Bucket on while bus hogging?

[Baby Grand]

a follow up on my other post... I've mowed with and without the front end loader and I prefer without. More available power (900 lbs less weight), easier maneuverability, and (yes) a feeling of being more stable. Just a feeling, not taking sides on the COG, just feels less tippy. This is for areas that I've mowed before.

^ +1 for all the reasons stated + much better visibility.
I'll stick my neck out and say + better CG, too.
Downside is you can't use the FEL to curl yourself out if you get stuck in a soft spot.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I did my first big (3.5 acres--it's big to me!) bush-hogging today and thought of this thread often. I left the loader on and set it low to help catch obstacles. I ran across a small cedar that had fallen and was hidden in the grass. I don't think I would have missed it if the loader was off, but it was really nice to be able to just pick it up with the bucket and toss it against the fence-line. The loader also came in handy when pushing back some blackberry thickets that needed to be mowed. I just drove across the face of the thicket, the loader bucket low to the ground. It caught a lot of the vines and tore them out. Otherwise, they would probably have swept back against me as I went through, thorns and all. When I finished the pass, the bucket had a big spaghetti-tangle of blackberry vines hanging from one corner, and I just took it over to the fence and dumped it.

I can't say for sure whether the tractor would have been more stable on the hills with the bucket off, since I never took it off! :laughing: There was one section that was just too steep and uneven to tackle cross-wise, and I had to go up and down it. Thank goodness I have an HST or it would have been a nightmare. But I don't think I would have felt any safer with the loader off. Once the inclinometer gets to about 15 degrees, I'm done, no matter whether a wheel is in the air or not.

The loader came in handy one more time, on the way home. I wasn't 100% sure that the tractor had shifted out of 4wd when I got back on the pavement, so I stopped and put it back into 4wd, with the intent of immediately taking it out again. Well, it wouldn't come back out again, so I straightened the wheels, then rolled forward a smidge like I usually do. Whoops. Since I'm on asphalt, I'm just binding up the diff even more, and now it is really stuck. I picked up the front wheels with the loader and pressed the HST pedal just a smidge to relieve the tension in the diff, and it came back out of 4wd easily.

I think that if I was mowing a flat pasture that I had mowed before, and that I knew was clear of obstacles, I might take the loader off, but otherwise, it seems like "loader on" is the way to go.

 

[Marveltone]

^ +1 for all the reasons stated + much better visibility.
I'll stick my neck out and say + better CG, too.
Downside is you can't use the FEL to curl yourself out if you get stuck in a soft spot.

You said a mouthful there! Last time I was brush hogging, I sunk down to the axles in a soft spot. I used the FEL to curl my way out. If I had removed it beforehand, it would have been a long walk back to the house to get the truck and a chain... plus the possibility of getting the truck stuck also!

Joe