MT357 bending parts on 3pt

[PeteN]

I've had a couple of parts bend on the 3pt sway arms when using my King Cutter 6' brush hog. I've been using this same cutter on my JD 2020 for the past 20 years and never have had any issue with it on that tractor. The first part to bend was the actual multi-hole bar. I was able to straighten and reuse. This time the bolt/bracket that attaches the sway bar to the lifting arm bent. Always seems to happen on the right side. I'm cutting all kinds of terrain including sidehills and flat areas and am wondering if the side loads are creating the problem for this tractor. Is this a weak point? I don't want to stiffen these parts up as I'd rather sacrifice them then break something more meaningful. Once it bends it no longer maintains the position of the implement and there's not a lot of clearance between the tire and the lift arm. I've attached a few photos to show the damage on the right side vs what it should look like as well as my setup.

 

[ptsg]

How much side to side play to leave when you set up the cutter? Do you manage to get it without any side play?

While some of the parts do look slightly on the thin/flimsy side for what they do, I think you need to leave some side to side play. Mostly because the pivot for the lower arms is not perfectly inline with the pit for the telescopic stabilizers, this means the as the 3 pt raises as lowers, it will pull the arms sideways leaving it with some side to side play or completely tight and eventually bend something.

My tractor does the thing, minus the bending parts. It may or may not have stretched the holes slightly but I now set my implements with a little bit of play.

 

[Avenger]

That's what I was going to suggest, what @ptsg said. But also, they will only bend like that if you're backing up and put a significant load on the mower.
I have the exact same mower. It's impossible to mow a field with any obstacles without backing up while mowing. My problem is either backing into the object (rock, tree, dirt pile, whatever) or the mower dives into the ground due to awkward angles + mowing low.

John Deere may have beefier links that can withstand a bit more abuse. My advise is to use the elongated holes in the links to allow for some play, and be careful about backing up.

 

[PeteN]

The JD 2020 does not have the sway bar link setup at all. Beefy 3pt arms and it limits the side to side motion by using steel blocks are on the inside of each arm. These blocks are rectangular so you can change the sway by using the thicker or thinner side. One of the big problems I have with the LS is the ability to full lift the mower as high as I want due to the short lift arms (JDs are about 2" longer). This is one of the reasons I keep it a little tighter from swaying too much since if I keep it loose, contact with the tire is possible when at full lift. When I back up, especially when the terrain is not flat, the rear wheel can make contact with the ground. Maybe this is when it bent but I noticed the damage when I was sidehill cutting and the mower was drifting from center.

I've been using the JD for the more challenging terrain and areas around trees since it seems more stable than the LS and doesn't have a cab so it is lower to the ground, and left the easier cutting for the LS. Next time I cut with the LS I'm going to look at my setup again and see if I can improve it.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

I would think having both solid could put excessive force on some links/parts when going through a dip for example?

 

[Jrasband]

not surprising they bend looking at it. That is a lot of stress that mower puts on there. I would beef it up with more plate if it is not to late.

You may be able to buy new ones here.

Search Results | Agri Supply

www.agrisupply.com

 

[Eagle1]

One of the big problems I have with the LS is the ability to full lift the mower as high as I want due to the short lift arms (JDs are about 2" longer)

I relocated the lower pins to just above the deck on my cutter to get the lift I wanted. I had made that change for my BX to drag the mower around but found that location worked better for my LS XG3135 as well. I still did bend one of those links but was backing up a really steep slope in a dry retention pond knocking down little trees.
With the pins in the normal location I could only lift the mower ~18" off the ground with the pins lowered I get 4 foot plus lift at the tail wheel. YMMV

 

[PeteN]

not surprising they bend looking at it. That is a lot of stress that mower puts on there. I would beef it up with more plate if it is not to late.

The bend in the rear links is normal for this cutter. Since the mount points are not in line with each other this is what happens to a solid link. I found Oz_Kioti's post on these being chains interesting. What brand of mower is that?

Eagle1, that's a good suggestion. I may try something like that since I have to move the lift pins on the cutter from outside to inside when switching tractors. Having another set of pins would eliminate that. I'll need to get some bigger drills for that operation.

 

[PeteN]

I've been looking online for the part I bent on the 3pt. Can't get it separately but as an assembly with the stabilizing link. As has been noted by other members, the New Holland part is the same as the LS and is also cheaper. Seeing that the New Holland dealer is only 6 miles away vs 50 miles for the LS dealer I'll order one for a spare (they might actually have one in stock). I'll fix what I have but it will be nice to have a spare if it happens again for a quick repair. By the way, there seems to be a significant amount of wear on the pin of this part that goes through the lift arm. This location could use regular lube - a zerk would be even better.

 

[Eagle1]

Hmm looks like I can all the pieces separately for my XG but it is not same one as the one on your MT.

 

[Cycledude]

Pete thanks for posting about the issues. I have a very similar Dixie Cutter, bought it new back in the eighties, so far I haven’t noticed any bent parts on my XR 4155 but after hearing about your issues I definitely will be taking a closer look, have mowed with the adjustable arms in the locked holes and also the free play holes, prefer the locked holes but both ways seem to work about the same. I believe hitting something while backing up is most likely what caused yours to get bent. Not sure what kind of differences there might be between our two different LS tractor models.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

I found Oz_Kioti's post on these being chains interesting. What brand of mower is that?

I've had this one for about 20 years now. It's super heavy duty, and was made by an engineering firm about an hour's drive away. As you can see, the head-stock pivots so there's absolutely no stress on anything when going through a dip, or when pushing it backwards up a slope.

By adjusting the top link as required, you can have the chains as tight or loose as you want. I leave them with some slack on level ground, such that when doing sharp turns, I raise the 3PL, which lifts the front of the slasher off the ground and the rear pivoting wheel takes the weight so the back edges of the slasher don't dig in.

In practice, I have it all adjusted such that on the level the side skids are always just clear of the ground.

I ran it behind a 47hp LG (now LS) for many years. There was a fair bit of gear changing involved depending on the slope & amount of grass to be slashed. But since getting the 76hp Kioti three years ago, slashing is now a breeze!

 

[ptsg]

Over here you won't find a single brush cutter without those chains either. Honestly, I can't see a single reason as to why they put flat bars on those US cutters.

 

[5030]

Because they can...lol I keep my 84" Landpride in the sliding part of the stabilizers as the backend of the slasher can impart a huge leverage strain on the lift arms and stabilizers. My Landbride uses an articulating upper mount as well. The Bat wing don't.

 

[PeteN]

Here's the part I originally bent after I straightened it out. Note the wear pattern on the center of the pin. More than I expected for the low hours on the tractor using the 3pt. I decided to drill the holes necessary to install a grease zerk to hopefully lower the wear.

 

[Bobrown14]

I thought your bars look different than mine so I went out and took a pic. Looks like my bar ends are beefed up as you can see there is a steel square tube they are inside of. I have a similar size 72" rotary cutter that I beat the crap out of doing brush 10' high.

Here's what my arm looks like

 

[ptsg]

I thought your bars look different than mine so I went out and took a pic. Looks like my bar ends are beefed up as you can see there is a steel square tube they are inside of. I have a similar size 72" rotary cutter that I beat the crap out of doing brush 10' high.

Here's what my arm looks like View attachment 810339

Those are the lower/draft arms. The OP is talking about the telescopic stabilizers.

 

[PeteN]

I was at the local TYM dealer and was looking over their tractor line. Seems to be fairly well put together. One thing it is beefier on is the telescopic stabilizer links for the 3pt arms. Much heavier and a better design than the LS. I didn't get a pic but did find this on their website. It has a cast part at the lift arm instead of the bent flat plate so the forces go into the lift arm instead of bending the plate like mine did.

 

[Typhoon]

I had this issue as well. I bent and broke the links a couple times, then took them off and replaced them with class zero telescoping threaded links (same design as 3ph top link, but smaller). Problem solved, no problems since. Obviously you have to install class zero hitch pins in the 3ph lift arms to make this work. They fit perfectly.

 

[PeteN]

Interesting. I assume the down side of using threaded links is the adjustment time to fit various implements. The design they have on this tractor seems to be very weak.