Largest finish/brush mower a G174 could safely power

[D4mm1t]

I have an out of commission 48" finish mower that may need to be replaced as my free time at work to make the part I need is limited, off the clock out the door mentality for insurance reasons.

I was wondering if my G174 would have enough power to run a 5 foot rotary cutter or finish mower, mine powered the 48" mower fairly well and those seem to be hard to find around here so wondering if I could make use of a 5 foot.

I drug my 4' up hills while mowing in 4x4 and it powered my mower fairly well, even in 2 foot tall grass, to get an idea of some of my hills around here I had to have it in 4x4 or I wouldn't make it up or back down safely so was wondering if the extra metal the tractor would need to sling around for a 5' mower would be too much for it to handle.

Thanks for your input.!

 

[rich_ncal]

I use a 48" rotary cutter on my Iseki TS1610. My cutter weighs about 460lbs. I think a five foot model would be too much for the small tractor on the hills. But I haven't tried anything other than the one cutter I have.

 

[johneic]

I have a 48" rotary mower on my TX1500, 19-ish-hp, I would not use a 60"

 

[Rod in Forfar]

You'll need 3 suitcase weights even to run the 48" bush hog safely. A 48" finish mower weighs about 300 lb, but more importantly it mounts closer to the back axle of the tractor. The bush hog seems way back there, though I have run one for a couple of hundred hours behind my G174.

And don't forget the overrun clutch. That's a ratcheting gear that fits onto the end of the pto shaft and then attaches to the tractor. DO NOT USE THE BUSH HOG WITHOUT IT <sorry>. The G174 has a single stage clutch. That means that the rear axle is effectively locked to a large flywheel by the pto shaft. If the blade of the rotary mower is turning, pressing the clutch will not stop the tractor's forward motion without the overrun clutch. A finishing mower doesn't need the overruning clutch because it has nowhere near the momentum of a rotary mower.

 

[D4mm1t]

Thanks for all the input guys, I have about 100Lbs on the front now but will add more when I get a 4' brush mower, a new Tractor supply just opened up in West Union so will the weights from there.

I never thought about an over run, will get one of those as well before I use the new mower.!

 

[TomSeller]

I think the 5' might be a bit much unless you are merely trimming weeds

 

[D4mm1t]

Not gonna be doing any trimming, I need something I can work like a redheaded stepchild.!

Input from this thread convinced me to go with a 4' brush mower and extra weight on the nose, may even spring for windshield washer fluid to load my tires as well.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

...The G174 has a single stage clutch...

True on the 2-cylinder models when referencing an over-running clutch - there are some other defininitions of single and dual stage that refer to other things though. The 3-cylinder G174s had an over-running clutch built-in. And yes, without an over-running clutch things get scary real fast so please heed the warnings :shocked:

 

[D4mm1t]

I will check to see if my G174 has that built in over run, it's supposedly one of the later models (late 80s early 90s?) and is a 3 cylinder, I do know that if I step on the clutch and the mower is still spinning the tractor don't want to continue to move but it only spins a second or two at best as my finish mower has little mass in motion.

Don't have free time during the week so will have to check this weekend, I'll pop my neighbors 5' brush mower on it and spin 'er up for a second or two and see if it continues to push my tractor along when I press the clutch, if it does have an over run built in that would save me a few bucks.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

An easy way to check this is to have the engine off and the clutch pedal released with the tractor in gear, put it in one of the PTO speed settings and see if the PTO output shaft will turn clockwise by hand freely. If it does, it has the over-running clutch. If it is hard to turn or won't turn it probably doesn't have an over-running clutch.