String Trimmer for your Tractor???

[VirginiaEd]

I'll see if I can post some pictures of my Swisher Postmaster in action.

 

[VirginiaEd]

The first picture shows the Postmaster in the tow mode. The second picture shows how it runs under the fence. The last two pictures show how it cuts along and around posts.

 

[VirginiaEd]

Here's another look.

 

[VirginiaEd]

I agree that mid-mount and 3ph hookups would be nice, but this thing is so simple and easy to use. Just hook it up to the lawn tractor and go. Doesn't tie up the tractor. Now -- if I could just get my wife interested in running it, I'd be all set. Hope these pictures were useful.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="green"> I've made a couple of field modifications to the Postmaster and sent the ideas to Swisher. </font>


Ed do you think you could post some photos of your modifications? Or at very least describe what you did. So far I am pretty happy with the Swisher Postmaster, but I also have some slipping issues, and I'm always looking for things to modify, even if they don't need it!

 

[hobbyfarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It works very well, but has a tendency to slip downhill on sloped ground and once in a while the unit gets hung up on a square post -- usually the result of operator error while consuming a cold drink while driving the garden tractor. )</font>

VirginiaEd,
Uhmm, would that be adult beverage? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[VirginiaEd]

HF: ADULT beverage while operating equipment??? Oh my no, never, uhhhhh not me. It's illegal to drink and drive you know. And besides, I'd never want to spill an adult beverage. 8<)

Bob: The modification is nothing glamorous. Just an old farm boy "field fix" as we used to say in the Army.

The problem I encountered was that the return spring got hang up on the tow-mode stabilizer (or whatever they call that piece of metal that keeps the unit stable in travel mode). Once the spring was hung up, it would stretch out of shape when the cutter head encountered a post and would not completely return to the correct operating position. It tended to sort of drag along behind at an oblique angle instead of 90 degrees to the direction of travel.

To fix the problem I looked around the shop for whatever I had on hand and found a piece of 1 1/2" Schedule 80 PVC. I cut off a piece long enough to enclose the spring and keep it from getting hung up on the stabilizer. Basically a sleeve over the spring.

Then, I put a QuickLink on each end of the spring and fastened them to the original locations. I piddled around with a bunji cord to get the PVC spring sleeve out of the way when I towed the unit, but that was more trouble than it was worth. So, I put a QuickSnap onto the QuickLink and now when I'm finished trimming, I simply unsnap the spring, pull off the sleeve, put the unit into travel mode and stow the sleeve on the upright stabilizer bar (I knew it was good for something).

My next improvement will be to put on something like sway chains or rods to keep the unit aligned with the direction of travel of the lawn tractor and thereby reduce or eliminate the tendency to slip. My thought is to put on something like I use on my rotary cutter to keep it level and straight.

I'll post some pictures of my modification. Wish there was a way to put them all with this message, but I don't know how to do that.

Hope they pics are useful.

Later,
Ed

 

[VirginiaEd]

Another view of the spring hung up.

 

[VirginiaEd]

The sleeve installed over the return spring.

 

[VirginiaEd]

The chain extends out the end of the sleeve, but the spring remains inside. The sleeve rides against the stabilizer bar and sometimes against the tire, but the sleeve just harmlessly rotates when it touches the tire.