Hi
After long considerations, I recently decided to order a Berta flail mower with 85 cm (34'') working width for my BCS 740. The mower has arrived, and I would like to pass on some of my experiences setting up the mower, and hope that this information can be useful to other Berta flail mower owners.
As I have the quick coupling on my tractor, I got the mower with the Berta factory built-in male quick coupling flange as well. As this coupling has an elongated hole for the locking pin to drop in, it allows the mower to pivot a little, and thereby better follow the terrain independently of the tractor, compared to a rigid standard coupling. Should this pivot feature for some reason not be desired, the mower came with two Allan-head bolts that can be mounted in the male quick coupling, making it work like a rigid standard coupling.
As 2-wheel tractors come with different PTO-heights and wheel diameters, the mower has a feature that allows the body of the mower, called the "main bonnet" in the manual, to be adjusted accordingly, thereby allowing the mower to run parallel to the ground. 3 different settings are available, and the factory standard center setting fits a BCS tractor with standard 20'' wheels I think, but with my 23'' wheels, the mower had a distinct nose-down attitude, preventing the roller at the back of the mower to even touch the ground!
In the 44-page user and maintenance manual that comes with the mower, the setting of the PTO position is explained and illustrated. I followed the description and the illustrations to the dot, but to my surprise, I wasn't able to move the body/main bonnet at all! After a bit of investigation, trying to figure out how the frame of the mower, called the "angle unit" in the manual, is connected to the body, I noticed a bolt on the mower that isn't mentioned in the manual. After loosening this bolt slightly, I could easily adjust the PTO position :thumbsup:
Among his many instructive and useful videos on YouTube, Joel from Earth Tools also has a video where he tells about the setup, the main features and the maintenance of the Berta flail mower:
Berta flail mower for walk-behind tractor--Setup, features & basic maintenance - YouTube
Although Joel shortly mention the feature allowing you to adjust the PTO-height of the mower to fit your tractor, he sadly doesn't show how it's done. As I found the description in my manual slightly erroneous and misleading, I will try to tell how I did it:
I connected the mower to the tractor, and removed the left and right protection cover in order to get access to the bolts underneath. This is how it looks under the left protection cover:
The mower looks the same under the right protection cover, except for the 2 belts and their pulleys transferring power to the rotor shaft. In the manual the figures shows the right hand side of the mower, and therefore some of the nuts are hidden by the belt and pulleys. To get a better view, I decided to tage my foto from the left hand side.
According to the manual, one shall remove the 3 lock bolts which I have marked in white on either side of the mower. Then loosen the nut marked with green, and you should be able to adjust the main body of the mower - but you can't! You also need to loosen the nut that I have marked in red. With the 23'' wheels, the lowest setting will allow the mower to run almost parallel to the ground, so that is the one that I have chosen. Then reinsert the 3 bolts marked in white, and tighten the 2 nuts marked in green and red.
This setting of the PTO-height only has to be done once when receiving the mower - except in case one changes the wheel size on the tractor, of course.
The manual also instruct you to loosen the 4 nuts securing the rotor bearing (the nuts between the red and green circles on the foto), in order to be able to adjust the PTO-height. I could easily do the adjustment without loosening these 4 bolts though. The manual also instruct you to unscrew and remove the rear cover between the main body and the connection flange before doing the above mentioned adjustment (this is the cover with the hole in it for the dipstick). This is to my knowledge also a needless action, as the cover is part of the "angle unit" and therefore moves with the side frame.
I have been very puzzled by the manual on this topic, and perhaps I have missed an important point somewhere. Having spent quite some time in my garage with the Berta flail doing the PTO-height adjustment and preparing this post, I get the impression, that the manual was perhaps written by someone with little hands-on experience with the mower. The version number of my manual is 01/2010, which might indicate that this version has been around for 10 years now. I therefore find it difficult to believe, that I should be the first owner to have stumbled over the above mentioned discrepancies?
Finally a few words regarding the cutting height adjustment:
By adjusting the rear roller up or down, the cutting height can be adjusted accordingly. The roller is fixed to the main body by 2 bolts on either side of the mower. The forward most bolt can be set at 2 different heights, whereas the one at the back can be set at 5 different heights. This should in theory allow for 10 different combinations. I have been able to select all 5 settings at the back, with the forward most bolt in its upper hole. With the forward bolt in its lower setting though, I was only able to select the 2 lower of the 5 holes at the rear. That adds up to a total of 7 settings.
Now I'm looking forward for spring to arrive, allowing me to test my new toy in the real world out there
Best regards
Jens
After long considerations, I recently decided to order a Berta flail mower with 85 cm (34'') working width for my BCS 740. The mower has arrived, and I would like to pass on some of my experiences setting up the mower, and hope that this information can be useful to other Berta flail mower owners.
As I have the quick coupling on my tractor, I got the mower with the Berta factory built-in male quick coupling flange as well. As this coupling has an elongated hole for the locking pin to drop in, it allows the mower to pivot a little, and thereby better follow the terrain independently of the tractor, compared to a rigid standard coupling. Should this pivot feature for some reason not be desired, the mower came with two Allan-head bolts that can be mounted in the male quick coupling, making it work like a rigid standard coupling.
As 2-wheel tractors come with different PTO-heights and wheel diameters, the mower has a feature that allows the body of the mower, called the "main bonnet" in the manual, to be adjusted accordingly, thereby allowing the mower to run parallel to the ground. 3 different settings are available, and the factory standard center setting fits a BCS tractor with standard 20'' wheels I think, but with my 23'' wheels, the mower had a distinct nose-down attitude, preventing the roller at the back of the mower to even touch the ground!
In the 44-page user and maintenance manual that comes with the mower, the setting of the PTO position is explained and illustrated. I followed the description and the illustrations to the dot, but to my surprise, I wasn't able to move the body/main bonnet at all! After a bit of investigation, trying to figure out how the frame of the mower, called the "angle unit" in the manual, is connected to the body, I noticed a bolt on the mower that isn't mentioned in the manual. After loosening this bolt slightly, I could easily adjust the PTO position :thumbsup:
Among his many instructive and useful videos on YouTube, Joel from Earth Tools also has a video where he tells about the setup, the main features and the maintenance of the Berta flail mower:
Berta flail mower for walk-behind tractor--Setup, features & basic maintenance - YouTube
Although Joel shortly mention the feature allowing you to adjust the PTO-height of the mower to fit your tractor, he sadly doesn't show how it's done. As I found the description in my manual slightly erroneous and misleading, I will try to tell how I did it:
I connected the mower to the tractor, and removed the left and right protection cover in order to get access to the bolts underneath. This is how it looks under the left protection cover:
The mower looks the same under the right protection cover, except for the 2 belts and their pulleys transferring power to the rotor shaft. In the manual the figures shows the right hand side of the mower, and therefore some of the nuts are hidden by the belt and pulleys. To get a better view, I decided to tage my foto from the left hand side.
According to the manual, one shall remove the 3 lock bolts which I have marked in white on either side of the mower. Then loosen the nut marked with green, and you should be able to adjust the main body of the mower - but you can't! You also need to loosen the nut that I have marked in red. With the 23'' wheels, the lowest setting will allow the mower to run almost parallel to the ground, so that is the one that I have chosen. Then reinsert the 3 bolts marked in white, and tighten the 2 nuts marked in green and red.
This setting of the PTO-height only has to be done once when receiving the mower - except in case one changes the wheel size on the tractor, of course.
The manual also instruct you to loosen the 4 nuts securing the rotor bearing (the nuts between the red and green circles on the foto), in order to be able to adjust the PTO-height. I could easily do the adjustment without loosening these 4 bolts though. The manual also instruct you to unscrew and remove the rear cover between the main body and the connection flange before doing the above mentioned adjustment (this is the cover with the hole in it for the dipstick). This is to my knowledge also a needless action, as the cover is part of the "angle unit" and therefore moves with the side frame.
I have been very puzzled by the manual on this topic, and perhaps I have missed an important point somewhere. Having spent quite some time in my garage with the Berta flail doing the PTO-height adjustment and preparing this post, I get the impression, that the manual was perhaps written by someone with little hands-on experience with the mower. The version number of my manual is 01/2010, which might indicate that this version has been around for 10 years now. I therefore find it difficult to believe, that I should be the first owner to have stumbled over the above mentioned discrepancies?
Finally a few words regarding the cutting height adjustment:
By adjusting the rear roller up or down, the cutting height can be adjusted accordingly. The roller is fixed to the main body by 2 bolts on either side of the mower. The forward most bolt can be set at 2 different heights, whereas the one at the back can be set at 5 different heights. This should in theory allow for 10 different combinations. I have been able to select all 5 settings at the back, with the forward most bolt in its upper hole. With the forward bolt in its lower setting though, I was only able to select the 2 lower of the 5 holes at the rear. That adds up to a total of 7 settings.
Now I'm looking forward for spring to arrive, allowing me to test my new toy in the real world out there
Best regards
Jens