DK45SE owner... how about a 6 foot bush hog (rotary cutter) ?

[Jose G]

Hi guys, I have a DK45SE and I bought a 6 foot rotary cutter from craig list, its a "roberge machinerie" no clutch on it. seem to be direct drive (the guys had 50hp kubota but sold the land, tractor, etc...)

normally with my snow blower I just set my RPM to 1200-1500 and activate the PTO and raise the RPM to the 540 mark (@ 1000 rpm it works #1 too)

but with the 6' cutters... well, at 1500 rpm, when I engage the PTO the rpm get down to 600rpm or so (sound like the engine will shut down) and the rpm climb back to 1500rpm and its #1 after that.
I tried @ 2000, its a little better but its a serious start... I'm pretty sure I cannot start the PTO @ 1000 or the engine will just die.

do you think 6' is too big of a mower ? I like it so much, I can move the thing behind the 3pts, it can stick out 18-20" on the right on the tractor, really nice for around the pond and under tree, etc...

I hate that the PTO is ON/OFF... would like to have it start slow and raise the speed slowy.

any idea ? my father think its hurting my tractor to use this cutters

Hope someone who knows roraty cutters will chime in!

 

[BethelHntr]

You shouldn't engage the PTO when moving,,You should try to engage the PTO just above idle, Once the mower blades are rotating ramp up the throttle until you have your target RPM (2500) Then engage the clutch or HST and continue to mow.

 

[Jose G]

my idle is somewhere around 800rpm, I never activate the PTO while moving but my tractor is HST so I rarely go below 1500rpm (I prefer 2000rpm). Ill try hitting the PTO at 1000... I just dont want to stall the engine, hehe maybe you are right about low rpm.

I have tried a 5 foot rotary cutter in the past with this tractor and at 1500 rpm the rpm was dropping by maybe 300 rpm... not by 900-1000 rpm.

anyone else?

 

[BethelHntr]

I have the DK40 shuttle, This is what I've found is the easiest on my machine if I'm going to mow with a brush hog, HST might be completely different IDK. In neutral and at idle I engage the pto, Once the blades are settled down and rotating I ramp up the RPMs then push the clutch in and shift the shuttle into forward to start mowing, When done I shut the pto off at 2500 RPMs and let the mower coast down until stopped.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I have the DK40 shuttle, This is what I've found is the easiest on my machine if I'm going to mow with a brush hog, HST might be completely different IDK. In neutral and at idle I engage the pto, Once the blades are settled down and rotating I ramp up the RPMs then push the clutch in and shift the shuttle into forward to start mowing, When done I shut the pto off at 2500 RPMs and let the mower coast down until stopped.

I do the same. One other hint is to be sure the mower is raised just enough so nothing is impeding the blades as they start their spin-up. My DK45 shuttle runs a 6' brush mower just fine, so your machine should too.

 

[nybirdman]

I have a six ft.Landpride and 44 HP Kubota ,so similar tractors.I lift the BH and engage at idle then lower and bring up to PTO speeds.If you are bogging the motor you must have some kind of bind,I.E. a bad bearing,universal ,maybe a bad gear box.

 

[TJP89]

I have a 5ft cutter on a 34 HP Kioti. I idle down (stopping), and engage. The rpms drop off a little, but come up again, and then I spin it up to full power (2500 I think). The 45 should handle 6ft no problem, in fact I'd want a 6ft on a DK40, and I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem.

 

[TJP89]

Stalling the tractor on occasion isn't the worst thing in the world. I did it on a PHD, just disengaged the PTO and fired her right back up. There is often only one way to find out...

 

[Jose G]

next time Ill make a video stay tuned!

maybe I am too gentle with it (its a serious drop in rpm! getting black smoke from the exhaust also lol)

the gearbox on the rotary cutters seem fine, I spin it by hand no problem (when the shaft isnt hooked up)

I've bog the engine down one time with the cutters, I was cutting 1 foot grass and started to hit ground with the blades, my reaction was to stop going forward (I should have raise the 3pts)...

how many RPM in drop to you see when engaging your cutters ? I am losing 800 rpm+

 

[TJP89]

next time Ill make a video stay tuned!

maybe I am too gentle with it (its a serious drop in rpm! getting black smoke from the exhaust also lol)

the gearbox on the rotary cutters seem fine, I spin it by hand no problem (when the shaft isnt hooked up)

I've bog the engine down one time with the cutters, I was cutting 1 foot grass and started to hit ground with the blades, my reaction was to stop going forward (I should have raise the 3pts)...

how many RPM in drop to you see when engaging your cutters ? I am losing 800 rpm+

I lose about 2 to 3 hundred rpm on startup.

BTW, if you need to panic stop something, the clutch will stop everything. PTO, forward progress. That's my first reaction, as often the cruise is on, so a quick stop any other way is not an option.