Ford 1710: Loader, Hoe, Snowblower, Box scrapper & 3ph Forks
The Bush Hog web site (http://www.bushhog.com/), and other manufacturers list specs with their equipment. To find an appropriate unit, just check the recommended PTO HP and the weight to make sure the 3ph capacity isn't exceeded. Most manufacturers make rotary cutters in several duty grades. Specs for the different grades indicate the recommended thickness, rather than the height, of material that can be cut.
Bush Hog recommends 30 HP minimum for a 5' heavy-duty cutter (rated for 3" material). Lighter duty and narrower models require less HP.
Nice to see that there's more than two people out there who still have L185's. For a couple of years we had a 5' Bush Hog attached to our unit and it really was too much mower for the tractor to handle, and went back to the 60" belly-mouonted mower. We're currently looking to trade that Bush Hog in for something larger to attach to our Ford 340. I'd be interested in knowing what you finally settled on.
The L175 only has a 15horsepower rating at the PTO. I don't think (but more than likely am wrong) the L185 is much different. The L175 is a 2 cylinder deisel engine. Probably a little weak for the 5 foot bush hog.
The L210 is rated at 19.5 at the PTO shaft, so I would assume (nasty word to use) that the L185 would fall in between on the lower end...16 hp or so?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by scruffy on 10/12/00 07:37 PM.</FONT></P>
If the L185 is using the 17hp 2 cylinder engine, then it sounds the same as my L175 which has a 15 hp rated PTO. EBay had a Shop manual going at 9.95 for the L185.
THANK-YOU FOR THE ANSWERS GIVEN BY EVERYONE ON THE L185 KABOTA ABOUT BUSH HOG. I PURCHASED A 4 FT HOWSE.ROUGH CUT ROTARY MOWER. IT WORKS JUST FINE. I MIGHT NEED FRONT END WIEGHT IN REAL SANDY AREAS.OTHER THAN THAT IT WORKS GREAT, VERY DEPENDABLE. I HAVE A 5FT BLADE ,A FINISH MOWER, AND A FERTILIZER SPREADER. I COMPLETELY RESTORED MY TRACTOR, FROM THE GROUND UP. REBUILT , PAINTED, AND DECALED IT TOO,IT HAS 1700 HRS ON IT. AND LIVES INDOORS, AND MY WIFE DOSEN'T COMPLAIN EITHER. THANK-YOU FOR THE REPLYS.
I have an L185 that I recently bought used with a 4' bush hog. It was working great until yesterday when I hit something. The PTO turns up to speed slowly with the bush hog under no load. As soon as I get into grass, it bogs down and stops. I recently replaced the shear pin with something, in hindsight, that probably was not a shear pin. My original shear pin fell out and I just bought a bolt from ACE hardware that was the same size.
Anybody out there experienced this behavior from their PTO? I read on a previous posting that there may be a spring loaded PTO clutch reset that didn't reset fully maybe.
