Mowing Rotary mower for BX2230

   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #1  

RickOliver

New member
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
24
I'm a new tractor owner. To tell the truth, owning a tractor has not been real high on my list of things I wanted to do, but a number of implement dealers assured me that I really needed a tractor to keep 4-5 acres of grass/brush and an access "road" clear, as well as clear additional areas of brush. I finally settled on the BX2230, and the dealer offered me a great deal on the BX plus a Land Pride rotary mower that attaches to the rear PTO and three-point hitch. He assured me this was just the combination I needed.

2 problems:

1. The Land Pride mower weighs about 400 lbs. With the 3-point hitch in the up position and the mower off the ground, I can barely drive the tractor on a level surface without doing wheelies (and forget about going up hill). I could add weights to the front (for a couple hundred more bucks), but that wouldn't solve problem number...

2. As far as I can tell, the mower is designed to sit flat on the ground (the only wheel/tire it has is a single behind the mower); so the tractor basically drags the mower through the grass/brush. But the front end of the mower just keeps digging into the ground (basically acting like a plow), and most of the time the tractor stops at that point, because I don't think the 22 HP engine is strong enough to drag that 400 lb. weight if it encounters the slightest resistance. On those rare surfaces where I can actually mow anything, I also leave two parallel gouges in the ground where each side of the mower scraped the vegetation away.

To make matters worse, I think it's a used mower (or a rebuild) that they pawned off on me as new. Aside from the telltale rust spots, the dealer keeps "forgetting" to provide the manual or whatever paperwork accompanies the mower, and I'm afraid that may be because he doesn't have a manual for it and any paperwork might expose it for what it is.

I know that this particular 42" Land Pride (don't know the model # because I don't have any paperwork), wasn't designed for my tractor, because the dealer told me they had to shorten the shaft to make it fit on my BX.

Did I buy too much mower for my tractor? Am I doing something stupid? (As far as I can tell, the 3-point hitch has two positions -- up and down.) Can I modify the mower to work at least marginally well? (Like, oh, I dunno, weld an axle on the front and slap on a couple small wheels?)
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #2  
I don't own a BX2230, but I don't think it's too much mower. Kubota sells a 60" RFM that weighs 450 lbs. so your mower shouldn't be to heavy. The lift on the rear will have more than just up and down (maybe). Try putting the lever part way. Just lower the mower until the rear wheel is making contact. I don't own a BX so I have no idea if it's all UP or all DOWN or somewhere in between.
BTW most PTO shafts need trimmed. They never know what tractor is going to go on, so they leave them full length until fitted to a tractor.
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #3  
Any pictures of the wheelie? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Just kidding. If you planned to use it like that I would seriously think of the front end weights for performance and safty reasons.
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #4  
Here is a link to the landpride operator's manual - http://www.landpride.com/cgi-bin/byteserver/manuals/lp/pdf/312-556m.pdf

A few tips:

- Check that your tire pressure is at the right level.
- Get some weight on the front of the tractor. I doubt that you will be happy without it. Sounds like you don't have a front-end loader - most BX's do and will run better that way.
- with the tractor and mower on pavement, lower the mower until the front of the mower is a few inches off the ground. This is level that you want to operate at. On my tractor I can set a stop on the three point hitch lever so I don't let it go too low. As the tractor goes over hills the mower may dig in - when I mow I keep one hand on the rear lift and work the mower up and down to avoid this.
- Call your dealer and get him to get this set up properly - sounds like you need some one to come out and make sure you are mowing right.
- last - this is a brush cutter, not a lawnmower. So, you should be mowing at a much higher level than a lawn mower.

Hope these help -

Eph
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #5  
RickOliver,
As eph said, get some weight on the front of your tractor. It will work much better. Also get your mower adjusted properly. The front of the mower should be about an inch lower that the rear. I would probably set the blade at about 4" and try that for the first height and go from there. I don't think the BX2230 has a height adjuster for the 3 point hitch, so you can attach a chain to the 3 point so the mower doesn't go lower than you want it to. There will be a certain amount of gouging if your mowing to low or if the ground is realy uneven.

Bill
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #6  
Rick, it sounds like your dealer did not give you a very good introduction to your tractor. Shame on him... for the kind of money the BX costs, that's the least he could do. Did the dealer by any chance give you an owner's manual with the tractor? If he did, PLEASE READ IT!!

In particular, note item 5 in the "Safe Operation" section, which says, "When using a 3-pint hitch mounted implement, be sure to install the proper counterbalance weight on the front of the tractor."

We have some real simple physics going on here. You have a 1300 lb tractor, so let's assume 50% of the weight is on the front wheels, or 650lbs. If you hang 400lbs centered about 3ft. behind the rear wheels, it's enough to make the front end light, and you need another 100lbs or so on those front wheels to keep them firmly planted. Again, if your dealer didn't know or didn't care enough to think about that before he sold you the BX, shame on him again!

As for raising and lowering, again you need to read the manual (See page 27). The 3pt lift will stop at whatever point you bring the lever back to the neutral position. But, if you really want to have a fixed limit on how far an implement goes down, the procedure for adjusting it is described, also on page 27.

Rick, the BX is a great little machine... I just bought one and love it... but it's a serious and expensive piece of equipment. If you are not familiar with how it works, you can damage the thing or worse, hurt someone including yourself. Please invest the time to know your equipment.
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #7  
Rick,

The rotary cutter may in fact be new. Some dealers (most) leave these things sitting outside and if they do not sell for a while they can get weathered and look aged...

Cutting the PTO shaft to make an implement fit a particular tractor is the norm. This does not mean that the implement is not designed for that particular tractor.

A 42" roatary cutter is not unreasonable for the BX in my opinion. I am not sure what the manual specs for the BX though...but I think it may actually be 42"...

As said above, the front of the mower is held up by the 3PH. IF it is digging in and holding the tractor back you need to raise the 3PH a bit.

You need more weight on the front. Even with foam filled tires on the front of my BX2200, Which adds a little weight, with a simple landscape rake on the back, if I back up and stop quickly, I almost do a wheelie. The rotary cutter is heavier than the rake for sure. Front weight on tractors without loaders is a fact of life I'm afraid...

I don't think you bought too much mower for the BX. The 3PH has an infinate number of positions, as mentioned by someone above, you just center the handle when you get it to the height that you want. It will stay there.

Don't worry. Sounds like you are not in as bad of shape as you think. You may want to set things up with the mower so the front is slightly lower than the back when the front is at the height that you want. This is done by adjusting the tail wheel position. By having the front lower, the blades cut the brush only once and use less power.

I would be willing to bet once you get used to things you are going to be very happy with the 42" rotary cutter.

Keep us updated on how things go.... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #8  
42" is the recommended spec for a BX rotary cutter. That said I have a BEFCO 48". I haven't used it extensively yet but my BX2230 has no trouble carrying it or powering it. Dealer's instructions were to run it with my FEL as the front counterweight. I also normally use a LandPride 48" box blade as the counterweight for the FEL. Watching that rotary cutter take out brush and saplings makes me have a lot of respect for what is going on under that deck. As previously stated in this thread, the front of the cutter should be 1" lower than the rear and supported by the tractor 3ph. A rotary cutter is not a finish mower. My 60" MMM covers that duty.
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice. I feel kinda dumb cuz I didn't figure out that I could stop the 3-point hitch at any point by shifting back to neutral. I was trying to control the height by the position of the lever! And the dealer acknowledged that he set up the cutter incorrectly, using a tractor with much smaller rear tires. I still need the weights, which will run me about $200, but that's cheaper than a $2K FEL that I don't really need right now.
 
   / Rotary mower for BX2230 #10  
You better think more along the lines of $300.00 for the front weight bracket ,weights and bolt kits.

I have been pricing them.
 
 
Top