rd_macgregor
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 14, 2008
- Messages
- 1,875
- Location
- Prince Edward Island, Canada
- Tractor
- Kioti DK45SC, Kubota B2650
This is my Walco Whistler mower.
The top chain is standard, although I added the retaining bracket over the PTO shield and covered the chain with a bicycle inner tube. It is true that the implement can ride up a rear tire. This happened to me shortly after I bought my tractor, though I don't blame it on the chain; apparently a stick poked a bale clip out of a lower lift arm and the arm worked its way off the tractor, so when I turned a corner, the mower swung to the side far enough for the edge to catch on a tire lug. Take my word for it, it is exciting (and not in a good way!) to look back and see a mower riding up a tire toward your backside.
Having said that, there is a very good reason for having the chain, rather than a rigid bar, at least on my style of mower. If I start to mow with the chain tight (wheel on the ground), the wheel will lift off the ground if I head over a rise or over the lip of a swale. When the nose of the tractor is headed down and the tail wheel lifts, it (the wheel) swings around backwards, then slams down again as the tractor heads to the bottom of the swale. This forces the wheel to pivot back to the "normal" rolling position very abruptly and with considerable force on it. Before I figured this out, I seriously bent the tail wheel forks twice (the second time actually breaking a weld). Now, I turn enough slack into the top link chain so the tail wheel stays on the ground nearly all the time when I am mowing, regardless of how abruptly contoured the land is.
I found that a whole lot of slack in the chain could allow it to slip off and under the metal PTO shield, when extra slack was added going through the bottom of a dip, so I added the retaining bracket to the shield to prevent this from happening, and covered the (new) chain with inner tube so it wouldn't bang more paint off the shield and gearbox.
Bob
The top chain is standard, although I added the retaining bracket over the PTO shield and covered the chain with a bicycle inner tube. It is true that the implement can ride up a rear tire. This happened to me shortly after I bought my tractor, though I don't blame it on the chain; apparently a stick poked a bale clip out of a lower lift arm and the arm worked its way off the tractor, so when I turned a corner, the mower swung to the side far enough for the edge to catch on a tire lug. Take my word for it, it is exciting (and not in a good way!) to look back and see a mower riding up a tire toward your backside.
Having said that, there is a very good reason for having the chain, rather than a rigid bar, at least on my style of mower. If I start to mow with the chain tight (wheel on the ground), the wheel will lift off the ground if I head over a rise or over the lip of a swale. When the nose of the tractor is headed down and the tail wheel lifts, it (the wheel) swings around backwards, then slams down again as the tractor heads to the bottom of the swale. This forces the wheel to pivot back to the "normal" rolling position very abruptly and with considerable force on it. Before I figured this out, I seriously bent the tail wheel forks twice (the second time actually breaking a weld). Now, I turn enough slack into the top link chain so the tail wheel stays on the ground nearly all the time when I am mowing, regardless of how abruptly contoured the land is.
I found that a whole lot of slack in the chain could allow it to slip off and under the metal PTO shield, when extra slack was added going through the bottom of a dip, so I added the retaining bracket to the shield to prevent this from happening, and covered the (new) chain with inner tube so it wouldn't bang more paint off the shield and gearbox.
Bob