Chain for toplink while bushhogging

[RSKY]

I am 64 years old and have been running a tractor with mower since I was about 14. But I learned a new trick, at least to me, this year. Very simply I took my top link off the 3-point and bought a three foot length of chain to replace it while using my mower. With the chain out to it's full 3 foot length I can back up and the mower rear end would drop down in a ditch or on a levee on a pond bank. And speaking of pond levees. I was able to back up onto the levees with the wheel on the back of the mower raising it up once to an angle nearly 45 degrees.

In other words it made a tool a lot more useful.

Why didn't I think of that fifty years ago. Why didn't I do this the first time I read it on TBN.

RSKY

 

[jaxs]

:scratchchin::scratchchin: Are you saying chain is taut while on level ground but alow's rear of deck to drop lower if backed into a ditch?

 

[300UGUY]

I bought a chain top link from Tsc years ago. It has a adjustable piece on it. It lets the stump jumper work like it should. It won’t let the deck go lower, but it will left it ride up over obstructions.

 

[4570Man]

I just leave the top link off when I’m bush hogging.

 

[TerryR]

My 20-year-old BushHog brand cutter uses a fixed top link, but the connection to the A-frame back to the deck is chain. I set the top link so the chain runs slack on level ground and small bumps, but come taunt when I back the cutter into a ditch. Works beautifully. I have no clue why they changed the design.

 

[RSKY]

:scratchchin::scratchchin: Are you saying chain is taut while on level ground but alow's rear of deck to drop lower if backed into a ditch?

The chain is loose while mowing. At it's full length the front is two-three foot off the ground before the wheel on the back comes up. I can back up and keep lowering the lift and get pretty far down in a ditch. Imagine taking the top link completely off while mowing and backing up a bank or into a ditch. I usually run with it shortened so the front is only a foot or foot and a half when the back comes up. The only thing that worries me is backing up a levee and hitting something that would make the mower flip over onto the tractor. Don't think that is possible but I'm sure not going to experiment to find out. This is on my Kioti which is a very small compact tractor. I'm going to do the same thing with the bigger Ford tractor next year.

Several years ago my mother was mowing with the Ford 4600 which is a 60-hp, 6000 pound tractor and a nut came off the left three point pin on the mower just as she stood on the left brake to swing the tractor around. When I got there the mower was sitting on top of the left fender and tire. The blade went thru the tire three times before she got it stopped. Sitting in the seat I could touch the blade. All the links on the tractor were bent including the very thick top link.

Be safe out there.

RSKY

 

[Texasmark]

On chain vs no chain, some hogs have a strap from the mounting point to the rear for lifting the rear when you raise the implement. Between the strap and the deck is a section of chain....aka same result as your using a chain as your 3rd member.

Neighbor new to farming/ranching bent his JD OEM third member running over hills with his 6' JD hog. You wouldn't do that if it were a chain.

 

[Zebrafive]

What about the PTO shaft? Can it hit the deck? Will the angles become to severe?

 

[RSKY]

What about the PTO shaft? Can it hit the deck? Will the angles become to severe?

I can see that happening and that is why I didn't run the mower with just the bottom two links. With the three foot chain on my little tractor things worked out okay. If the chain had been a foot longer the PTO shaft might have made contact with the mower body.

RSKY

 

[LD1]

Most modern cutters have some type of flex hitch.

Either a swinging clevis where toplink hooks, or a chain from a-frame to deck, or linkages that hinge, etc.

But some cutters are 100% rigid. And if the straps down to the deck arent stout enough to force the WHOLE cutter to float up....they bend.

Yes, a chain fixes this. So does a hydraulic toplink if you have it set to float