Rotary Cutter Help me adjust my new rotary cutter

[tillboy2001]

Oh by the way, before I get to my question...the Frontier RC2072 we bought that had the bent blade pan from the dealer's fork lift (explained in another thread)...it sounds much, much better now and I would say normal, now that we've got it back. It sounded really loud before the bent pan was replaced...a whining sound.

Anyway, I'm not used to using rotary cutters. Our ground is rolling hills with a LOT of transitions in slope and so on. If it was mostly flat, I wouldn't be posting this! The question is, how do I adjust this to best deal with the many transitions in our ground? I find myself digging the blades in the ground too much or scalping the grass really low when the tractor is starting to go up an incline while the cutter is still near the bottom before it starts going up hill. I'm getting better at judging when to lift the hitch to avoid that, but it's hard to judge sometimes. So I end up digging the blades in or I pull it up too much and leave a high spot. The book says to adjust it so the front is about 2 inches lower than the rear with the rear wheel just barely touching the ground. I think I need to get the rear wheel adjusted a little better. I think it was too low at first but now slightly too high. I'd like to cut the grass maybe 5 inches high.

The other issues is I sometimes see the left or right rear of the unit dig into the ground a little when turning. I know there's not a lot you can do if the ground is making too steep of a transition - only option is to lift it up - but again, how should I adjust this to deal with all the various slopes and transitions I have to deal with?

Last thing. The unit is supposed to be mostly supported by the 3 pt hitch, right?...with the rear single wheel just barely starting to touch the ground?

I swear my wife's old 81 yr old grandpa could adjust his to deal with the same ground very well but now he's not doing the mowing - I am. So the rotary cutter thing is new to me. I traded in a finish mower to get the rotary cutter since I figured it would be able to deal with the rough terrain better. Honestly, I'm starting to have second thoughts...but, it is what it is and I've got it now. If I would have known better, I would have checked on a flail mower attachment but I didn't research those - though I should have. Anyway...can someone help me with the adjustment questions? Thanks!

 

[RoyJackson]

Basically, go with your manual. Unfortunately, some scalping and side skirt digging in is inevitable on uneven ground and abrupt changes. I have had some luck (reducing the digging in) by unhooking the upper link and letting the lower links bear the weight (cutter rides a bit better). Some folks use a chain rather then a rigid upper link.
As far as the tail wheel, I want enough slack so the tail wheel carries part of the load so it's rolling most of the time.

My cutter (5' Land Pride) tail wheel is adjustable for height.
If yours is, you could adjust it higher and still keep the front 2" lower which would raise your entire cutter by a couple of inches. That would reduce the scalping and side skirts digging in, but would also leave the brush a bit higher. I'd guess there's also more potential of debris flying out from underneath the cutter too.

I'd written about letting the tail wheel bear part of the load. When I transport from the lawn to the field, I rarely raise the cutter (since that area is sloped). I unhook the upper link and "tow" the cutter. This is only a hundred yards (at most) and I wouldn't do this on a road or more then a couple hundred yards (at low speed!!).

 

[EverythingAttachments]

I know that this is not going to help you adjust your cutter because you have already purchased it, but if you have a lot of transitions in the land you are mowing, a "Flex-Hitch" Rotary Cutter will help keep you from scalping as the adjustments are built right into the hitch design for anyone else who is thinking about buying.

King Kutter has a great new design for their flex cutters that we showcased in this video link.

Hope you figure out the adjustments on the one you have . .

 

[tillboy2001]

Basically, go with your manual. Unfortunately, some scalping and side skirt digging in is inevitable on uneven ground and abrupt changes. I have had some luck (reducing the digging in) by unhooking the upper link and letting the lower links bear the weight (cutter rides a bit better). Some folks use a chain rather then a rigid upper link.
As far as the tail wheel, I want enough slack so the tail wheel carries part of the load so it's rolling most of the time.

My cutter (5' Land Pride) tail wheel is adjustable for height.
If yours is, you could adjust it higher and still keep the front 2" lower which would raise your entire cutter by a couple of inches. That would reduce the scalping and side skirts digging in, but would also leave the brush a bit higher. I'd guess there's also more potential of debris flying out from underneath the cutter too.

I'd written about letting the tail wheel bear part of the load. When I transport from the lawn to the field, I rarely raise the cutter (since that area is sloped). I unhook the upper link and "tow" the cutter. This is only a hundred yards (at most) and I wouldn't do this on a road or more then a couple hundred yards (at low speed!!).

The Frontier I bought has a top hitch mount that's sort of hinged. It's hard to explain in text, but it's not necessarily rigid. It does move and adjust for the lay of the land, but it does have it's limits. The main problem I have is pretty steep slope changes. It's just really hard in some places to get the right angle to avoid digging in unless I raise it up. The other thing is, this beast is so long. It's longer than the finish mower I had (bush hog rdth72) so it's not much fun trying to get around trees and so on. Maybe in the distant future when it's time, the flail mower will be a good option for me. For now I just need to see if I can get this rear wheel (it's adjustable) to a descent height so I can still cut low enough but avoid too much scraping and so on. Thanks, Roy

 

[RoyJackson]

The Frontier I bought has a top hitch mount that's sort of hinged. It's hard to explain in text, but it's not necessarily rigid. It does move and adjust for the lay of the land, but it does have it's limits. The main problem I have is pretty steep slope changes. It's just really hard in some places to get the right angle to avoid digging in unless I raise it up. The other thing is, this beast is so long. It's longer than the finish mower I had (bush hog rdth72) so it's not much fun trying to get around trees and so on. Maybe in the distant future when it's time, the flail mower will be a good option for me. For now I just need to see if I can get this rear wheel (it's adjustable) to a descent height so I can still cut low enough but avoid too much scraping and so on. Thanks, Roy

I'm going to guess your upper hitch point is a "U" channel that pivots..same as my cutter's upper attaching bracket. This will allow the cutter to float to a degree, but not enough to handle abrupt changes in the land (as you've described). Well, that is a limitation of the 3ph. That's also why I disconnect the upper link in some areas (got to do the same with my mower too when I mow one slope). You can try disconnecting the upper link, which will allow more travel (pivoting around the lower links), but use caution not to bottom out the PTO shaft...you don't want to over extend that shaft either (could come apart).
You might try cutting in a different direction. By that I mean cutting parallel to the slope change.

You're right about the length of those cutters and the difficulty of maneuvering around obstacles. Not too much you can do about that except remove the obstacles.
Rough cutting will get easier as you do more of it and you'll figure out little shortcuts as you go along. Just be safe...cutters are quite unforgiving.

 

[tillboy2001]

No, it's not a U channel type of thing. I know what you mean - the finish mower we traded in had that. This is sort of a multi-link thing that allows quite a bit of movement. I'll try to get a picture of it soon and post it just so people can see what it is. It's pretty slick actually.