Help on Mower and I Match!!!

[Propjob]

Well my luck with purchasing a Rotary mower is going south. I bought a new King Kutter XB for my Scut with the JD I match. After reading some posts and talking to the factory it looks fruitless. I have not removed from the trailer. Some of the guys on the forum had mentioned a mod to the I match to make it work. I'm not sure if if KK is wrong. The distance between the two hooks is enough to enter the I Match. Anybody using the KK XB with a hitch? or if you can point me to the mod that would be great. Worse case is take the Imatch off and use with the Three point hitch. Not really what I was hoping.


JIM

 

[devildog1]

What is the connecting piece on your Imatch a hook? You can buy a yoke to take the place of the hook which will allow the cutter to float. Is this what you mean? A picture sure would help understanding what your issue is.
DevilDog

 

[beenthere]

Yes, a pic will help us help you.

Here is a Deere RC2060 cutter that is iMatch compatible, and you may just need to alter the linkage of your mower to arrange it to fold this way.

 

[lwalsh]

I have the xb modified to work with the I match. I made it work like the JD pictured above. It took some fabrication. I will get a couple of pictures tomorrow to show you how I did it.

 

[Propjob]

Here are Pics. Bottom hooks will not pass between pins and rails. Top hook unknown yet. I think I am stuck using it with three point only

 

[Propjob]

L walsh:
That would be great if you can.

 

[beenthere]

I wouldn't give up too easily.
The bottom hooks will take some cutting torch and welding a bracket to hold the lower pins. Or move the lower pins forward with fabrication to allow a fit to the iMatch.

The top can be rebolted (see pic) to work by moving strap A forward to bolt B and leave strap C connected where it is at. May have to change out for right bolt size/length and bushing to make it work.

You will be glad you did it, I think.

 

[danktx]

From looking at the pictures it looks to me that you have some fabrication in your future. If it were me I would drill a new hole higher up that would allow the pins to be mounted high enough to let the lower hook on the imatch pass between the body of the mower and the pin. You still need some sort of flexible link for the upper link between the imatch and the mower. In the near term I'd likely wrap a length of chain around the upper tractor link mount on the imatch and the upper pivot bolt on the mower until I figured out a more elegant fix.

If moving the pins up don't allow the imatch and mower to link up, how about bolting on some plates that would allow the pins to be mounted slightly forward of their current location. This solution may effect the length needed for your pto drive shaft since it would be moving the mower away from the tractor.

DanKTX

 

[jenkinsph]

I wouldn't give up too easily.
The bottom hooks will take some cutting torch and welding a bracket to hold the lower pins. Or move the lower pins forward with fabrication to allow a fit to the iMatch.

The top can be rebolted (see pic) to work by moving strap A forward to bolt B and leave strap C connected where it is at. May have to change out for right bolt size/length and bushing to make it work.

You will be glad you did it, I think.

Didn't we go through this in another thread already?
I suggested this fix for the swivel linkage and agree with you. Looking at the lower pin mountings I think they are poorly designed to start with and agree with building up new mountings for them.

 

[Propjob]

I thought of welding a 1/4" or thicker plate above the bolt hole on each side this would give room for the lift hooks and it would also bring each side out to distribute load on the pins. Is there a chance that bringing the bottom pins to the rearand higher instead of forward would also fix the upperlink? I guess without the forks being able to slip under the pins that might be an unknown.
With this in mind, will the top bracket pop out of the upper lift hook the way it is designed with the swivel? I will be curious to see LWalsh's picks on how he did it. JIM

 

[beenthere]

..... With this in mind, will the top bracket pop out of the upper lift hook the way it is designed with the swivel? I will be curious to see LWalsh's picks on how he did it. JIM

Yes, it will.

 

[Runner]

I think Beethere's got it right. That would move the joint back to where it should be to allow the mower to float and leave a solid link for the upper iMatch hook. Should work unless the pin dimensions are off.

Or am I missing something?

Here's what an "iMatch compatible" rotary cutter looks like:

 

[lowell66dart]

Try and get the top mount/pin in. Hard to tell from the pics but it looks like the lower pins need to move up some. If what I am seeing is correct just drill new holes and move the pins. This should give you the clearance that you need. Good luck. Don't forget to factor in the bushings for the lower pins.

 

[Propjob]

Here is a drawing of the plate. Instead of welding I'm thinking of bolting in the existing pin hole and then drilling through both pieces of material for the Pin. This will move the pins more outside by the metal thickness

 

[beenthere]

Fix the top and then 'match' the bottom up to fit the imatch. Just know that the top and bottom will match up when doing the lower 'fix'.

 

[Propjob]

Been there: when you say fix the top, do I remove that U link altogether? Or do I change it as you suggested earlier? I was going to first remove both pins , back into the frame hang the upper bracket from the top hook and then make my marks ( Taking into consideration the bushing size). If That top link needs the mod than I should do that after. JIM

 

[lwalsh]

Here you go. Rather than try to explain the whole mod. Take a look at the pictures first and let me know what info you need.

 

[beenthere]

lwalsh
Voila!! Pictures are worth a thousand words. Great post!!!

 

[Propjob]

Thank you too much!!
Question on Pics 1 & 4 There appears to be a small spacer on one side of the (added) sliding plate on the rear of the link or does that go fully through the slot? Did you sketch any dimensional drawings?? What if any changes would you have done different? Prop Shaft good length? Thanks for letting me ask 100 questions. I also noticed added A frame support.

JIM

 

[lwalsh]

Thats the bushing between the two arms and it goes through the slot. Regarding the a frame support, you have to tie the a frame sides together ( make it ridgid). Regarding what I would do different, never buy it in the first place. The reason I say this is after all the work of converting it I find out that the design of 2 small tail wheels basically just digs trenches every time you turn. Something else to re-design.