Rotary Cutter large mower small tractor

[99rt]

Hi i was wondering if i could use a woods cadet 6' tow behind mower on a bx 2360 . I thought i could tow it but am not sure if tractor can turn blades effectively or if it would just bog down. Or ruin my pto clutch. Any suggestions would be helpful thanks.

 

[Ken45101]

The general rule is 5 hp per foot of rotary cutter. You say "mower" so I'm not sure if you mean a rough cut (brush mower) or a finish mower. Your BX is 17 pto hp, so it would be way under powered for a rotary cutter and somewhat underpowered for a finish mower.

It depends on how thick and high the grass is. For light cutting, you could get away with it, but for heavy, overgrown grass, you would have to go very slow. OTOH, I have a 5' belly mower on my B2710 (20 pto hp) and it does fine. But adding a foot of cutter and reducing the hp by 3 would be pushing it, probably.

The other thing you might check is the weight and the lift ability of the BX. You might exceed the 3pt lift, or at least need added front weight to keep the front on the ground.

 

[greg_g]

Forget it. the Woods Cadet 72 is in fact a six foot rotary cutter, which requires a lot of initial torque to get it spinning. If it's a MD72, that's even worse. I doubt seriously your electric PTO clutch is up to the job. Besides, your lift capacity is 670 pounds. Even if you got the RC off the ground, I'd expect the steering to get very very light.

//greg//

 

[Turbys_1700]

I ran a 5' Land Pride RFM with a Yanmar YM1700 that is rated @ 17HP at the PTO...
That was all that it needed...
A 5' rough cut bush hog type cutter was too much for it...
The 5 HP per foot cut is a good rule of thumb...
I am running a 6 foot RFM now with a NH 1720 that is rated @ 23 HP at the PTO...
It runs it fine...