Hooking up my least favorite implement

LouNY · Aug 13, 2021

Well spent a couple of hours getting my boom arm mower hooked up and greased;

As she sits waiting

Getting ready to grease the pto shaft, have to do before it's connected,
so it doesn't get greased as often as it should

Toplink hooked, lift arms hooked and latched

notice the amount of room between the tire and the mower

All hooked up, the lack of clearance between the tires and the mower is why I have to grease the pto shaft before hooking up the 3 point

Looking in over the top (as I'm posting this pic I see one of my sway bar pins isn't latched down,
better fix that before I lose that pin. It's an expensive pin ($16) as I recall

Hooked up and boomed out a bit to grease it, lots of grease fitings I can get most of them in this position,
three fittings I'll have to extend it all the way out and rotate the head up 90*, a tube of grease and she's done.

All ready to go only a short couple of hours on a nice warm morning 86 degrees actual with a real feel of 99 per my phones weather app.
Soaked in sweat time to go in the house clean up a bit and drink a few glasses of water.
Will wait to start mowing till tomorrow.

The cables that run back to operate all the controls for the mower.

or the next day.

oosik · Aug 13, 2021

Those ARE some close tolerances - tire to mower. Actually - everything there in back is pretty darn tight. What do you mow with that unit - Lou?

LouNY · Aug 13, 2021

I reach up on and down on the banks of my driveway and trim back the tree limbs that I can reach,
and then along my road frontage that the town doesn't get and my 3 pt brush hog can't reach.
Then I'll trim around my lawn into the woods the limbs and brush.
After that if the farm is running behind on their triming I'll go over there for a few days with it.
I can reach out about 8 feet from the tractor and up about 10 feet to trim limbs and brush

Beaver Cove Deere · Aug 13, 2021

I have an Alamo/McConnel PA 91 that is no picnic either to put on the machine.

Thomas · Aug 13, 2021

"Hooking up my least favorite implement"

But on the other hand the wear and tear on your body doing task another way.

oosik · Aug 13, 2021

That unit saves a lot of time & work. However - I wonder if all that trimming would get done if you didn't have a unit like that. That's a whole lot of area that it can reach and trim.

Thanks for your response Lou.

LouNY · Aug 13, 2021

No if I have to use a trimmer or pole saw it only gets the worst done,
a bit in the spring and some in the fall.

Doughknob · Aug 13, 2021

What does such a mower weigh?

LouNY · Aug 13, 2021

My manual has it listed as .64 ton;
this is an English unit so if they are using a long ton of 2240 pounds,
it would be 1433 pounds,
using our standard ton it would be 1280 pounds.
Then I'm not sure if that includes the 35 gallons of hydraulic oil in the reservoir.
I'm guessing it's pretty close to 1500 pounds, my tractor with the loader and weights
is over 10,000 pounds and it will move around quite a bit if I'm not smooth on the controls.

k0ua · Aug 13, 2021

Yes, a Pita, I can see that. BUT wow what a cool machine. You could come by and use that on my place ! I could keep you busy for an hour or two.

shooterdon · Aug 14, 2021

And I thought hooking up the snow blower was a PITA!!

ljjhouser · Aug 16, 2021

I'm guessing getting the hydraulics installed on the tractor for the cutter is like a wiring schematic. Thanks for all the pictures. Very interesting. How many times a year do you it, in the fall and spring or more?

ROUSTABOUT · Aug 16, 2021

Yeah I worked at a dealer. We had to put them on the tractors for the county. Take them off to work on the tractor, put them back on when finished with the tractor... About the worstwe have at the farm is a back hoe attachment. That thing causes some heart ache and misery from time to time. One tractor has quick release arms. I guess dad didnt have one latched good. Has rigid top link. Arm moved and top link snapped out of tractor rear end. After welding it three times it finally stayed. It broke out three times. It was either weld or change out the rear end of tractor. It was a pain removing it the first time it broke. Never put the back hoe on a quick attach arm tractor after that. It may have just came in latched. Broke a chunk out of that rear end.

ljjhouser · Aug 16, 2021

ROUSTABOUT said:
Yeah I worked at a dealer. We had to put them on the tractors for the county. Take them off to work on the tractor, put them back on when finished with the tractor... About the worstwe have at the farm is a back hoe attachment. That thing causes some heart ache and misery from time to time. One tractor has quick release arms. I guess dad didnt have one latched good. Has rigid top link. Arm moved and top link snapped out of tractor rear end. After welding it three times it finally stayed. It broke out three times. It was either weld or change out the rear end of tractor. It was a pain removing it the first time it broke. Never put the back hoe on a quick attach arm tractor after that. It may have just came in latched. Broke a chunk out of that rear end.

Most farmers I have been around have had to spend a lot of time welding. Replacing many parts was not a very good option because of cost and down time.

JWR · Aug 16, 2021

LouNY said:
My manual has it listed as .64 ton;
this is an English unit so if they are using a long ton of 2240 pounds,
it would be 1433 pounds,
using our standard ton it would be 1280 pounds.
Then I'm not sure if that includes the 35 gallons of hydraulic oil in the reservoir.
I'm guessing it's pretty close to 1500 pounds, my tractor with the loader and weights
is over 10,000 pounds and it will move around quite a bit if I'm not smooth on the controls.

I have an Italian-made ORSI arm mower but it has a 4ft bush hog on the business end. It weighs around 2700lbs and is a serious load on a 9000lb tractor. Mine reaches 17ft. I see you do NOT have stabilizer rods on yours. ?? Mine would wobble all over the place relative to the tractor without 2 heavy stabilizer rods. BY THE WAY, is you top link attach point ion the tractor stout enough to hold that thing stationary? My top link and stabilizer rods all hooked to the top link attach point on the tractor. When the hyd pressure bled off the thing wa heavy enough to bend a good sized hunk of 1/2" thick steel plate on my tractor and I had to go repair that !!!
Lesson learned: Have to put a support structure under the ORSI that rests on the drawbar , etc. or else do damage to the tractor. The dealer failed to tell me that... a few pictures follow.
Trouble with picture insertion. Coming soon...

workinonit · Aug 16, 2021

I can't imagine 2700 lbs on my tractor. I have a 2100 lb flail mower on it now that is a decent load. Those boom mowers will get you in trouble really fast. I've had a Hardee behind my tractor. At least it had electro-mechanical controls.

JWR · Aug 16, 2021

Following up on post # 15: About the ORSI...

Note that the support structure goes UNDER the lift arms so that the load rests on the drawbar and related steel, not really on the 3pt hitch. With the stabilizer rods installed the 3pt hitch is never under prseesure and is just stationary.

JWR · Aug 16, 2021

Because the ORSI is hard on an old man to hook up and remove, takes me at least 2hrs, I got a Lane Shark which will do enough of my overhanging limb trimming and ditches and cutting over sink holes so I will not be using the ORSI that much from now on. I can fully understand the OP's title of "Least favorite implement" and maybe he could use a Lane Shark too ? It will never have the reach of the ORSI nor cover as much territory nor cut as heavy a material,,, but it goes on and off easily in a short time and an old guy can do it...