Drum Mowers - logistical questions

Daronspicher · Sep 23, 2014

Hi, I have a Deere 820 moco, well worn but I have it working to a point, put on a bunch of new guards and an expensive uJoint in the power line.

I pull it with a JD 2020, 67hp theoretically, and I can probably get by with it if I don't make a move.

However, it really feels like I'm dragging the titanic around when I have that thing hooked up to my 2020.

I need to work on my linkage in my throttle on the 2020 since I can only get about 1800/1900 rpm out of it and it should be running proper pto speed at 2400 or so. The moco drags all the power I have out of that little tractor.

I have about 9 acres on a 10 acre property that I cut, has alfalfa right now.

I'm thinking about selling the moco and going to a drum mower, the 5 footers probably are my best pick.

If the drum mower needs 35hp, maybe my theoretical 67 would be enough.

What I can't quite wrap my mind around is the 3 point aspect of the drum mowers. When an attachment is behind the tractor, it is typically balanced and the 3 point hitch has weight on both sides, pushing down.

The drum mower appears as if it would have weight on one arm, and negative weight (pushing up) on the other arm. Is that right?

Do those drums run (rub) atop the ground, or do they typically hover as you mow?

i don't have a cab. Am I going to put a bullet through my head as soon as I go 10 feet and hit a gopher hole and a small rock comes off the blade? My ground is pretty good rock free, flat and about as perfect as you might want for mowing hay. Do I need a plexiglass shield built on that side of the tractor to not die?

Thanks for your feedback, I'm just starting my look at possibly moving over.

-Daron

bjr · Sep 23, 2014

I have SFI 2555 52" Drum mower (bought it two years ago) that I run without a cab. I have a JM354 Jinma tractor. I keep the curtain in place at all times. Maybe a few pieces of grass kinda fly around, but, nothing dangerous. I really like how easy it is to change out the blades. Yes the drum bottoms lay right on the ground. Adjust the top 3 pt. linage to keep the drums level with the ground. I did use some pipe ring spacers to get the blades cutting a little higher. The fellow at SFI walk me through the spacer ring installation. If you do go with a drum mower you won't be sorry. Oh yeah, keep the belts tight light the manual says. bjr

SPYDERLK · Sep 23, 2014

Daronspicher said:
Hi, I have a Deere 820 moco, well worn but I have it working to a point, put on a bunch of new guards and an expensive uJoint in the power line.

I pull it with a JD 2020, 67hp theoretically, and I can probably get by with it if I don't make a move.

However, it really feels like I'm dragging the titanic around when I have that thing hooked up to my 2020.

I need to work on my linkage in my throttle on the 2020 since I can only get about 1800/1900 rpm out of it and it should be running proper pto speed at 2400 or so. The moco drags all the power I have out of that little tractor.

I have about 9 acres on a 10 acre property that I cut, has alfalfa right now.

I'm thinking about selling the moco and going to a drum mower, the 5 footers probably are my best pick.

If the drum mower needs 35hp, maybe my theoretical 67 would be enough.

What I can't quite wrap my mind around is the 3 point aspect of the drum mowers. When an attachment is behind the tractor, it is typically balanced and the 3 point hitch has weight on both sides, pushing down.

The drum mower appears as if it would have weight on one arm, and negative weight (pushing up) on the other arm. Is that right?

Do those drums run (rub) atop the ground, or do they typically hover as you mow?

i don't have a cab. Am I going to put a bullet through my head as soon as I go 10 feet and hit a gopher hole and a small rock comes off the blade? My ground is pretty good rock free, flat and about as perfect as you might want for mowing hay. Do I need a plexiglass shield built on that side of the tractor to not die?

Thanks for your feedback, I'm just starting my look at possibly moving over.

-Daron

All of your surmises are good as bjr said. ... I have a 65" CCM drum mower that I run with a Kub L3450. Lower and MUCH lighter than your tractor and about 1/2 the HP. -- Have hit several rocks. but no projectile issues. Yours would easily handle the largest model [75" cut]. There is a freewheeling dish on the bottom of each drum that the cutter rides on as you cut. They support the weight of the cutter as you mow and their non adjustable position pretty much fixes your cut height at about 1.5"
The drums spin very fast and these mowers will cut everything wet or dry and leave it in a single windrow even when you go 6 or 8 mph. They do not condition the hay tho, so its important that you tedder right after the field is cut. Its important to cut at full 540 PTO rpm so your tractor will need a little work there.
larry

Tx Jim · Sep 24, 2014

I think your 2020 should have enough power to run a 820 Mo-Co although it has 54 pto HP not 67 according to Tractordata.com. Is your 2020 gasoline or diesel?
.
John Deere 2020 Power:
Drawbar (tested): 45.90 hp [34.2 kW]
PTO (tested): 54.09 hp [40.3 kW]

Daronspicher · Sep 24, 2014

My 2020 is a gas engine.

I will have to look around and see if I am ok to cut Alfalfa at the 1.5 inches you mention is a fixed cut height. I was thinking when I read that, I was supposed to be leaving 3 or 4 inches so I don't kill it. Is anyone cutting alfalfa with a drum mower, does it turn out ok?

Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful.

-Daron

Daronspicher · Sep 24, 2014

Another thing that was interesting as I watched some youtube videos of them. One guy was showing how easy it is to change the knives. A couple comments and a question.

First, his drums (upper and lower) seemed really beat up and he was still mowing just like it was no big deal. Do the drums get beat up a lot typically, and does that put them out of balance which makes the thing start to vibrate itself apart?

Are the knives for these things pretty standard? I see a lot of brands of these drum mowers out there, are the knives in some way standard amongst the different brands? Any brand that is really hard to get knives for?

What do the knives cost per knife, do you just get a 50 pack early on and live long and mow like crazy for years?

Thanks, -Daron

bjr · Sep 24, 2014

As far as Blades go I think A&I show those blades. MY SFI 2555 takes a A-cm120 blade. I've been buying 25 pack through A&I vendor that price with freight delivered right to the house was like $40. I've only used 12 of the 25 so far. bjr

rankrank1 · Sep 24, 2014

I would only consider dumping the moco and switching to the drum mower if you also plan on mostly doing grassy hay in the future instead of the alfalfa. Having the conditioner will allow you to put up the best alfalfa possible which will be much more of a challenge in a humid Midwest type climate like IL without the conditioner if you go drum mower.

For your limited acreage that moco should work quite well. I run a Hesston 1120 mower conditioner (9' sickle cut machine with conditioning rollers) with a Farmall M (36 hp), Farmall h (26 hp), and even an ole John Deere model A 2 cylinder putt putt (35 hp) on rare occasions. Yes the moco is heavy and has a lot of tongue weight but if my lowly Farmall h can run it then your much more modern JD should work circles around any of my antique clunkers.

You need to fix the throttle problem regardless of which cutter choice you go with anyways. Either cutter type requires enough throttle to get the PTO shaft to 540 rpm so fix that throttle to at least get the PTO speed to that point at a minimum .

I would not mind having a drum mower for my situation but I do NOT do alfalfa either - mostly grassy hay. For just a few acres though I can not hardly justify buying a new drum mower and have yet to find a cheap drum mower. Plus I am not too sure how well my antiques and their add on 3 point hitches would do with a drum mower anyways. (would not be a problem on your tractor though since it has factory 3 point which is better than add on kits).

I do know that if I ever do run a drum mower (or disc mower) then I certainly will be rigging myself a Lexan grade shield of at least 1/4" to 3/8" thick to protect my head and spinal cord on any open station tractor. To many horror stories of guys having their cab windows broken out, but most are not too upset about the broken cab window as whatever broke that window was otherwise heading straight for their head.

SPYDERLK · Sep 25, 2014

Daronspicher said:
My 2020 is a gas engine.

I will have to look around and see if I am ok to cut Alfalfa at the 1.5 inches you mention is a fixed cut height. I was thinking when I read that, I was supposed to be leaving 3 or 4 inches so I don't kill it. Is anyone cutting alfalfa with a drum mower, does it turn out ok?

Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful.

-Daron

Check with DaveOmak on this thread.== He does alfalfa.

attachments/215379-ccm-drum-mower-pros-cons.html?highlight=#post3769774http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/215379-ccm-drum-mower-pros-cons.html?highlight=#post3769774

flusher · Sep 26, 2014

Some of the drum mowers from Europe, Australia and New Zealand have tedder options that are built into their drum mowers to spread out the windrow. Check the Maxam website for more info.