need more muscle than 90 inch mowing deck

[JWB53]

my tc's 90 inch deck does fine when i have time to keep field below 3 feet, but this wet summer and my lack of time, i now have acres 6-7 feet tall in weeds. unless i go very slow the deck skips over a lot, what deck do i need and hopefully cheaper than 90 inch deck at 5,000 might work in this tall grass thanks

 

[J_J]

my tc's 90 inch deck does fine when i have time to keep field below 3 feet, but this wet summer and my lack of time, i now have acres 6-7 feet tall in weeds. unless i go very slow the deck skips over a lot, what deck do i need and hopefully cheaper than 90 inch deck at 5,000 might work in this tall grass thanks

Are you talking about something to add to your TC, or do you just want something to cut that tall grass? If you have a tractor, a good bush hog with sharp blades, and cutting high the first and coming back later and cutting it lower. You could call someone that has the equipment to cut it the one time so you can get it under control.

Is your 90 in deck a finish cut deck or a rough cut deck?

 

[radman1]

Your options are a flail mower, 5' rotary mower or cut 2-3x with the 90" finish mower. Even the 5' rotary mower won't cut well in one pass and will probably take 2-3 passes. Flail mower might be able to do it in a single pass but they are $$$$ and more than 5K. You are talking really tall stuff. Most mowers will push it over and won't cut it off well because it is laying on the ground and not able to get cut by the blades. My 90" mowwer doesn't do that great with even 2' tall grass and weeds. The same for my 3pt mounted rear mowers and tall grass.

 

[JWB53]

to use with tc, i have 90 inch finish mower, bobcat said i couldn't get rough cut in 90 inch thanks, i just broke the belt , the replacement they sent is long but only about half inch wide, sure looks too small, i haven't took deck apart yet to see old belt

 

[3Bladz]

I just tried a 90 on the front of my tcat and it was miserable. Grass was about to the top of the caster wheels. I could hear the belt slipping at 3mph.
The deck kept kicking off when ever I went over a small hill. I could have done a better job in half the time with my 60in Z. I dont think the wheels are big enough nor the caster forks heavy enough to be pushed by a 7k pound machine.
I am going to look at modding my woods c80 to put on the front w/ a hyd motor. It is a 2 blade rotory chopper and it cuts nice.

 

[J_J]

That should not be the case, if you matched the cutter hyd motor with the available GPM on the tcat. That is also assuming that the blades are sharp.
Did the belts have good tension?

Did you happen to ask what the HP requirement was on the mower? Do you have enough hydraulic HP to use the mower?

I had a similar situation, and found out that my pump was worn, and bypassing enough fluid to stall out the flail mower I was using.

 

[Raw Dodge]

It sounds like your simply asking too much from the machine and mower.I live on 22 acres,and I have a 10 acre field behind my home that i cant get to much either,I finally let a neighbor hay it,as I just couldnt keep up with it.To cut 3' tall grass you need a 5 or 6 ft brush hog or a flail mower.A sickle bar works,but they clog up easy with certain weeds,there are a few tricks to ruinng them,but they use very little hp.
I think given your options,just go very slow,and be happy your getting it cut down.....I have a Dixie chopper diesel 72" 50hp,and i wont cut over 2ft tall with it,it does it,but its just too hard on it,I grab the old Ford 1910 and 5ft hog,and knock it down first....

 

[radman1]

I just tried a 90 on the front of my tcat and it was miserable. Grass was about to the top of the caster wheels. I could hear the belt slipping at 3mph.
The deck kept kicking off when ever I went over a small hill. I could have done a better job in half the time with my 60in Z. I dont think the wheels are big enough nor the caster forks heavy enough to be pushed by a 7k pound machine.
I am going to look at modding my woods c80 to put on the front w/ a hyd motor. It is a 2 blade rotory chopper and it cuts nice.

I have a goosen skid steer adapter to 3 pt with a hydraulic motor. Goosen doesn't make these any more. It is basically a skid steer plate mounted to 3 pt arms and has a hydraulic motor. I tried a 6' rhino rotary motor on it and ran it with my Bobcat S300 skid steer. The mower still won't do well in heavy weeds and the stuff your cutting is much worse. My CUT (44 engine hp) did vastly better with the same mower. My SS puts out about 21 gpm which is about right for the motor to turn 540. However, hydraulic flow is just too inefficient to run mowers in heavy material. I estimate at 21 gpm, I am getting around 23-24 hp at the 21 gpm and 3000 psi. In heavy material the mower just slows down and will stop. The direct drive of a CUT will actually increase pto hp as the rpm decreases and can power through heavy material and the more efficient pto of a CUT has much higher hp.

What I am saying is the rotary mower at 80" will also do poorly driven hydraulically. Your asking too much from too little flow and psi.

 

[3Bladz]

Thanks for your input.

 

[J_J]

I have a goosen skid steer adapter to 3 pt with a hydraulic motor. Goosen doesn't make these any more. It is basically a skid steer plate mounted to 3 pt arms and has a hydraulic motor. I tried a 6' rhino rotary motor on it and ran it with my Bobcat S300 skid steer. The mower still won't do well in heavy weeds and the stuff your cutting is much worse. My CUT (44 engine hp) did vastly better with the same mower. My SS puts out about 21 GPM which is about right for the motor to turn 540. However, hydraulic flow is just too inefficient to run mowers in heavy material. I estimate at 21 GPM, I am getting around 23-24 hp at the 21 GPM and 3000 psi. In heavy material the mower just slows down and will stop. The direct drive of a CUT will actually increase PTO hp as the rpm decreases and can power through heavy material and the more efficient PTO of a CUT has much higher hp.

What I am saying is the rotary mower at 80" will also do poorly driven hydraulically. Your asking too much from too little flow and psi.

Using your figures, 21 GPM at 3000, requires 43 HP to run that pump, and when that energy is sent to a hydraulic motor, the motor should be developing about 36 HP with an 85 % efficiency. Does anyone know the cu in displacement on the hyd motor? Long grasses will just about slow down anything, and build up large clumps. Cutting twice may be the answer, or slower rate of travel. Sharp blades also. It would be interesting to put a hyd gage on the motor circuit and see what the pressure is when the motor is stalling. If you don't see max pressure or relief pressure, then the pump is not putting out the pressure, or the motor is bypassing.