Finish mower PTO issue with Quick Hitch

Jeepnford · Sunday at 9:55 PM

I have a Bush Hog RDTH-72 finish mower I'm trying to use on a quick hitch. The problem I'm having is the lift pin brackets "float" up and down about 4 inches or so. When the pins are up there's plenty of clearance. When the pins are down the PTO cover rubs on the QH. I have a top link adapter on it. I was thinking about drilling and putting a bolt so the lift pins on the mower were fixed in the up position. Would that cause issues with the mower following ground contours or other issues?

pmsmechanic · 2025-10-13T06:53:51-0400

I had the same problem with my 72" Farm King mower. I did 2 different fixes. One I notched and reinforced the top cross piece of the quick hitch so that the pto shaft had a few more inches of space. Secondly the lower arms on the mower had stops welded onto the mounting slot so that they could no longer drop to the bottom of the slot they were mounted in. The lower arms could still move up and down but no longer had the factory range of motion. I never experienced any problems with that modification.

workinonit · 2025-10-13T07:46:06-0400

Does it rub hard enough that the guard pushes into the PTO shaft?

Jeepnford · 2025-10-13T11:22:52-0400

workinonit said:
Does it rub hard enough that the guard pushes into the PTO shaft?

No. It's rubbing through the guard only.

Jeepnford · 2025-10-13T11:27:44-0400

pmsmechanic said:
I had the same problem with my 72" Farm King mower. I did 2 different fixes. One I notched and reinforced the top cross piece of the quick hitch so that the pto shaft had a few more inches of space. Secondly the lower arms on the mower had stops welded onto the mounting slot so that they could no longer drop to the bottom of the slot they were mounted in. The lower arms could still move up and down but no longer had the factory range of motion. I never experienced any problems with that modification.

I'll probably try to restrict the range of the lift pins first, then modify the QH if needed. I haven't seen one up close yet but I believe on the new model Bush Hog finish mowers the lift arm pins are fixed.