Bush Hog on Front of BX

[quicksandfarmer]

Well, look at a Power Trac for example...


ALL implements are mounted on the FEL arms out front.... like the brush hog, mowers, buckets, forks, snowplows, blowers, post hole diggers, etc...

All powered implements are powered by hydraulics. No drive shafts.
...
Good luck with your project. :thumbsup:

Looking at the PowerTrac, I think I see the problem. The PT is articulated -- when you steer, the whole front pivots. With a regular tractor and a loader-mounted attachment, when the attachment is down and you turn the steering wheels the tractor is just going to go straight if there is any resistance from the attachment.

 

[MossRoad]

Don't know if it would be a problem or not. The deck is on casters.

 

[Fallon]

Looking at the PowerTrac, I think I see the problem. The PT is articulated -- when you steer, the whole front pivots. With a regular tractor and a loader-mounted attachment, when the attachment is down and you turn the steering wheels the tractor is just going to go straight if there is any resistance from the attachment.

Not so much a problem as an improvement for that function. steering is done in the middle of the frame. The front axle looks as beefy as the rear, just like a front end loader, not like a tractor where it's smaller, weaker & more complex.

Tractors are designed to pull, not lift or push. While they can be made to push or lift, there are trade-offs made to accomplish that. I love the loader on my Kubota L3200, but know if it was designed to go on the back of my tractor it should be able to lift twice as much.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

O' the joys of planning. All good information coming from you guys. If I could afford 2 tractors I would get something like the power track; but, "the budget". Regarding the weight on the front axle; I considered that and think with my 500# of suitcase weighs on the rear they would balance the 475# mower fairly well. Raising the PSI to 2000 PSI I can now lift 600# with the FEL with the counterbalance in place. I carry the mower with the FEL clamp on forks now. Adapting a 3 point to the FEL arms is the easy and cheap part in my steel shop. I was planning to keep the cost below $1K so most of the answers about other units and driving with hydraulics is a non-starter.

I need to see what the PTO pieces are that drive the Kubota front snow blower. It has a frame mount QH that they take to mount the blower to the frame as well as a snow blade. It raises and lowers using the FEL hydraulics. It does not tilt which would be handy. I could use the blade as a later project also for spreading grave, sand, and compost. Someone mentioned flying debris; attached to the rear my mower throws every thing to the rear, nothing comes out the front or I would get hit in the back or eyes when turning my head to see what i am doing. After an hour of mowing I have a stiff and sore neck, hence this idea started.

Ron

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Very astute point, Jeff. But sorta takes the fun out of it. Seriously though, maybe you don't know how much Ron gets out of his BX. I for one, am impressed. He couldn't be without it I reckon.

Dragon, thanks for the uplift, and Jeff, for the money invested I do not believe trading off the BX will gain me anything. I have over 1500 hours on my BX in 4 years operation, a lot of it hard work with FEL, BH, and 7 other implements. It is so adaptable I could use another one just to reduce implement connect/disconnect time

Ron

 

[MossRoad]

Not so much a problem as an improvement for that function. steering is done in the middle of the frame. The front axle looks as beefy as the rear, just like a front end loader, not like a tractor where it's smaller, weaker & more complex.

Tractors are designed to pull, not lift or push. While they can be made to push or lift, there are trade-offs made to accomplish that. I love the loader on my Kubota L3200, but know if it was designed to go on the back of my tractor it should be able to lift twice as much.

There is no traditional front axle on a Power Trac. There are 4 wheel motors, one at each corner. And yes, all 4 are the same motors and all 4 tires are the same size. And no, they are not designed to pull like a conventional tractor as they have no gears. I don't want to get into the pros and cons of the Power Trac VS conventional tractor, only showing how the hydraulic brush hog might be configured on the OP's FEL arms as requested. :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

O' the joys of planning. All good information coming from you guys. If I could afford 2 tractors I would get something like the power track; but, "the budget". Regarding the weight on the front axle; I considered that and think with my 500# of suitcase weighs on the rear they would balance the 475# mower fairly well. Raising the PSI to 2000 PSI I can now lift 600# with the FEL with the counterbalance in place. I carry the mower with the FEL clamp on forks now. Adapting a 3 point to the FEL arms is the easy and cheap part in my steel shop. I was planning to keep the cost below $1K so most of the answers about other units and driving with hydraulics is a non-starter.

I need to see what the PTO pieces are that drive the Kubota front snow blower. It has a frame mount QH that they take to mount the blower to the frame as well as a snow blade. It raises and lowers using the FEL hydraulics. It does not tilt which would be handy. I could use the blade as a later project also for spreading grave, sand, and compost. Someone mentioned flying debris; attached to the rear my mower throws every thing to the rear, nothing comes out the front or I would get hit in the back or eyes when turning my head to see what i am doing. After an hour of mowing I have a stiff and sore neck, hence this idea started.

Ron

If you mount a brush hog on the front, you're going to find that, depending on rotation of the blade, you'll probably eventually puncture or damage the inside edge of one of your front tires with debris. At the least, you'll get a large buildup of debris on the inside rim of one of your front tires.

You don't want that brush hog hanging off the FEL arms. Think about how your 3pt hitch works. The brush hog rides on the tail wheel and your 3pt arms are not fixed in the down position. The brush hog is free to float the 3pt lift arms up if the skids hit anything. Your 3pt arms limit the down travel, but not the up travel. Your FEL is either locked or floats up AND down. There's nothing to limit the down travel. If you have it hanging from your FEL arms, it can't float. You need to have the FEL arms float and for that to happen, you'll have to put castering wheels on the brush hog, or put some kind of stops on your FEL rams to limit downward travel.

Also, how are you going to allow for going up a hill if you put a drive shaft on it? Your driveshaft will be fairly long and way out front. Do the geometry to see how steep of a hill you can have the brush hog go up before the driveshaft starts rubbing something under the tractor.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

If you mount a brush hog on the front, you're going to find that, depending on rotation of the blade, you'll probably eventually puncture or damage the inside edge of one of your front tires with debris. At the least, you'll get a large buildup of debris on the inside rim of one of your front tires. As noted before; my hog does not throw stuff toward the 3PT.

You don't want that brush hog hanging off the FEL arms. Think about how your 3pt hitch works. The brush hog rides on the tail wheel and your 3pt arms are not fixed in the down position. The brush hog is free to float the 3pt lift arms up if the skids hit anything. Your 3pt arms limit the down travel, but not the up travel. Your FEL is either locked or floats up AND down. There's nothing to limit the down travel. If you have it hanging from your FEL arms, it can't float. You need to have the FEL arms float and for that to happen, you'll have to put castering wheels on the brush hog, or put some kind of stops on your FEL rams to limit downward travel. I have thought about putting 2 swivel wheels on the hog at the hitch end.

Also, how are you going to allow for going up a hill if you put a drive shaft on it? Your driveshaft will be fairly long and way out front. Do the geometry to see how steep of a hill you can have the brush hog go up before the driveshaft starts rubbing something under the tractor. No matter what the PTO would be in two sections; a bearing point will be needed at the front of the tractor frame with that being the hinge point

Ron

 

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

As noted before; my hog does not throw stuff toward the 3PT.

I really don't think that this is true.

1 - I agree that the vast majority of light vegetation like grass gets thrown backwards in a traditional 3-point setup but what gets thrown forward gets re-mowed and thrown out the back due to the direction of travel. If you will reverse it and mount it backwards on the front you will be tossing everything towards the tractor / operator. Unless that is, you put in on the front and mow in reverse.

2 - If you mow and hit rocks, or woody objects they will shatter and fly in whatever direction. forward, backward, sideways. I had a lot of slits in the tread of my tires from brush hogging and hitting fieldstone that had been plowed up. Shale would shatter and send shrapnel everywhere. Hitting stones hidden in grass is not intentional but it happens. Mowing small trees and shrubs is the norm for a lot of people. I wouldn't want to take a punji stick to the chest.

I don't mean to be a ***** about this but depending on how the design is implemented it could be very dangerous. I know of someone that brush hogs with a chainsaw face shields because something has taken a weird turn and hit them in the face. Please look into some type of screen on the tractor, deflector on the back of the mower, or both to protect the operator. I seem to get more and more safety conscious after each year of doing stupid or poorly thought out things. Call it experience...

 

[MossRoad]

If you mount a brush hog on the front, you're going to find that, depending on rotation of the blade, you'll probably eventually puncture or damage the inside edge of one of your front tires with debris. At the least, you'll get a large buildup of debris on the inside rim of one of your front tires. As noted before; my hog does not throw stuff toward the 3PT.

You don't want that brush hog hanging off the FEL arms. Think about how your 3pt hitch works. The brush hog rides on the tail wheel and your 3pt arms are not fixed in the down position. The brush hog is free to float the 3pt lift arms up if the skids hit anything. Your 3pt arms limit the down travel, but not the up travel. Your FEL is either locked or floats up AND down. There's nothing to limit the down travel. If you have it hanging from your FEL arms, it can't float. You need to have the FEL arms float and for that to happen, you'll have to put castering wheels on the brush hog, or put some kind of stops on your FEL rams to limit downward travel. I have thought about putting 2 swivel wheels on the hog at the hitch end.

Also, how are you going to allow for going up a hill if you put a drive shaft on it? Your driveshaft will be fairly long and way out front. Do the geometry to see how steep of a hill you can have the brush hog go up before the driveshaft starts rubbing something under the tractor. No matter what the PTO would be in two sections; a bearing point will be needed at the front of the tractor frame with that being the hinge point
Ron

Right, it throws it behind the brush hog, which will now be in front of the tractor. Regardless of whether your brush hog is in front or behind your tractor, the blades are still going to turn in the same direction. The leading edge is going to hit things first and the trailing edge is going to run over it and most of the debris will come out the trailing end, which is now in front of you.

If you put a drive shaft on it, how are you going to control keeping from lifting it too high by accident? Just curious.