4' Rotary Cutter, weight and chain strength

[flakrat]

4\' Rotary Cutter, weight and chain strength

Howdy y'all,

I inheritted a 4' 3ph mounted rotary cutter, the chain on it was rusty and promptly snapped the first time I went over a hill.

I just bought a chain at HomeDepot to replace it, stainless steel and 1/4" diameter links.

The chain says it's rated at 1,000 pounds.

Questions:
1) What would y'all estimate a 4' rotary cutter would weigh, I'm guessing 500 pounds?
2) With this chain rated at 1,000 pounds, should it be sufficient to handle the cutter (I'm guessing so as well).

I also got two "Twin Clevis Links" to connect both ends of the chain to the cutter (these use cotter pins to lock the clevis pins in place, I like that better than the threaded "Quick Link" design) and are rated at 3,500 pounds.

I don't want to weld the chain in place at this time because I want to test different lengths of the chain first.

Thanks, Mike

 

[crown]

Re: 4\' Rotary Cutter, weight and chain strength

I have a 4' Howse brush hog and the manual says it weights 475 pounds.

 

[hayden]

Re: 4\' Rotary Cutter, weight and chain strength

500lbs is a good estimate, but I think the chain is probably still undersized. This chain is part of the lift mechanism for the 3 point hitch, right? If so, the 500lbs of weight hang out behind the lift point so there is a lever arm that creates a much greater force at the lift where your chain is (assuming I'm understanding this correctly). You also have the shock forces associated with bouncing around while driving with the mower up. Something rated more like 5000lbs strikes me as better.

All this said, if you just use what you got, the worst thing that happens is it breaks. As long as you are not under the mower when that happens, it's probably not a big deal.

 

[have_blue]

Re: 4\' Rotary Cutter, weight and chain strength

Use 5/16 grade 70. It's a little overkill, but it's very cheap.

 

[flakrat]

Re: 4\' Rotary Cutter, weight and chain strength

Thanks for the suggestions y'all I'll see about getting the 5/16" chain.

You are correct, the chain is the one that gets tight when lifting or going over bumps.