Using a chain as top link with attachments

[rd_macgregor]

This is my Walco Whistler mower.


The top chain is standard, although I added the retaining bracket over the PTO shield and covered the chain with a bicycle inner tube. It is true that the implement can ride up a rear tire. This happened to me shortly after I bought my tractor, though I don't blame it on the chain; apparently a stick poked a bale clip out of a lower lift arm and the arm worked its way off the tractor, so when I turned a corner, the mower swung to the side far enough for the edge to catch on a tire lug. Take my word for it, it is exciting (and not in a good way!) to look back and see a mower riding up a tire toward your backside.
Having said that, there is a very good reason for having the chain, rather than a rigid bar, at least on my style of mower. If I start to mow with the chain tight (wheel on the ground), the wheel will lift off the ground if I head over a rise or over the lip of a swale. When the nose of the tractor is headed down and the tail wheel lifts, it (the wheel) swings around backwards, then slams down again as the tractor heads to the bottom of the swale. This forces the wheel to pivot back to the "normal" rolling position very abruptly and with considerable force on it. Before I figured this out, I seriously bent the tail wheel forks twice (the second time actually breaking a weld). Now, I turn enough slack into the top link chain so the tail wheel stays on the ground nearly all the time when I am mowing, regardless of how abruptly contoured the land is.
I found that a whole lot of slack in the chain could allow it to slip off and under the metal PTO shield, when extra slack was added going through the bottom of a dip, so I added the retaining bracket to the shield to prevent this from happening, and covered the (new) chain with inner tube so it wouldn't bang more paint off the shield and gearbox.
Bob

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

One way to reduce this risk is to run the chain thru a length of pipe that's short enough to allow the amount of float desired without allowing the implement to lift too much.

That's a great idea.

 

[Deleted member 367166]

My Dad used a chain on the bush hog on our hilly area we mowed I always worried about it but it never broke and it never came close to the PTO shaft. It did a great job of keeping the whole hog floating with our ravines. Funny now I cant get some of my daredevil dirt bike riders to mow where I will still. I don't see a big deal with a chain unless you are going to snap load it all the time.

What size chain did you use? Looks like 1/4 inch will support over 1000 lbs.
Also, how do you hook the chain to the tractor and the hog?

 

[Gordon Gould]

What size chain did you use? Looks like 1/4 inch will support over 1000 lbs.
Also, how do you hook the chain to the tractor and the hog?

This is what I do. Not a bush hog but ....I use a short length of 5/16" chain with a logging choker hook on one end. I put the tractor top link pin through the choker hook. And put a keyhole slider on the implement top link pin. I can easily adjust the active chain length.

EDIT: I would not trust 1/4" chain. You can get quite a shock load if you go over a bump with the mower raised.

gg

 

[dieselscout80]

Some 8’/10‘ rotary cutters are semi mounted in that they’re only attached via the two low three point arms.

This does the same basic thing as a chain top link.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

A 4 X 4 pallet. I wonder if that was for a helicopter or maybe for the days where they had to push stuff out of a side door. In 26 years all I saw were 8 X 8 pallets.

I saw them too. But, maybe it wasn't from an APS squadron. Maybe a land based organization. Plus the big ones were aluminum and shallow.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Some 8’/10‘ rotary cutters are semi mounted in that they’re only attached via the two low three point arms.

This does the same basic thing as a chain top link.

But they have wheels.

 

[dieselscout80]

But they have wheels.

Don’t most bushhogs have a tail wheel??

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I have chain top links well over fifty years old. Never broke. Used with five and six ft bush hogs, and used roughly. You could make a flex hitch on the implement side, like some bush hogs have. You could run two chain braces to rear of your pallet and let the hitch flex at the bottom.

 

[kneedeep]

I have used chain top links on mowers since I was 18 with no problems.
Im 65 today.

 

[Deleted member 367166]

This is what I do. Not a bush hog but ....I use a short length of 5/16" chain with a logging choker hook on one end. I put the tractor top link pin through the choker hook. And put a keyhole slider on the implement top link pin. I can easily adjust the active chain length.

EDIT: I would not trust 1/4" chain. You can get quite a shock load if you go over a bump with the mower raised.


View attachment 808541

gg

You may be right about the chain. My mx5 hog weighs about 850 lbs and the 1/4 chain is rated at 1300. If it breaks, I'll go to the 5/16.

 

[John0829]

I have used 1/4" chain for years for a top link on mowers and bush hogs, so far never had an issue with breakage. And I have been over some horribly rough/bumpy ground.

 

[TerryR]

You may be right about the chain. My mx5 hog weighs about 850 lbs and the 1/4 chain is rated at 1300. If it breaks, I'll go to the 5/16.

But only about half the weight is on the chain. The lower arms support the front of the mower, and chain only supports the rear, then only once the tail wheel comes off the ground.

The geometry of the links can change the load the chain gets. For example if the chain isn't parallel to the lower links the load would be somewhat greater than half the weight.

 

[Gordon Gould]

The way I see it the top link can see a much greater force than the weight of the mower. Take a 6' mower that weighs 850 lbs lifted by the 3ph so it is horizontal and the top link is parallel to and 18" above the lower lift arms as in a Cat-1 3ph. Like this

If I remember my physics - In this simple case the top link being horizontal does not supply any vertical forces therefore the entire 850 lbs of the mower is supported by the lower lift arms. The top link keeps the rear of the mower from rotating downward around the lift arm hinge point. The horizontal force on the top link is determined by 1/2 the diameter of the mower, it's weight, and the height of the top link above the lift arms as depicted in the diagram.

gg

 

[TerryR]

The way I see it the top link can see a much bigger force than the weight of the mower. Take a 6' mower that weighs 850 lbs lifted by the 3ph so it is horizontal and the top link is parallel to and 18" above the lower lift arms as in a Cat-1 3ph. Like this

Gordon,

You are right. I had forgotten to take into account the difference between the height of the top link connection point and the length of the mower.

Your estimates are reasonable, so the top link sees around twice the weight of the mower, once the rear wheel is off the ground.

 

[scootr]

There are many grades of chain. Each with their own breaking point.

 

[Deleted member 367166]

From a safety standpoint, having a chain in place of a rigid top link will allow the implement if caught rotate up onto the tractor. Depending on all the different circumstances that there may be determines how dangerous it might actually be.

That shouldn't be a problem if you have a cover over the PTO shaft.

 

[Deleted member 367166]

Using the chain now, I find that I can cut closer to the ground and not leave any skid ruts. I lifted the back wheel so that I can angle the front end of the hog up. I know this goes against traditional wisdom which says the back end should be higher to throw any debris out that way. But this way, I don't have to lift the mower every time I turn, which saves wear and tear on the lift arms.

 

[Gator6x4]

My Dad used a chain on the bush hog on our hilly area we mowed I always worried about it but it never broke and it never came close to the PTO shaft. It did a great job of keeping the whole hog floating with our ravines. Funny now I cant get some of my daredevil dirt bike riders to mow where I will still. I don't see a big deal with a chain unless you are going to snap load it all the time.

Chains were used on Rotary Cutters by lots of dads. They would mow places only angels would go.

With that said Rotary Cutters are the only thing I have seen chains used as a top link on. Farmers used a chain on a Rotary Cutter to prevent housing damage on the tractor. Top links do not bend they break or break the tractor housing. A chain would allow for the farmer to back the Rotary Cutter up some steep banks or traverse some steep ravines.

 

[Deleted member 367166]

Using the chain now, I find that I can cut closer to the ground and not leave any skid ruts. I lifted the back wheel so that I can angle the front end of the hog up. I know this goes against traditional wisdom which says the back end should be higher to throw any debris out that way. But this way, I don't have to lift the mower every time I turn, which saves wear and tear on the lift arms.

No sooner had he spoke...
I ran over a patch of gravel and it threw some up on my back. Guess I better get a piece of metal or something over the back.