Mowing Woods RM 90

   / Woods RM 90 #1  

retired007

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New Holland 3930 Kobota Zd21 Mule 4010 New HollandTZ25DA
Looking at Woods RM 90 and have questions.

1. Since the Rm 90 dosen't have the coaster wheels on front of mower, how do you keep the mower mowing level and the grass cut at the same height?

2. How expensive is it to replace blades?

3. How much dose it cost to replace belt?

I know these are good old mowers as I have seen them for years but not smart enought to figure out what will keep them from dropping cutting height when you hit swag or dip.

Thanks for help or advice.
 
   / Woods RM 90 #2  
Looking at Woods RM 90 and have questions.

1. Since the Rm 90 dosen't have the coaster wheels on front of mower, how do you keep the mower mowing level and the grass cut at the same height?

2. How expensive is it to replace blades?

3. How much dose it cost to replace belt?

I know these are good old mowers as I have seen them for years but not smart enought to figure out what will keep them from dropping cutting height when you hit swag or dip.

Thanks for help or advice.

I have a RM990-3 with castors front and rear with a cutting height adjustable from 1" to 8". It's a great machine, built like a tank. I bought it new
20 years ago and cut 20-30 acres with it every 2 weeks in the summer to a 3.5" height for weed control and natural fertalization after taking off a hay cutting this time of year. It will also handle higher cuttings with no problems. I just finished cutting a few acres that had gone to seed too much for the type of hay I make. It was 36-40" high and I cut it to 6" in the same gear I use for the shorter cuts. I'll probably cut it again to 3.5" if it ever rains.
You can go to the Woods site and download a manual for the unit you are looking at for free.
It is built basically the same but is designed to control the front height that you asked about with check chains. The same way their rotary brush mowers work. For finish cutting you would probably be more satisfied if you get a front wheel castor kit to use instead of the check chains since the unit makes a 90" cut.
There are 6 blades about a foot long that pivot mount to 3 spindle hubs.
As I recall the last set I purchased as a spare a couple years ago was around $100. They are easy to sharpen. I try not to run over tree limbs or hit rocks but that does happen some as I mow close to a lot of tree lines. I've only had to purchase a total of 2 sets in 20 years in addition to the originals which were beginning to look pretty bad.
There is one big long double B Kevlar belt about 3" wide that runs on double groove pulleys. I got one last year as the old one was starting to crack.
I think it was a little over $100.
The area between the cover plates and the deck top, where the belt drive is collects some clippings and needs cleaned out occassionaly. There is an idler pulley with a large spring that keeps the belt in tension. Be sure the arm the pulley is on moves freely on the pin at the other end. Other than greasing the 3 spindles, which have tubes to them with zerks on the end so you don't have to remove any covers to grease them, and greasing the wheel zerks and PTO shaft it is just mow-mow-mow.
You can price the parts at messicks.com but I find them the same or cheaper
at my New Holland Dealer.
Hope this helps.
Ron
 
   / Woods RM 90 #3  
Looking at Woods RM 90 and have questions.

1. Since the Rm 90 dosen't have the coaster wheels on front of mower, how do you keep the mower mowing level and the grass cut at the same height?

There always is the concept of "check chains". In some ways, I think it is preferable to front casters. See attached pic.
 

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   / Woods RM 90 #4  
QUOTE=djradz;2869079]There always is the concept of "check chains". In some ways, I think it is preferable to front casters. See attached pic.[/QUOTE]

That is the concept I was explaining above.
If you are always going to use the same cutting height the attachment at the tractor end as shown in your pictures is fine.
Normally the chains have extra length and the slot your chain hooks are in
will hold any height you set by just putting the chain link in the slot sideways.
The check chains are the way I do my Woods 6' brush rotary cutter and are great for changing cutting height for different situations like cleaning up
along the edge of tree lines versus mowing shorter weeds.

Your pictures show nice clean equipment:thumbsup:
Mine looks terrible after 20 years of hard use but still functions as well:ashamed:
Are your pictures the model he was asking about? I was talking about bigger stuff. He has not responded, I see.
 
   / Woods RM 90 #5  
That picture is about 8 years old, so the equipment is not in as quite as good shape today, but not bad either. The deck is a 6 foot, Woods RM306, but I have chains on my rotary cutter too, set up without turnbuckles and use the chain links (just as you describe) for adjustment. The turnbuckles work good for the finer adjustment I wanted on my RFM. I think the unit he was asking about is 8+ feet, but I see no reason that the chains wouldn't work well for that also.
 
   / Woods RM 90
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Thanks for your help. The information and pictures were very helpful in understanding how this works.
 
   / Woods RM 90 #7  
I have a RM990-3 with castors front and rear with a cutting height adjustable from 1" to 8". It's a great machine, built like a tank. I bought it new
20 years ago and cut 20-30 acres with it every 2 weeks in the summer to a 3.5" height for weed control and natural fertalization after taking off a hay cutting this time of year. It will also handle higher cuttings with no problems. I just finished cutting a few acres that had gone to seed too much for the type of hay I make. It was 36-40" high and I cut it to 6" in the same gear I use for the shorter cuts. I'll probably cut it again to 3.5" if it ever rains.
You can go to the Woods site and download a manual for the unit you are looking at for free.
It is built basically the same but is designed to control the front height that you asked about with check chains. The same way their rotary brush mowers work. For finish cutting you would probably be more satisfied if you get a front wheel castor kit to use instead of the check chains since the unit makes a 90" cut.
There are 6 blades about a foot long that pivot mount to 3 spindle hubs.
As I recall the last set I purchased as a spare a couple years ago was around $100. They are easy to sharpen. I try not to run over tree limbs or hit rocks but that does happen some as I mow close to a lot of tree lines. I've only had to purchase a total of 2 sets in 20 years in addition to the originals which were beginning to look pretty bad.
There is one big long double B Kevlar belt about 3" wide that runs on double groove pulleys. I got one last year as the old one was starting to crack.
I think it was a little over $100.
The area between the cover plates and the deck top, where the belt drive is collects some clippings and needs cleaned out occassionaly. There is an idler pulley with a large spring that keeps the belt in tension. Be sure the arm the pulley is on moves freely on the pin at the other end. Other than greasing the 3 spindles, which have tubes to them with zerks on the end so you don't have to remove any covers to grease them, and greasing the wheel zerks and PTO shaft it is just mow-mow-mow.
You can price the parts at messicks.com but I find them the same or cheaper
at my New Holland Dealer.
Hope this helps.
Ron

Ron
What size tractor do you use with that 990? I have a 660 but may move up to an 8+- size if I purchase this 30acre tract I've been working on. I have a tc40a.

Thanks

Retired
As far as castor front if you have rough terrain it's not too difficult to bend the spindles. I would get maybe the antiscalp roller (if available) and just use the arms and chains to adjust height. Then if that doesn't work to your satisfaction you could always buy the casters.
 
   / Woods RM 90 #8  
Ron
What size tractor do you use with that 990? I have a 660 but may move up to an 8+- size if I purchase this 30acre tract I've been working on. I have a tc40a.

Thanks

Retired
As far as castor front if you have rough terrain it's not too difficult to bend the spindles. I would get maybe the antiscalp roller (if available) and just use the arms and chains to adjust height. Then if that doesn't work to your satisfaction you could always buy the casters.

I used it on a 47 hp for over 15 years to maintain over 30 acres of hay fields after the first cutting of hay is taken off in dry years. I have used it for 4 more using a 64 hp tractor. The fields had corn in them previously and are rolly from the plowing. I didn't like the crummy look that my 6' Woods rotary did in the fields since the single hub, rear caster, and check chain suspension really didn't make an even cut on the rolls of the ground. Plus rotary blades are not made sharp intentionally, so they break grass rather than cutting it.

The 3 spindles that drive the blades are similar to "stump jumpers" and are 1.25" in diameter. They are supported by large cast bearing housings that have two Timken tapered roller bearings.
The PTO shaft is attached to the mower gear box shaft with a 1/2 inch soft bolt which is designed to be the cheap break point. The front casters are near the full width of the deck so there is a lot more side dip stability than you have with check chains that are only as wide as your lower links and come together at the tractor end.
This is not a toy puppy. It weighs 1,000 pounds.
At least the ones made 20 years ago were made this way.
I would think your TC 40a would purr right along with an 8 foot mower and it will be wider than your back tires so look good too.
The 990 only makes a 90" cut as you might interpret from the name and you still have to allow some overlap. I do 2-3 acres an hour. Could go faster but the tractor ride would be too bumpy for my old bones.
 
   / Woods RM 90 #9  
Thanks. Good info. My neighbor cuts with an old 7' woods finish and has no problem with his 30hp.

I miss spoke I meant that its not too hard to bend caster spindles not the blade spindles on rough terrain. At least on mine and my neighbors. My blade spindles have been indestructible in 15 years of rough use. Impressive.

Your right on with the wobble even with the lift arm support. My 7' old bush hog brush cutter (we call them bushhogs around here regardless of brand) can wobble pretty good but when I'm using it Im usually not looking for a nice cut ha ha.

Thanks
 
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   / Woods RM 90 #10  
Thanks. Good info. My neighbor cuts with an old 7' woods finish and has no problem with his 30hp.

I miss spoke I meant that its not too hard to bend caster spindles not the blade spindles on rough terrain. At least on mine and my neighbors. My blade spindles have been indestructible in 15 years of rough use. Impressive.

Your right on with the wobble even with the lift arm support. My 7' old bush hog brush cutter (we call them bushhogs around here regardless of brand) can wobble pretty good but when I'm using it Im usually not looking for a nice cut ha ha.

Thanks

There yah go:thumbsup:
Everything has it's designed purpose. You can get by with a "bush hog" type
but the poor cut plus extra fuel and time to do the same acreage makes using
the finish mower a no brainer for me.
Some of the guys around here with bigger tractors use 15' bat-wings but the bigger tractors use a lot more fuel and the mow just looks like 3 bushog strips at a time instead of one. Does save time though.
I tried cutting hay with my Woods 6' bushog the first year I made hay, since it has a side plate that opens 1 entire side for that purpose. Worst crap I ever made. With the recutting the hay was subjected too by the single rotor blades it was chopped up so much it compacted like concrete in the rolls and started to mold. Last time for that multifunction trick.
 
 
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