Unusual Brush Hog Design

[MDNick]

I have seen an unusual brush hog sitting next to the road a few times up in PA. Anyone in the DC/Frederick MD area that has been to Whitetail ski resort has driven by it, it is just north of Clear Spring MD.

It is painted industrial yellow and has a tire mounted to it like it is on a shaft behind where a gearbox would normally go. It 'looks' like there are some carrier bearings in front and behind the tire and appears to have a regular PTO shaft and 3PH. Does anyone know if this tire is used as a flywheel (don't know why you would want one and a pneumatic tire would make a lousy flywheel) or is THE gearbox with a friction contact drive against a plate above or below the deck. At 50 mph I haven't yet determined whether there is a gearbox. There is a band shield that goes from the deck, up over the wheel and down the other side. The tire is about the size of what you would find on a full sized car.

It certainly does not appear modern. Heck it might not even be a brush hog, but it is has all the normal brush hog looks, except of course for this tire.

Anyone ever heard of such a thing, or live in the area and want to go see the critter?

 

[Turtleboy]

You have spotted a Sidewinder brush hog. Quite odd looking I would agree. I believe the tire takes place of the gear box, which happens to the company's main selling point....no gear box to tear up.

Check out there website www.side-winder.com

 

[CSAW]

Looks interesting. How are the prices?

 

[Turtleboy]

Don't know anything about their pricing.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

As the tire wears... what keeps up the slack... do they have an idler type assembly...?

What PTO hp drives these... what is the cutting capacity of these units...?

They look very interesting... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[CSAW]

JM III I would assume that the pnuematic tire takes up the slack. I think that by adjusting the air pressure in the tire it would also work like a slipper clutch.

 

[rbargeron]

I think these date back to the '70s or earlier. Something tells me they were John Deere Industrial models (yellow) or maybe they were Massey Industrials. Some models had two more tires on the sides with a bellcrank affair for adjusting cutting height.

The drive tire drove on the stump-jumper disk through a hole in the deck. They seemed to disappear from the market - nobody else picked up on the design idea that I know of.

 

[patrickg]

I coulda bought one at auction last summer for $50. No tranny, no right angle gear box thingy needed. Really simple design. There is a hole in the deck where the tire tread contacts a metal wheel which is a part of the rotating cutter assy. If you jam the blade on a log or rock the tire slips and no power transmission components are damaged. Pretty light duty work for the tire, oughta rot off long before it would wear out (guessing, I never used one).

Patrick

 

[MDNick]

I knew the TBN brain trust would come through again. Yep that is what I saw. And is more or less what I figured it was. I'd think the hole in the deck wold be a hell of a place for debri to collect and come through, but maybe not.

Thanks, guys, yet another mystery solved. Is a nice drive train friendly design, though a bit odd. But odd only in that the standard gearbox is normal. Someone was thinking outside the 'gearbox'./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[hightechredneck]

My brother has one of these, but I'm not sure of the maker. It's a very heavy duty drag type unit. I believe it is either a 6 or 7 foot cut. I have used it behind an old MF 65 several times and could mow just about anything with it. He's still using it and swears by it. Never had any kind of maintenance other than a bolt on the transport axle breaking from the weight of the thing. It's got to be close to 2K pounds.

Regards,

 

[duke7595]

My brother has one of these, but I'm not sure of the maker. It's a very heavy duty drag type unit. I believe it is either a 6 or 7 foot cut. I have used it behind an old MF 65 several times and could mow just about anything with it. He's still using it and swears by it. Never had any kind of maintenance other than a bolt on the transport axle breaking from the weight of the thing. It's got to be close to 2K pounds.

Regards,

I realize this is a old post ,however, I have to agree with this poster, the sidewinder bush hog is made like a tank very heavy duty and very very heavy. I have a
7 foot 3 pt. hitch side winder and it is a complete beast, if the tractor can go over it the bush hog will cut it. The tire is the gear box so to speak, it powers the round disc that turns the blades, you never have to worry about breaking a gear box or your tractors PTO, the tire acts as a slip clutch. I have other bush hogs but none can compare with this monster..
One thing you diffidently need is tractor weights on the front to keep it on the ground or it will rear up because the weight of the bush hog is very heavy, with a 7 foot side winder bush hog nothing below a 50 h.p. tractor is suitable..

 

[bcp]

I had to look it up. I've never seen one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ptvtMICu6A



Bruce

 

[dbotos]

Right-angle friction drive. Some Snapper riding mowers have those as an "infinitely"-variable transmission (the rubber-rimmed disk can contact the all-metal disk at various radii and thus give you a different speed ratio). I think some snowblowers have the same system too. Apparently, it's been around a while:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_friction_gearing_disk_drive_transmission

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

DOSEN'T WOODS USE THIS DESIGN ON A FINISH MOWER

 

[Sawyer Rob]

DOSEN'T WOODS USE THIS DESIGN ON A FINISH MOWER

Not that I've ever seen...

SR

 

[Ed of all trades]

I thought that Bush Hog made a bush hog like that and called it a Squaeller or something like that, Ed

 

[Jim Timber]

I have a Squealer and it's got a blown up gear box from china on it. At least the PTO shaft was from Italy.

Omni US made replacement is en-route.

 

[japody]

I realize this is a old post ,however, I have to agree with this poster, the sidewinder bush hog is made like a tank very heavy duty and very very heavy. I have a
7 foot 3 pt. hitch side winder and it is a complete beast, if the tractor can go over it the bush hog will cut it. The tire is the gear box so to speak, it powers the round disc that turns the blades, you never have to worry about breaking a gear box or your tractors PTO, the tire acts as a slip clutch. I have other bush hogs but none can compare with this monster..
One thing you diffidently need is tractor weights on the front to keep it on the ground or it will rear up because the weight of the bush hog is very heavy, with a 7 foot side winder bush hog nothing below a 50 h.p. tractor is suitable..

I've got 2 of them. Would not trade them for anything! If you can get the mower over it, the mower will cut it. I back up into rough areas to clear them out. There are shims that can be removed to lower the tire as it wears. They are very difficult to find but I would buy another one in a heart beat if I found one.

 

[Jim Timber]

Why shims? Seems like all you'd need to do is air up the tire some more.

 

[japody]

Tire wears down and you can only pump up the tire so much.