Disaster turned into an asset

[Texasmark]

Was working this miserably poor hay patch yesterday and a rock (which we have very few here....thanks to the glaciers) hit my side glass on my cab. Last time that happened it was the door on that side and it was $640 parts and shipping. Another red ink haying operation.

I figured this glass would be around $400 and decided I wasn't going for it. Got to thinking and looking and Lexan which is used for auto light covers head and tail, was at the local big box stores at a very reasonable price. Also the plastic sheets can be cut and formed....this rear window has a curve at the rear go extend part way around the back.

I decided that an impact resistant, clear poly sheet would serve me better than shattering safety glass. While shopping I found large sheets were quite inexpensive so I got the idea to cover my right cab door too. I got on ebay and found some 3" neoprene rubber hazard environment rated suction cups with a ｼ-20 threaded female insert for $10 each.

I'm going to replace the rear glass and put a shield over my door.

You hear guys talk about doing that with drum and disc mowers and I have been thinking about it since breaking my door several years ago. Now I think I have a practical solution that can be implemented, with functionality and not tearing up anything on the tractor.

The neat thing about the cab door is you just put it on when you cut hay and when finished take it back off.

Figured I had to share this as I know full well lots of you folks out there either already had it happen or were dreading not if it would happen but WHEN! Now you can do something about it for about 150 bucks.

 

[kthompson]

If you could post picture of the mounting when you do mount it I would appreciate it. I worry about boom mower.

 

[Texasmark]

Guess I didn't punch the post button.

Will be toward the end of the month before I post back on this. Have a Dr.'s appt. the 25th and will p/u supplies while in town then a few days to do the work and get posted.

 

[Texasmark]

Well I thought about it some more and what parts to use. My suction cups came in today and are really good "suckers" but I may not need them after all.

I ordered my OEM glass this morning and it was $250 plus shipping. That was quoted by one dealer at $165 and about $100 for another (where I ordered my part) if I come to their store and pick it up. Parts guy was guessing and said he wouldn't know the shipping till he got the invoice. First time I heard of that....just stick your neck out for shipping and take what the charge you..........Clerk said that he just passes through the cost, doesn't mark it up like apparently the other one did.

I decided that the tractor was too nice being a 2007 model I bought new and now with just over 1000 hrs, to cobble it up. The money's spent and I will just have the view of and through it to enjoy.

On what to do I decided to build an extension out on the front of the mower sticking far enough out front to block any debris coming from the outside drum's knives. While I'm at it I am going to take that utterly useless skirt off. I have some ⅛" 4x8 sheet steel and some 1" square tubing I can weld up into a frame and the sheet to it and U bolt it to the top cover of the mower.

 

[M5farms]

what kind of mower is it mark?? weve run Kuhn and vicon for 30 years and never had a busted glass. we don't have a lot of rocks tho

 

[BAP]

I have run Kuhn, New Holland and John Deere disc mowers since they came out. Over the years we have replaced windows on the tractors 4 times and fixed a radiator when the mower threw a stone making a right hand turn. After having a window blown out next to you, you will never consider running a disc mower without a cab.

 

[ericm979]

Forming plexiglas is not that easy from what I'm told. I bought a windscreen for a rare bike from a guy who did it in his shop and he used heat and a form, and had made a numbr of duds in practice.

 

[Garandman]

One thing to know about Polycarbonate: you can’t polish out scratches.

Some motorcycle windshields are made from PC, but they usually use an impact grade Acrylic, which can be polished (I use toothpaste).

LexGuard is a laminated PC, which can even be made bulletproof.

 

[Texasmark]

what kind of mower is it mark?? weve run Kuhn and vicon for 30 years and never had a busted glass. we don't have a lot of rocks tho

Agri something, made in Turkey. Rocks are small (as rocks go) 1 to 3" diameter. Tillage brings them to the top and rain exposes them. The blades on the drum are 1-2" off the ground. The outer drum is the problem as it is turning in toward the tractor. No telling how many you hit and things aren't perfect. But when they are whacko.

It has a curtain like others and I even put a ¼" square hardware cloth in front of the skirt since the wind blows the skirt back making it useless and the mod is open and stays vertical....till product forces it back. The other problem was I was traveling at a high rate of speed and there was minimum vegetation, nothing to block it.

I'm in the middle of the fix as I type. I am putting a 15" extension on the front of the mower with a frame strong enough to resist pushing from tall crops and on the door, I'm making a sheet steel cover that I will attach with the suction cups, just in case the steel misses one. Lot cheaper than my acrylic resin idea.....I have all the parts and plenty of time to make the mod.

 

[Texasmark]

I have run Kuhn, New Holland and John Deere disc mowers since they came out. Over the years we have replaced windows on the tractors 4 times and fixed a radiator when the mower threw a stone making a right hand turn. After having a window blown out next to you, you will never consider running a disc mower without a cab.

Things were humming right along, no problems in 3 days of working the field. Had my HD 30 db ear muffs (large, almost cover the whole side of your head....thank goodness). All of a sudden I hear this crashing noise and simultaneously feel something hit my muffs and my cheek.....small segments of safety glass. I found the rock and it was about 3" in diameter. Could have knocked me out had it not been for the muffs.

 

[M5farms]

That should work, the curtain on my vicon doesn't give me any issues, it's heavy and thick , fwiw if you need s new curtain build your own out of tpo used for roofing it is easy to weld and 60 Mills thick. If you go that route let me know I have a welder I can loan you and I have connections in Texas where you could get tpo. I slung 2 blades and holders off of a disc this summer one tore out the back and other went thru top . didn't even know it till I saw some streaks being left in field

 

[Texasmark]

That should work, the curtain on my vicon doesn't give me any issues, it's heavy and thick , fwiw if you need s new curtain build your own out of tpo used for roofing it is easy to weld and 60 Mills thick. If you go that route let me know I have a welder I can loan you and I have connections in Texas where you could get tpo. I slung 2 blades and holders off of a disc this summer one tore out the back and other went thru top . didn't even know it till I saw some streaks being left in field

Thanks for the offering. Very kind of you. Will see how my current plan works......course it'll be next spring as I "think" I put the cutter up for the last time this year.

 

[Mace Canute]

Agri something, made in Turkey. Rocks are small (as rocks go) 1 to 3" diameter. Tillage brings them to the top and rain exposes them. The blades on the drum are 1-2" off the ground. The outer drum is the problem as it is turning in toward the tractor. No telling how many you hit and things aren't perfect. But when they are whacko.

It has a curtain like others and I even put a ｼ" square hardware cloth in front of the skirt since the wind blows the skirt back making it useless and the mod is open and stays vertical....till product forces it back. The other problem was I was traveling at a high rate of speed and there was minimum vegetation, nothing to block it.

I'm in the middle of the fix as I type. I am putting a 15" extension on the front of the mower with a frame strong enough to resist pushing from tall crops and on the door, I'm making a sheet steel cover that I will attach with the suction cups, just in case the steel misses one. Lot cheaper than my acrylic resin idea.....I have all the parts and plenty of time to make the mod.

Why so low?

 

[Texasmark]

Why so low?

The drum has an upper and lower "dish". The lower dish is independent of the drive mechanism and rides over the ground. Height is about 1". The upper dish contains the blades and there is about a 1" spacing between the dishes. Just the way it's designed.

When I bought it I wanted more stubble height for sudan-sorghum crops and bought the 1" extension to raise it but I was mowing a rough field at high speed recently, due to lack of crop matter, and sheared the bolts holding one of the lower dishes onto the machine. In repairing I decided to take the shims out as I have too much stubble with soft stemmed crops like Bermuda. Right now I don't know if I want to keep it like it is (mows great), or go back with the spacer....will definitely hurt my SS crop second cutting due to slow regrowth with a shorter stubble stalk but I need the cutting improvement on the Bermuda.

 

[Mace Canute]

The drum has an upper and lower "dish". The lower dish is independent of the drive mechanism and rides over the ground. Height is about 1". The upper dish contains the blades and there is about a 1" spacing between the dishes. Just the way it's designed.

When I bought it I wanted more stubble height for sudan-sorghum crops and bought the 1" extension to raise it but I was mowing a rough field at high speed recently, due to lack of crop matter, and sheared the bolts holding one of the lower dishes onto the machine. In repairing I decided to take the shims out as I have too much stubble with soft stemmed crops like Bermuda. Right now I don't know if I want to keep it like it is (mows great), or go back with the spacer....will definitely hurt my SS crop second cutting due to slow regrowth with a shorter stubble stalk but I need the cutting improvement on the Bermuda.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Creamer]

In some dryer parts of the country those disc and drum mowers are called firestarters and do not sell well. I had never thought about the operator safety issue with them.

 

[Texasmark]

Yesterday I got my new right rear window glass from a nearby (50 miles) Branson dealer. Really nice, helpful, guys. Cost was $252 and freight was $42, 9 day ship time; not bad. Over a hundred bucks cheaper than I estimated. Done deal.

I made and tested a shield, sheet steel-suction cup mounted, for the lower part of the door (door handle down), but have yet to install the shield on the mower. I used some scrap parts I had lying around. For the door I used the steel front of an old dishwasher I cut to fit and painted up to match the tractor real nice and for the mower I modified an old railing I made for a Chevy bed trailer, years ago, and a piece of old corrugated tin. I decided that the acrylic needed to be ｼ" so that when a rock hit it it wouldn't bend into the glass and break it anyway and for that it needed to come in a 4x8 sheet.....around 250 bucks....no deal. Time to "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.".....Clint Eastwood, USMC (motto?), Granada Island invasion movie.

I figured it'd be better to put the main shield on the implement so that it's a permanent part of it and no additional work when hooking it up.

Will post pics when I get the mower shield installed.....will be a few days.

I'm posting this because I know full well there are a lots of 3 pt. drum and disc mowers out there in use and anybody using one has the possibility of crashing your glass if cabbed or crashing YOU without. I guarantee you that the 3" rock that crashed my glass would have hit me right in the right temple and knocked me out or worse! As it was small pieces of safety glass hit me in the cheek and the ear muffs.

 

[Teachu2]

Time to "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.".....Clint Eastwood, USMC (motto?), Granada Island invasion movie.

Heartbreak Ridge

 

[Texasmark]

Heartbreak Ridge

That's it. Really enjoyed. I have a neighbor whose daughter is in med school down there. Couldn't help but think about the movie. She says everything is fine, great school.

 

[BKBoiss]

LexGuard is a laminated PC, which can even be made bulletproof.

I really wish I had a picture because of the whole "pictures or it didn't happen deal", but a lot of forestry machinery have this for windows and coming back after a long weekend we found a Bullet lodged in the front window of a processor right about eye level.