RonMar
Elite Member
pto is set at 540 with the rpm around 1300/1500.
g0rd0, like Greg said, you need to have the tach up in the green arc around 2300 RPM to get the rated 540 RPM at the PTO shaft. Especially when cutting grass, you need a certain blade tip speed in order to cleanly sever the grass stalks. The gearbox on the cutter is designed to give the necessary blade speed(around 13,000 FT/MIN) when 540 RPM is applied from the PTO. Less RPM and it won't cut right. You use your gear selection to determine the speed you travel over the ground, not the throttle, that stays at full all the time you are mowing. The governor top end setting will limit the RPM to no higher than the green arc, even with the throttle lever pushed as far forward as it will go.
I slowly let out the clutch at about 1000 RPM to get the blades spinning. As soon as the first stage clutch(pto section) is fully engaged, I smoothly push the throttle lever as far forward as it will go and leave it there. The remainder of my mowing session uses just half of the clutch pedal travel to control the second stage of the clutch(drivetrain clutch) for shifting. The only time I come out of full throttle is when I am done cutting, or the temp starts to creep up because the filter screen in front of the radiator is full of debris and blocking airflow and I have to stop and clean the screen...
Force = mass X acceleration. The real power of the brushhog, especially when shredding brush and sapplings/small trees is in the energy stored in the blades at their designed RPM. At 1400 engine RPM, you are only getting half the performance out of your mower, and less than 1/2 the available HP out of your engine. Lugging a diesel engine is not healthy for it. Does your engine bog down when the material being cut gets thick? I would guess it does. The only time mine bogs down is when it gets into something like a rootwad of one of the larger sapplings/trees I have just pushed over that gets uprooted and tangled in the blades
With sharp blades, my hog delivers a pretty decent cut on grass, even when it is a little wet... Push your throttle all the way forward, i think you will be pleasantly surprised at how the cutter performs...