Have BCS, Need Mower Implelment

[natjwest]

I have a BCS 730 with Kohler Magnum 8, and would like to get a brush mower implement for it. Sickle is okay, brush is okay, flail is okay, but the "finish" mower probably not.

Can my BCS only fit BCS and Grillo brand implements? I've read here that Gravely won't "just work", but other than the bolt pattern, are there other things to look out for when finding a mower implement? Other brands I can search for? Obviously, I can't run a BIG mower with my engine.

Thanks

 

[farmerboybill]

Hey Nat,

Congratulations on the 730 purchase!

Your BCS will only fit implements that have the 3 dog coupler or the spline coupler with an adapter. They don't HAVE to be BCS, look on Joel's site and you'll see that most BCS attachments aren't even made by BCS. For expample, the rough cut mowers are Del Morino, The chippers are Caravaggi, etc.

Your 730 WILL NOT fit the BCS 200 series attachments, which are four dog drive and attach by a wire lock on each side. There is no commercially available adapter. Oldmech, a regular on here, has custom made his own adapter to mount Gravely implements on his Grillo. Unfortunately, his Grillo has the proper rotation and you BCS does not. Also the Grillo are still spline drive, not 3 dog drive like the BCS machines. His adapter would work on your machine if you then put a spline-to-3 dog on it, and then it would only work for sickle mowers. Any other mower will turn the wrong way.

I run a 38 inch finish mower on my 715. It was far from ideal, but it did turn it. I had free-wheel devices on my 715 to aid in turning, but they had other shortcomings I could get into if you want me. My ultimate decision to upgrade to an 850 was determined by trying to mow with the 715. It was just too slooow and hard to maneuver with the solid axle. Your 730 has another gear over my 715 that should overcome the slowness.

Hopefully I didn't go on for too long.

Bill in WI

 

[FlaDon]

Hey Nat,

Congratulations on the 730 purchase!

Your BCS will only fit implements that have the 3 dog coupler or the spline coupler with an adapter. They don't HAVE to be BCS, look on Joel's site and you'll see that most BCS attachments aren't even made by BCS. For expample, the rough cut mowers are Del Morino, The chippers are Caravaggi, etc.

Your 730 WILL NOT fit the BCS 200 series attachments, which are four dog drive and attach by a wire lock on each side. There is no commercially available adapter. Oldmech, a regular on here, has custom made his own adapter to mount Gravely implements on his Grillo. Unfortunately, his Grillo has the proper rotation and you BCS does not. Also the Grillo are still spline drive, not 3 dog drive like the BCS machines. His adapter would work on your machine if you then put a spline-to-3 dog on it, and then it would only work for sickle mowers. Any other mower will turn the wrong way.

I run a 38 inch finish mower on my 715. It was far from ideal, but it did turn it. I had free-wheel devices on my 715 to aid in turning, but they had other shortcomings I could get into if you want me. My ultimate decision to upgrade to an 850 was determined by trying to mow with the 715. It was just too slooow and hard to maneuver with the solid axle. Your 730 has another gear over my 715 that should overcome the slowness.

Hopefully I didn't go on for too long.

Bill in WI

If he fitted the adapter like oldmech and used either a Gravely 601 drive on a 30" deck, or the earlier 58/58A, or lefhand drives, all you'd have to do is get the correct blade. Gravely made drives that turned the blades either clockwise or counterclockwise. The blades are still available for either type.