How to operate rotary cutter

[joerocker]

This is being discussed on the "operating" forum too but I thought I'd ask other "Chinese" owners... I have a Farmpro 2420, Jinma clone.

Should you operate your bush hog (a HEAVY piece of equipment) with the 3PH partially raised or lowered all the way?

I'm thinking that all that weight bouncing around CAN'T be good for the hydraulics and the seals. Am I right?

Now, to cut my field, I have my bottom links screwed IN completely (as short as possible) and my top link is screwed OUT to push the top of the cutter away from the tractor to angle the front up. It's OK but I still scalp a bit and dig some ruts with the sides from time to time.

EVERYTHING, all the links are VERY tight. Will this be a problem?

Another guy has drilled holes for the bottom pins that are lower down the brace. This will lift the front of the cutter and allow the links to be looser.

So, all you tractor experts...which is the right way to go?

 

[joerocker]

This is being discussed on the "operating" forum too but I thought I'd ask other "Chinese" owners... I have a Farmpro 2420, Jinma clone.

Should you operate your bush hog (a HEAVY piece of equipment) with the 3PH partially raised or lowered all the way?

I'm thinking that all that weight bouncing around CAN'T be good for the hydraulics and the seals. Am I right?

Now, to cut my field, I have my bottom links screwed IN completely (as short as possible) and my top link is screwed OUT to push the top of the cutter away from the tractor to angle the front up. It's OK but I still scalp a bit and dig some ruts with the sides from time to time.

EVERYTHING, all the links are VERY tight. Will this be a problem?

Another guy has drilled holes for the bottom pins that are lower down the brace. This will lift the front of the cutter and allow the links to be looser.

So, all you tractor experts...which is the right way to go?

 

[greg_g]

Hopefully you're not talking about anything bigger than a 48" rotary cutter for that tractor. Anything else is too big. Correctly matching the mower size to tractor capability - and proper adjustment of the TPH - will render your concerns unwarranted. These machines are meant to be worked, not to be babied.

So. Once you've got the right size mower on your TPH, it should then be permitted to "float". To do that, you need to hydraulically raise the lower lift arms so that the cutting blades are at the desired height. Follow the manufacturer's instructions as to front versus rear height differential. Once raised to desired cutting height, the lower lift pins then become the pivot points to reduce scalping through dips and rises.

The toplink should be loosened several inches for mowing. If this is NOT done, the aforementioned lift pin pivoting action can't happen. If this is NOT done, the deck will rise and fall like an overstarched beaver tail. When the nose of the tractor goes downhill, the tail wheel will be picked up off the ground. When the nose of the tractor goes up hill, your tractor/mower will try to fold up in the middle. At best, you get an uneven cut. At worst; equipment damage.

A loosened toplink - especially in conjunction with a flexible toplink bracket - will permit the tail wheel of the mower to stay on the ground, regardless of what the front wheels of the tractor are doing. When you're done mowing, tighten up the toplink, lift up the deck, head back to the barn.

//greg//

 

[greg_g]

Hopefully you're not talking about anything bigger than a 48" rotary cutter for that tractor. Anything else is too big. Correctly matching the mower size to tractor capability - and proper adjustment of the TPH - will render your concerns unwarranted. These machines are meant to be worked, not to be babied.

So. Once you've got the right size mower on your TPH, it should then be permitted to "float". To do that, you need to hydraulically raise the lower lift arms so that the cutting blades are at the desired height. Follow the manufacturer's instructions as to front versus rear height differential. Once raised to desired cutting height, the lower lift pins then become the pivot points to reduce scalping through dips and rises.

The toplink should be loosened several inches for mowing. If this is NOT done, the aforementioned lift pin pivoting action can't happen. If this is NOT done, the deck will rise and fall like an overstarched beaver tail. When the nose of the tractor goes downhill, the tail wheel will be picked up off the ground. When the nose of the tractor goes up hill, your tractor/mower will try to fold up in the middle. At best, you get an uneven cut. At worst; equipment damage.

A loosened toplink - especially in conjunction with a flexible toplink bracket - will permit the tail wheel of the mower to stay on the ground, regardless of what the front wheels of the tractor are doing. When you're done mowing, tighten up the toplink, lift up the deck, head back to the barn.

//greg//

 

[RonMar]

Just keep scalping, the high spots will eventually go away

As Greg Says, the deck needs to be able to tilt front to back to help follow the contours. I have even seen some use a length of chain inplace of the toplink to facilitate this.
The setup instructions in my current mower owners manual say to rig it with the rear end low when fully lifted. My setup(Rankin) uses a flat metal strap and a length of chain between where the toplink attaches and the rear of the mower deck to allow this flexibility. I set it up so at full lift, the rear wheel of the mower just lift's off the ground for transport and turnaround. At fully lowered, I set the arms at a height that gives a nearly level deck. I leave mine slightly raised in the front(1"-2") as this seems to helps with scalping on my very rough ground. My property is the roughest I have ever mowed with a hog and I have found the best thing for scalping is to mow once and scalp away, then swap out the mower for the box grader and go remove the high spots that were identified with the mower I have spent a good portion of my tractor time doing this last fall with the FEL and this spring with the box grader. I am looking forward to a much smoother brush hog experience this summer(Untill I get back to busting brush

Ideally, you could add wheels to the front of the deck and remove the toplink all together while mowing and tow the thing over the ground like a wagon with the 3PH arms setup to go way down low so the mower always rides on it's wheels when mowing. This would take the tractor movements out of the equation, but even this would scalp the high spots that came up between the mower wheels, so getting rid of them is the best solution in my opinion.

 

[RonMar]

Just keep scalping, the high spots will eventually go away

As Greg Says, the deck needs to be able to tilt front to back to help follow the contours. I have even seen some use a length of chain inplace of the toplink to facilitate this.
The setup instructions in my current mower owners manual say to rig it with the rear end low when fully lifted. My setup(Rankin) uses a flat metal strap and a length of chain between where the toplink attaches and the rear of the mower deck to allow this flexibility. I set it up so at full lift, the rear wheel of the mower just lift's off the ground for transport and turnaround. At fully lowered, I set the arms at a height that gives a nearly level deck. I leave mine slightly raised in the front(1"-2") as this seems to helps with scalping on my very rough ground. My property is the roughest I have ever mowed with a hog and I have found the best thing for scalping is to mow once and scalp away, then swap out the mower for the box grader and go remove the high spots that were identified with the mower I have spent a good portion of my tractor time doing this last fall with the FEL and this spring with the box grader. I am looking forward to a much smoother brush hog experience this summer(Untill I get back to busting brush

Ideally, you could add wheels to the front of the deck and remove the toplink all together while mowing and tow the thing over the ground like a wagon with the 3PH arms setup to go way down low so the mower always rides on it's wheels when mowing. This would take the tractor movements out of the equation, but even this would scalp the high spots that came up between the mower wheels, so getting rid of them is the best solution in my opinion.

 

[tat2z1969]

I went to TSC and bought a short top link and welded 5 links of chain to the hog end, then set the hog up level on flat ground and leave the top link loose, just tighten it enough that it will pick the hog up high enough to move around your property without hitting the ground when not cutting.
My place has some deep drops and this works good for me and the 7 foot Woods brush hog.

 

[tat2z1969]

I went to TSC and bought a short top link and welded 5 links of chain to the hog end, then set the hog up level on flat ground and leave the top link loose, just tighten it enough that it will pick the hog up high enough to move around your property without hitting the ground when not cutting.
My place has some deep drops and this works good for me and the 7 foot Woods brush hog.

 

[Soundguy]

Many cutters have a flexible 'u' link.. or a slotted pin area to allow for some slack inthe toplink. My KK has the flex 'u' link, while my howse has a 4" slot where the toplink pins to..

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Many cutters have a flexible 'u' link.. or a slotted pin area to allow for some slack inthe toplink. My KK has the flex 'u' link, while my howse has a 4" slot where the toplink pins to..

Soundguy