Wazrus
Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2012
- Messages
- 33
- Location
- Sydney, NSW., Australia
- Tractor
- Iseki TF 317; Honda harmony, Toyota SDK7 skid steer
G'day! I have an Iseki 22HP., which had an underbelly mower which broke in a big, expensive way. The driveline to the deck gearbox was completely shot and replacement parts started at around $A2500. The future of what is otherwise a very good deck, was looking decidedly temporary. It sort of goes against the grain to have to scrap it, ESPECIALLY as I'd just put on a new set of blades. Now the deck step-up gearbox was OK and I'd thought of all manner of ways to drive the thing from the tractor, but discarded most, including hydraulic drive, as the Iseki just doesn't have the pump capacity.
I bought a 13HP electric start Chinese engine, then made a 1.5:1 reduction gearbox, to give 2,000 rpm., driving the step-up deck gearbox, all mounted on the deck. I also made a deck support frame, using the solid rubber Iseki deck caster wheels. The rig is heavy, for sure.
While 13HP doesn't sound much on a 60" deck, it must be remembered that ALL those neddies are spinning the blades, not pushing a tractor and me as well. So there's plenty of power.
I use this deck out the front of the tractor and it's set off to the right, sufficient to overlap the rear (5' towed, PTO powered) deck by about 18". This gives a very useful mowed swathe of about 84". The offset is very useful when cutting around trees, as it can 'duck under' branches and low obstacles. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once I had the hang of it, found that mowing time is not so much to do with speed over the ground, but more with how much can be cut in one pass. Those 7 feet are very useful!
In any case, high ground speeds tend to bash a mower to bits quicker than slower, especially on my pretty rough ground. The rough ground destroyed the wheels on my towed deck. Utterly ruined. They've been replaced with pairs of solid rubber caster wheels; a pair fits just nicely in the 3" wide caster bodies, with just a little machining!
Anybody else with thoughts along these lines??
I bought a 13HP electric start Chinese engine, then made a 1.5:1 reduction gearbox, to give 2,000 rpm., driving the step-up deck gearbox, all mounted on the deck. I also made a deck support frame, using the solid rubber Iseki deck caster wheels. The rig is heavy, for sure.
While 13HP doesn't sound much on a 60" deck, it must be remembered that ALL those neddies are spinning the blades, not pushing a tractor and me as well. So there's plenty of power.
I use this deck out the front of the tractor and it's set off to the right, sufficient to overlap the rear (5' towed, PTO powered) deck by about 18". This gives a very useful mowed swathe of about 84". The offset is very useful when cutting around trees, as it can 'duck under' branches and low obstacles. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once I had the hang of it, found that mowing time is not so much to do with speed over the ground, but more with how much can be cut in one pass. Those 7 feet are very useful!
In any case, high ground speeds tend to bash a mower to bits quicker than slower, especially on my pretty rough ground. The rough ground destroyed the wheels on my towed deck. Utterly ruined. They've been replaced with pairs of solid rubber caster wheels; a pair fits just nicely in the 3" wide caster bodies, with just a little machining!
Anybody else with thoughts along these lines??
