. Is there something weird about the NAA that makes this an issue or am I missing something?
Thanks for any advice.

 

[John0829]

Something is not right then, the Woods RD7200 is built with the standard spacing for a Cat 1 hitch (26") which is what the NAA has. My first thought is someone may have put shorter check chains on the lift arms.

I would put the pins back on the outboard as they are suppose to be, remove the check chains and hook the mower to the tractor. After it is on with the stabilizer bars also installed, then make up new check chains JUST long enough to allow the lift arms to be put on and off the mower.

 

[OrtisEvans]

Thanks. I just measured and it's 26" as you said. It will be helpful if my current fixed length stabilizer bars fit, since then the chains won't be needed as much.
I had to shorten the pto shaft even with reversing the pins, so I will likely need to shorten a bit more.

This may be the wrong forum, but I could use advice on putting a new belt on the mower. Is there a trick to stretching the spring far enough to get the belt over the last pulley?

 

[John0829]

Here are the instructions from the manual:

 

[OrtisEvans]

Thanks. I had read the manual instructions, but they were not helpful on stretching the spring - and it is a strong one. I hooked a steel cable to the arm that the spring attaches to. A friend who is a farmer hooked the cable to his 4-wheeler and stretched the spring enough to get th belt on. Whew!