JC79
New member
RK24 Owners,
Up front disclaimer:
I'm excited to have the RK24 and love it thus far. This is my first tractor and Outdoor with the Morgans was a huge influence in my purchase. All that said, I'm a newbie with tractors. My comments below are in that context so please don't construe my comments as a complaint; I'm new and some things may not be so obvious to a beginner. I wanted to share this solely to help others in my situation.
First the basics:
- I picked up the RK24 with backhoe attached, and the brush hog loaded on the trailer with a skid steer by Rural King, and a grapple on order last week.
- I'm brand new to having a tractor, but am reasonably experienced towing bumper mounts and fifth wheels.
- Being new to tractors, the whole 3 pt hitch stuff is new to me.
- while I appreciate the 'bigger tractor' responses, I'd much prefer to have feedback based on the RK24 specifically. Thanks in advance for that.
The situation is that I could not get the RK24 on the 20' trailer that I also purchased from Rural King. The season is that the back wheel of the brush hog stays on the ground and pinches the brush hog up while on the ramps. With other pictures that I have seen of tractors, the rear end of the brush hog (ie the end with the wheel), is off the ground when the 3 point hitch is lifted. Mine is not. With the 3 point hitch up all the way, my brush hog tilts downwards towards the rear and is still resting on the wheel. So when I start to climb up the trailer with the brush hog wheel on the ground, it lifts the rear end as the tractor is tipping backwards to climb the ramps and I get stuck.
So I trailered the RK24 with backhoe home, unloaded it off the trailer, and did some rudimentary playing with the backhoe. All of that went well.
I then wanted to dismount the backhoe, attach the 4' King Kutter brush hog matched for the RK24, then trailer it to my field. I assumed (yeah I know!) the most difficult part would be dismounting the backhoe. But my biggest challenge, by far, was getting the brush hog ready and attached. First there was no manual, then I found one taped up underneath the hog. Next the instructions in the manual (from my vantage point) where not in the appropriate order practically speaking. When it was all said and done, I couldn't get the dang thing on my trailer.
As I described above in this situation, I end up with the tractor in an upward V position with the front end high (climbing the trailer ramps), the rear 3pt hitch end low as a results of the trailer ramp, and the back of the brush hog high as it's still resting on the rear wheel pushing the front of the brush hog down.
The result is that I reach the pivot limits of the brush hog and/or catch the brush hog on the trailer ramps.
I'm sure there is something stupid/silly that I'm missing so any help would be appreciated. I did see that I could put a come-along from the back wheel to a point on the front of the brush hog to lift it up to a point that I might be able to trailer it, but I called it a day before trying that. My thinking was that there was surely something I was missing before resulting to that.
I did call the store where I purchased it, but was informed that they have seen so few RK24s that they simply do not know.
Thanks in advance,
John
Up front disclaimer:
I'm excited to have the RK24 and love it thus far. This is my first tractor and Outdoor with the Morgans was a huge influence in my purchase. All that said, I'm a newbie with tractors. My comments below are in that context so please don't construe my comments as a complaint; I'm new and some things may not be so obvious to a beginner. I wanted to share this solely to help others in my situation.
First the basics:
- I picked up the RK24 with backhoe attached, and the brush hog loaded on the trailer with a skid steer by Rural King, and a grapple on order last week.
- I'm brand new to having a tractor, but am reasonably experienced towing bumper mounts and fifth wheels.
- Being new to tractors, the whole 3 pt hitch stuff is new to me.
- while I appreciate the 'bigger tractor' responses, I'd much prefer to have feedback based on the RK24 specifically. Thanks in advance for that.
The situation is that I could not get the RK24 on the 20' trailer that I also purchased from Rural King. The season is that the back wheel of the brush hog stays on the ground and pinches the brush hog up while on the ramps. With other pictures that I have seen of tractors, the rear end of the brush hog (ie the end with the wheel), is off the ground when the 3 point hitch is lifted. Mine is not. With the 3 point hitch up all the way, my brush hog tilts downwards towards the rear and is still resting on the wheel. So when I start to climb up the trailer with the brush hog wheel on the ground, it lifts the rear end as the tractor is tipping backwards to climb the ramps and I get stuck.
So I trailered the RK24 with backhoe home, unloaded it off the trailer, and did some rudimentary playing with the backhoe. All of that went well.
I then wanted to dismount the backhoe, attach the 4' King Kutter brush hog matched for the RK24, then trailer it to my field. I assumed (yeah I know!) the most difficult part would be dismounting the backhoe. But my biggest challenge, by far, was getting the brush hog ready and attached. First there was no manual, then I found one taped up underneath the hog. Next the instructions in the manual (from my vantage point) where not in the appropriate order practically speaking. When it was all said and done, I couldn't get the dang thing on my trailer.
As I described above in this situation, I end up with the tractor in an upward V position with the front end high (climbing the trailer ramps), the rear 3pt hitch end low as a results of the trailer ramp, and the back of the brush hog high as it's still resting on the rear wheel pushing the front of the brush hog down.
The result is that I reach the pivot limits of the brush hog and/or catch the brush hog on the trailer ramps.
I'm sure there is something stupid/silly that I'm missing so any help would be appreciated. I did see that I could put a come-along from the back wheel to a point on the front of the brush hog to lift it up to a point that I might be able to trailer it, but I called it a day before trying that. My thinking was that there was surely something I was missing before resulting to that.
I did call the store where I purchased it, but was informed that they have seen so few RK24s that they simply do not know.
Thanks in advance,
John
