Setting Height on Brushhog

[btolle]

I have a set of check chains made by Speeco (look like the ones in the bottom picture of Soundguy's post and they work great on the bush hog. Paid about $27 for them at my Kubota dealer.

CAUTION: The chains as provided are pretty long and should be cut off or tied off securely to keep them from accidentially getting caught in the PTO shaft. The hang far enough down to get wrapped in the shaft.

Bill Tolle

 

[sneaky_pete]

Ron,

I tried to PM you this photo but apparently PM does not allow attachments. Anyway, attached to this post is a picture I just took of the check chains installed on my B7400. As it happens, the Bush Hog is on the 3PH also. This setup should be identical to what yours would be like if you had check chains. Hopefully this will allow you see how they work.

 

[8N_John]

"Also.. a word of caution.. you should not use the top hole in your 8n's 3 hole rocker for anything heavy.. use only the bottom hole.. ( it's a draft issue )."

Where is the top hole on the 3 hole rocker in your picture? Aren't the brackets that hold the chains attached through this hole?

 

[RalphVa]

I'd enclose any of those long check chains inside a PVC pipe, in case they break and pop back into the seat area. A chain popped once when my Dad was pulling our car with a tractor. The chain whipped back over the hood of the car, just short of the windshield. You could do in 2 or 3 sections of pipe so the pipe wouldn't buckle when you lifted the cutter. The PVC would cushion a lot in case of a pop back onto your butt.

I've gone to use of a chain to replace the top link. I adjusted the tail wheel assembly to have the rear of the cutter about 1/2" higher than the front. Otherwise, you'll be cutting little bits of grass from the front to the back, going forward.

On my lift, I've marked with a marker pen where to lower the rockshaft arm to, for the (approx. 2" I use) front mowing height. Then I pull it back to the center (float) position.

Ralph

 

[normde2001]

It appears from the picture that the rightside support for the rear wheel has broken loose. With that re-welded, you will probably have the correct, although fixed, height on the rear end. The height that you set the 3ph will set the front end, with or without check chains.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( would not work well for maintaining a constant level over varying terrain, )</font>

Most of the time.. I just see people using these chains so that the 3pt implement returns to the 'same' position it was in, if you have to lif tit up. This was a major concern with draft only hyds.. like a 9n/2n.. and not much of a problem with tru position controll hyds.. (unless they leak quite a bit).

But yeah.. I dont think these would work great for keeping an implement at a set distance over terain.. perhaps guide wheels would be better?

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Where is the top hole on the 3 hole rocker in your picture? Aren't the brackets that hold the chains attached through this hole? )</font>

That was the only pic I could find.. but yes.. that person has their check chain bracket in the top hole.. which really is a no-no. That top hole is for use on very light draft implements, that need some mechanical advantage to get the N's draft lift to work better. In example might be a light spring tooth cultivator. Heavy items like a plow or mower should only use the lowest hole in the toplink rocker. On mine, I have the bottom hole open for the toplink. The second hole I habe a bolt thru to an 'L' bracket holding a SMV plaque. This makes the 2nd hole not useable. In the top hole I have an extra toplink pin slid in and lynch pinned. That way if I need an extra one.. it is right at hand... plus it reminds me not to use the top hole.

The toplink rocker is attached to a plunger yoke and goes into the rear of the hyd top cover, under the seat. That plunger actually hooks up to the sensitive and fragile draft linkage and valves for the N hyd system. I've seen heavy loads literally rip out the plunger, and pull the 'guts' out of the draft linkage assembly. In many cases the draft plunger is either rusted tight or not adjusted correctly, as evidenced by that big spring moving front to back a tad... then what happens is it breaks loose under a shock load and then deforms some of the hard to replace draft linkage inside the cover. That top hole realy magnifies the mechanical advantage like a lever, on the draft plunger.

Soundguy

 

[Volfandt]

As most have pointed out, check chains are the way to go.
I used to run a Howse 5' bush hog off of my TE20 for many years of good cutting. The check chains keep the depth accurate without having to constantly adj the 3PH and if you need to go into higher grass, you just raise the BH up, raise the chains where they connect at the top link connect a link then your GTG.
A pic of my setup. I've since sold it and find that I miss it some now /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif as it worked great and gace a near finish quality cut for me for nearly 15yrs.

 

[Volfandt]

A rear shot of the chain bracket I used and had made up for around $10 a pair from a local machine shop. I only had to replace one side once in 15 yrs of bush hogg'n.

 

[8N_John]

I am having a hard time figuring out how I will connect the check chains (from the rocker to the implement pin) and the top link (from the rocker to the top of the brush hog). Would both of these go in the bottom hole of the 3 hole rocker? Or would the check chains go in the lower hole and the top link go in the upper hole? I'm worried about putting too much weight on the top of the rocker (per Soundguy's advice), but don't know how I can hook up both of these to the lower hole of the rocker.

Any pics of the correct setup would help.