Help with top link adjustment for rotary cutter.

Highbeam · May 23, 2006

All you need to completely float a deck is three points of ground contact. Heck, you could drag it from the hitch if you had front gauge wheels. What you will have is a rough cut finish mower.

I think part of the character of a brush hog cut field is the slight variations. Digging in to the dirt should really be avoided though.

Highbeam · May 23, 2006

All you need to completely float a deck is three points of ground contact. Heck, you could drag it from the hitch if you had front gauge wheels. What you will have is a rough cut finish mower.

I think part of the character of a brush hog cut field is the slight variations. Digging in to the dirt should really be avoided though.

daTeacha · May 23, 2006

My situation is the opposite of Beenthere's pic. I have a ditch bank I'd like to keep free of multiflora, but the ditch is alongside a 60 mph road and near a blind corner. If I can figure out a way to lower the mower from the top so it will cut at about a 45 degree down angle from a level tractor, I'd be sitting pretty. I may need to get a new PTO shaft, but do you guys have any ideas about how to rig things to allow the mower to hang down over an edge for mowing yet still be able to pick it up to at least level to move over 4 feet and do it again? No, I don't have T n T, but I do have a set of rear remotes.

daTeacha · May 23, 2006

My situation is the opposite of Beenthere's pic. I have a ditch bank I'd like to keep free of multiflora, but the ditch is alongside a 60 mph road and near a blind corner. If I can figure out a way to lower the mower from the top so it will cut at about a 45 degree down angle from a level tractor, I'd be sitting pretty. I may need to get a new PTO shaft, but do you guys have any ideas about how to rig things to allow the mower to hang down over an edge for mowing yet still be able to pick it up to at least level to move over 4 feet and do it again? No, I don't have T n T, but I do have a set of rear remotes.

KiotiJohn · May 23, 2006

( I may need to get a new PTO shaft, but do you guys have any ideas about how to rig things to allow the mower to hang down over an edge for mowing yet still be able to pick it up to at least level to move over 4 feet and do it again? )
I've have set mine, at times, to allow the rear to hang way down by lengthening the top link to the extreme. I was still able to pick it up enough, with the tailwheel still touching, to move over and back into the material. I nearly never have had to pick it up all the way, just enough to let it move.

I back into my ditches with the mower up some, and as it goes in, I start lowering it to cut. Works great for me.

John

KiotiJohn · May 23, 2006

( I may need to get a new PTO shaft, but do you guys have any ideas about how to rig things to allow the mower to hang down over an edge for mowing yet still be able to pick it up to at least level to move over 4 feet and do it again? )
I've have set mine, at times, to allow the rear to hang way down by lengthening the top link to the extreme. I was still able to pick it up enough, with the tailwheel still touching, to move over and back into the material. I nearly never have had to pick it up all the way, just enough to let it move.

I back into my ditches with the mower up some, and as it goes in, I start lowering it to cut. Works great for me.

John

GaryE · May 23, 2006

You've got a crazy twist on your belt. 

Highbeam,

That is common for that era Woods RFM. I have a RM59. It is a tank, but what really gets twisted is your brain as you try to put that belt on! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Gary

GaryE · May 23, 2006

You've got a crazy twist on your belt. 

Highbeam,

That is common for that era Woods RFM. I have a RM59. It is a tank, but what really gets twisted is your brain as you try to put that belt on! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Gary

beenthere · May 23, 2006

djradz
In your pic posted, its a good one of the check chains for height, but I don't see any allowance or room for the rear of the deck to raise without bending something with that top link being so long.
A good place for a chain instead of the toplink. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

beenthere · May 23, 2006

djradz
In your pic posted, its a good one of the check chains for height, but I don't see any allowance or room for the rear of the deck to raise without bending something with that top link being so long.
A good place for a chain instead of the toplink. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

beenthere · May 23, 2006

Adding a long hyd cylinder to the deck in place of either my chains or the straps would allow you to droop the rear of the deck further and still pick it up. With your rear remotes, you could then position the control valve in float to allow the rear of the deck to follow the ground. I'd think, anyway.
Can't think of anything else that would work on the negative slope. Gets hairy to back up to a slope like that. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

beenthere · May 23, 2006

Adding a long hyd cylinder to the deck in place of either my chains or the straps would allow you to droop the rear of the deck further and still pick it up. With your rear remotes, you could then position the control valve in float to allow the rear of the deck to follow the ground. I'd think, anyway.
Can't think of anything else that would work on the negative slope. Gets hairy to back up to a slope like that. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

KiotiJohn · May 23, 2006

( All you need to completely float a deck is three points of ground contact. )
Joe, I've looked at this picture several times now, and I finally decided that I really wouldn't want to modify my hog with those front gauge wheels. I wouldn't be able to drop the front all the way down as I often need/want to do. When I'm cutting a ditch bank, back down into it, I like to then drop the mower all the way down and really cut thing close. Those wheels would get in the way of that for me. I can think of a few other situations where I would want to lower it all the way down.
John

KiotiJohn · May 23, 2006

( All you need to completely float a deck is three points of ground contact. )
Joe, I've looked at this picture several times now, and I finally decided that I really wouldn't want to modify my hog with those front gauge wheels. I wouldn't be able to drop the front all the way down as I often need/want to do. When I'm cutting a ditch bank, back down into it, I like to then drop the mower all the way down and really cut thing close. Those wheels would get in the way of that for me. I can think of a few other situations where I would want to lower it all the way down.
John

Highbeam · May 23, 2006

That mower was not mine but an example of a poor top link structure design that I needed to remove for another project. The photo shows that front gauge wheels can be done and one way to do it. I don't even use chain guards on my hog. I like the implementation of check chains on that NH though.

With position control on the 3ph, the only reason I can see for check chains is so that you could raise the hog off of a surprise stump or rock and then put it back down to the same height without depending on that handy set screw.

Highbeam · May 23, 2006

That mower was not mine but an example of a poor top link structure design that I needed to remove for another project. The photo shows that front gauge wheels can be done and one way to do it. I don't even use chain guards on my hog. I like the implementation of check chains on that NH though.

With position control on the 3ph, the only reason I can see for check chains is so that you could raise the hog off of a surprise stump or rock and then put it back down to the same height without depending on that handy set screw.

KiotiJohn · May 23, 2006

( With position control on the 3ph, the only reason I can see for check chains is so that you could raise the hog off of a surprise stump or rock and then put it back down to the same height without depending on that handy set screw.)
Yeah, the chains are really handy for older style hitches without position control and those that have become droopers and don't stay up well.

With position control, I just set my hog to the number on the lever guide that I know gives me the cut I want for a particular property, and if I hit something, I raise it quickly and then put it back to that number. Works great for me.

John

KiotiJohn · May 23, 2006

( With position control on the 3ph, the only reason I can see for check chains is so that you could raise the hog off of a surprise stump or rock and then put it back down to the same height without depending on that handy set screw.)
Yeah, the chains are really handy for older style hitches without position control and those that have become droopers and don't stay up well.

With position control, I just set my hog to the number on the lever guide that I know gives me the cut I want for a particular property, and if I hit something, I raise it quickly and then put it back to that number. Works great for me.

John

normde2001 · May 24, 2006

"With position control on the 3ph, the only reason I can see for check chains is so that you could raise the hog off of a surprise stump or rock and then put it back down to the same height without depending on that handy set screw."

All the check chains do is save wear and tear on the 3ph. The chains take the load rather than the hydraulics, a pretty good $35 investment, I think.

normde2001 · May 24, 2006

"With position control on the 3ph, the only reason I can see for check chains is so that you could raise the hog off of a surprise stump or rock and then put it back down to the same height without depending on that handy set screw."

All the check chains do is save wear and tear on the 3ph. The chains take the load rather than the hydraulics, a pretty good $35 investment, I think.