Dolly for my rotary cutter

[Mike Costello]

I decided to build a dolly for my rotary cutter in order to make it easier to hook up to my Kubota. I made it using 4X4's, 2X4's, and 4 fully rotating casters. What a difference in hookup! It took me less than 10 minutes to get the cutter hooked up including the driveshaft. With the fully rotating casters, I could easily move it to make minor adjustments in hookup. Removing the cutter was easy too, just slide the dolly underneath and unhook; then stow the cutter out of the way. Pics below give an idea of what it looks like, and can be built to suit various sizes of attachments. Mike

 

[beppington]

Very nice.

I see you have the bean bag toss game. :thumbsup:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I've just been thinking about making some dollies for my mowers, tiller, in order to move around my barn. I want to build them so one can go above another. Might have to put the top implement on a pallet then fork it up. thanks for the pics, I've been wanting to go to HF to get some casters.


has that mower been used?

 

[kebo]

The dolly is real nice but come on man.... at least get some grass clippings on that mower deck!! It still looks brand new lol!!!

 

[Mike Costello]

Very nice.

I see you have the bean bag toss game. :thumbsup:

Yeah, it's a bean bag toss game. My son made it last summer when he came out for a visit. Notice the colors, he's a Broncos fan! We must have played that game every evening for the week he was here.

 

[Mike Costello]

The dolly is real nice but come on man.... at least get some grass clippings on that mower deck!! It still looks brand new lol!!!

Believe it or not, that rotary cutter has cut an 8 acre pasture about 5 times now! In fact, I just finished cutting the pasture for the last time this year. It does have a few scratches on it--does that count?

 

[eepete]

Mike, Buckeye here are some dollies I've done.

Mike, that looks good :thumbsup: I went the iMatch and TNT route, so I don't have a dolly for my MX6 cutter, sickle bar mower, box blade or land plane.

Pete

 

[Mike Costello]

eepete--Nice looking dollies & quite creative Since you are using I-Match, do you not need dollies for your other attachments? Mike.

 

[Dead Horse]

When tempted,(which is not often, because my cutters are outside for most of the cutting season) I use snow mobile casters under each front side of the cutter. Those with the rear caster wheel make moving the deck around on concrete a cinch.

Otherwise i just use a 5' iron pipe to jig the mower the little bit I need to get it hooked up.

If I went to the trouble of making a jig like that, I would just have to figure out where to keep it so it was not in my way.

 

[eepete]

Mike, I only have dollies for attachments I can't use the with the iMatch. The tiller is so small that I can only use it with my 21 HP Kubota B21 TLB. The post hole digger (PHD) can't be used with the iMatch, so it's on a dolly. And when I use the PHD I have to take off the iMatch, so it has a dolly.

My other bucket for the backhoe weights a lot, so putting it on a dolly helps when I change out to that and helps store it. My front blade and blower for the JD 318 garden tractor are on funny looking low deck dollies so they can be put on with relative ease.

But the box blade, MX6 rotary cutter, sickle bar, and land plane are iMacth and have no dollies- I have to put them where I want them. You can see in the PHD picture the MX6 and sickle bar in the background. Part of what makes the iMatch work is having the attachment on the ground so you can push against it. It would be harder to put an attachment on with the iMatch if it was on a dolly than if it was on the ground. The top and tilt on the 3 point hitch also makes backing into the attachment and hooking it easy. Yes, you could lock the casters but I think you'd be stressing the casters and dolly every time you hooked up.

It's a good mix- enough stuff can move around that it can be stored efficiently. I've got one dolly left to make- I've got a 6' landscape rake that can only be used with the B21, so it needs to be on a dolly to make it easier to attach. Also, the older I get the more I like dollies and my iMatch .

Pete

 

[Mike Costello]

Amen to that--I turned 61 in July, so any way I can make life easier is welcome!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I don't need the dollies for attaching, just for moving things around in the barn to better arrange things. I was looking at swivel casters today at TSC, $10 each for 3". Right above them is a moving dolly with 4 swivel casters for $20, so I bought two of the dollies and got the casters and bolts for $5 each.

 

[beppington]

I was looking at swivel casters today at TSC, $10 each for 3". Right above them is a moving dolly with 4 swivel casters for $20, so I bought two of the dollies and got the casters and bolts for $5 each.

I did exactly the same thing, even at TSC :thumbsup:

 

[Deadman]

Snowmobile Dollies (small with 4 wheels) work great. I put one on each side, and the wheel takes care of itself. I can move it around with 1 hand easily, and the best part is they don't take up any space and can be used for everything else.

They are like 8 inch square pieces of steel with 4 wheels under them. You can buy them in sets of 3 for like $30. I have about 6 sets and use them for everything in the garage.

 

[denverdave66]

Can someone tell me the trick to getting the top link connected to the i-match? I got it adjusted out but I can connect the bottom but can't get the top. Also, do I really need to block up my rotary cutter since I have an imatch?

 

[glkingar]

Has anyone made a dolly for a subframe mounted backhoe? I've been thinking of making one based on a pallet and then get a pallet jack to raise and lower the backhoe onto the mounting hooks.

 

[JJZ 109]

I decided to build a dolly for my rotary cutter in order to make it easier to hook up to my Kubota. I made it using 4X4's, 2X4's, and 4 fully rotating casters. What a difference in hookup! It took me less than 10 minutes to get the cutter hooked up including the driveshaft. With the fully rotating casters, I could easily move it to make minor adjustments in hookup. Removing the cutter was easy too, just slide the dolly underneath and unhook; then stow the cutter out of the way. Pics below give an idea of what it looks like, and can be built to suit various sizes of attachments. Mike

Nice setup, Mike. I may do just the same, as I have 6 heavy duty casters laying around taking up space anyway.
For now, I've been using a couple of $7.99 (on sale) Harbor Freight dollies to move my 4' JD rotary cutter around the barn.

 

[nickel plate]

Has anyone made a dolly for a subframe mounted backhoe? I've been thinking of making one based on a pallet and then get a pallet jack to raise and lower the backhoe onto the mounting hooks.

Are you referring to a backhoe with the subframe as part of the BH or the SF as part of the tractor? If you mean the latter, yes I have a Woods BH90-X chained down on a dolly. I use the hydraulic stabilizers ILO a pallet jack to raise/lower the BH for the off/on proceedure. Glad to offer my lumber and plywood build experience, back in my few threads there are two about the build. Not sure if this thread is the place to discuss this, you might want to start a new one or just PM me as needed. Even on a dolly they are sluggish but doable to move around-much easier than no dolly.

 

[jeff9366]

Used INDUSTRIAL CASTERS 4"-5"-6"-8" show up on eBay incredibly cheap from time to time. Type in a search for INDUSTRIAL CASTERS or HEAVY DUTY CASTERS and see what comes up. In April I purchased four, used, 4" industrial casters for $30 delivered. While not specified I would guess-timate capacity is 1,000 pounds each. Mine came from liquidation of a mill in South Carolina.

 

[356Guy]

I know this is an old post, but it helped inspire me to build a dolly for my cutter. Had some 3/16" square stock, 1/4" plate, and some casters from another project laying around so I put this thing together, works slick!! No more getting out the tractor to move the cutter around. Thanks for the Post Mike!!