A hydraulic top link is great, but I don't have one either. If your mower won't lift the tailwheel off the ground, you're either over the weight limit of the 3ph or the top link is too short, or possibly the lower lift arms are set too short. Any one of the three will cause the same problem.
Measure the length of your top link, then shorten it by about an inch at a time and see what happens. I'll try to take a picture of mine the next time I have it hooked up, but that may be a while.
My tailwheel lifts maybe 8 inches off the ground when fully raised, I could have it set to lift more but that would affect the terrain following capability of the deck.
My setup went something like this... I leveled the mower from front to back, then set the front slightly lower than the back to reduce blade wear and power consumption, as the manual said. The idea is that the front of the deck should be the only part cutting, the rest is just there for the ride.
Once you have the deck height where you want it, then mark the position control for the 3ph at that point so you can easily go back to it every time. The Kubota I have has a sliding stop that you can lock in place at any spot along the lever travel. All I do is raise the deck when turning, then when ready to mow again, just slide the lever ahead against the adjustable stop to go back to the same height every time. I think your 3038 ( I think that's right?) should be almost the same if not identical.
Ok, now for the top link.. the Land Pride linkage has a flexible section as I mentioned before that allows the mower to follow the terrain better. With the mowing deck in the mowing position as adjusted before, there should be some sag in the linkage between the top link and the mower attachment point. This is where the chain would go if you're not using a solid top link. Mine sags down maybe a couple inches at most. This allows the mower to drop at the tailwheel slightly and keep cutting evenly when you go over a rise with the tractor. More sag = less lift height ability, less sag = higher lift but less terrain following. It's a compromise.
See in the tractor manual which hole set in the tractor end of the top link attachment point it says to use for a rotary cutter. With the Kubota it's the bottom set of holes.
I think the length of the top link or the amount of sag you have is the problem, once you get it set up once correctly it'll make perfect sense the next time.
Sean
