MODIFY BRUSH HOG SOME MORE

[3RRL]

Hi,
You may remember from adding home made chain guards to my rotary brush hog mower that I saved a bunch of money by making them myself instead of buying them. I wanted to use that money towards making it so I could lower and raise the rear wheel as easily as my 3pt lowers and raises the front of it. I've decided to modify the wheel brackets and add a hydraulic cylinder that will let me make the adjustment from the seat via my rear remote control valve.

Why did I want to do that?

Well, on my rural property where I mow, there are a few areas where the RC bottoms out when set to 6" cutting height. I would like the ability to raise both front and rear of my mower for these occasions. (At least that's what I told my wife ) Right now I have to unbolt the trailing wheel frame and move it to the higher (or lower) setting. But one setting does no good for all area. Consequently, I have 6" high grass stalks where I could have 2" high stalks, and scalped areas where I should have short grass.

I thought about how I would operate the system and if I would have enough time to raise and lower not only the 3pt, but also the rear wheel. But since the area is so rough and bumpy, I mow very slowly anyway. I'm not sure yet, but it should give me lots of time to adjust them both for those spots. As I get used to it, I'm sure I will get better like I did adjusting my hydraulic boxblade rippers, 3pt and separate side links while driving.

Anyway, this is my first concept using the single tail wheel on the mower.

 

[MrJimi]

Great idea, will that affect the pivot of wheel at an angle? I was thinking about rake and trail like on a motorcycle. will it rotate freely a full 360 degrees is what I'm asking
did that make any sense? LOL

 

[3RRL]

I wanted to make the new connections out of scrap material I have lying around the garage to keep the cost down to a minimum again. It's easier on the pocket book and the ears that way. I have all the hydraulic fittings, hoses and quick disconnects already, and a whole bunch of scrap steel. All I'll need to buy is a new hydraulic cylinder (since my old ones have pitted rods) and some 1/2" pipe. OH, and another double pilot operated check valve (DPOCV) from Mark Carter at CCM. I want the DPOCV so the wheel stays relatively where I place it while mowing and bouncing around.

So far I have less than a hundred bucks invested for those items ... not bad. Then after thinking about it, I have enough steel tubing to add strengthening to the RC, like the heavy duty models. Not only that, but I have enough to alter the pivoting of the rear wheel by making a self-leveling pivot instead of the one like in the first drawing. That means I have to buy extra pins for the pivots but it only came out to 20 bucks.
So here is the second drawing showing the self leveling wheel assembly.



You can see as I lower and raise the tail wheel, the fork stays level throughout the travel. It will also clear the RC blades when I'm going in reverse and the wheel pivots around backwards. The way I have it set is I have 1" of clearance from the ground to 14" clearance when fully extended. That is more travel than I currently have with the stock bolt on adjustment.

 

[MrJimi]

I like your new design much better, it will rotate freely now, I'm wondering about those moving parts and the bouncing around

 

[3RRL]

After thinking about it some more, the real heavy duty models have 2 tail wheels instead of one, so I decided to order another tail wheel assembly with fork from Howse. That set me back another 135 bucks plus shipping. So now I'll have a little over 255 bucks into my project. That is still OK with me since that's about what I saved by not buying the chain guards. So I'm still on track and within budget. I'm sure I'll spend a little more than that though, by the time I'm done. Hopefully under $300 for everything.

So here is the top view of the cutter showing the dual tail wheels and the extra reinforcing bars on the RC body.



I think this is going to come out nice. It's a lot more work than the first idea, but so what? I like it better. Now, I have everything on order already and just waiting for the stuff to get here. Then I'll start by slitting some of the rectangular tubing I have. I will turn some of it into "U" channel for the extra support of the RC main body and frame instead of buying it.

 

[3RRL]

Hi MrJimi,
Thank you...
The first concept was much like the stock wheel bracket. It pivoted on two bolts raising or lowering the tail wheel, so it should work just like the stock one. However, I like the second concept better too.
I figure to keep the linkage pivots fairly tight for the bouncing around and such. I'll try pins and washers with lynch pins first. If that fails, I'll use shoulder bolts to keep them really tight. With two wheels, some of the stress is distributed as opposed to it all being on a single tail wheel.

 

[MrJimi]

Rob, I've seen lots of your work, you will do just fine and the first design would not rotate freely but the second and third will do great
I'll be looking for your great pictures

 

[3RRL]

MrJimi,
I borrowed the PM you sent because I thought it was a good question....

How wide is your RC ? and would one wide wheel do you better?
Just curious
Jim

Hi Jim,
My cutter is just over 6 feet wide. I really thought about only using the one wheel, especially in trying to use what I had and keeping the cost down. But after adding all the steel reinforcement and the frame for this self-leveling feature, I figure two wheels will work a lot better. Not only that, it will help against the "tilting" of the RC which causes some of the scalping.
Rob-

 

[GuglioLS]

Rob,

Another brilliant modification project to keep you off the golf course. I love it! Did the thought cross your mind to put wheels on the front? Not that it matters, you can use the TPH to set front cutting height to match rear cutting height. Just wanted to throw that out there as another possibility. Do you need any parts plasma cut? Or maybe there is some way I could install an electronic sonar device to automatically set cutting depth and to lift it when approaching a rock or something?

The self leveling wheels is just another day at the drawing table for you isn't it? Very impressive.

I look forward to seeing this all come together and the video of you moving it up & down on the fly.

Cool Project

Larry

 

[Highbeam]

Your brush hog deck can now be raised and lowered in front by the 3ph, tilted by the TNT, and now raised by the rear. Cool. Rather than lowering the rear wheel does your hydraulic top link not allow you to lift the rear of the deck by shortening it?