Gravely 5660 - Lift up all the time while mowing?

[marrt]

I received a Gravely 5660 with a property I purchased and gave it a try yesterday. It's got a brush mower on the front. While the tractor cut well, I found it very hard to use. The front would "ride up" while mowing forward. I had to lift up on the handles all the time while mowing to do a decent job. Obviously, this was very fatiguing. Is the tractor supposed to have some weights on the front or some type of drag bar or wheels in the back? I'm 6'1" and can't use it like this for more than a few minutes at a time.

 

[oldmech]

Hi! You must add weights front the mower deck about 20 pounds. The engine torque lift the mower. Good luck ! Oldmech

 

[Fluid]

Does you brush cutter look like this one? (Just the cutter on the front of the tractor.) If it does there is a weight that is made for it. I saw one on ebay last week or you can just attach some dumb bell weights to the front of the deck. Maybe you could post a picture of you unit? Gravely 30 inch Rotary Mower Counter Weight | eBay

 

[marrt]

The mower looks like this: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M7E1e6_QO1k/maxresdefault.jpg I'll post a picture of my tractor next time I go over to the property. Guess I need to add a weight to the front.

 

[Fluid]

Nice Tractor. I see you asked the same question on another forum (mytractorforum). And got the same answer, add weight. The two wheel Gravely is a good machine, but you have to be in good shape to run it. Its gets easier over time when you learn the technique. I see you have the newer style 30" brush deck, so the style weights on ebay that I posted may not work well with your deck. You just have to figure out some way of mounting weight to the front part of the deck. You can download all the manuals you need from gravelymanuals.com for free. gravelyparts.com is a good place to find parts. Ebay and craigslist are others. Good luck and keep us posted. P.S. mytractorforum is the best forum for Gravely info out of all the forums out there. Some great folks there.

 

[marrt]

Thanks Fluid. BTW...that's not my actual tractor. It's just a picture I found online that shows the type of mower I have. I'll post some pics of my tractor...later today if possible.

 

[Fluid]

Sounds great marrt, will be looking forward to seeing them.

 

[RalphVa]

I had a 5665. It was perfectly balanced with the bush hog mower. Did use it once with a bag of sand on the mower.

Ralph

 

[js5020]

The bigger Kohlers need either the long shaft gearbox(not as common) and/or 15 or so lbs on the nose of the deck. I drilled and put a piece of 3/8 allthread on the front of the deck and lay some barbell weights on to suit as my 30" decks are short shaft gearboxes. Using a sulky might require more weight, I tried the steering sulky once and it was a real pita even with 20lb on the deck, never tried it with the regular sulky.