Anyone run a 15' batwing with < 62HP?

[LoneCowboy]

ok, other things to look for besides general care and feeding on batwings (and rust, although really, surface rust happens on everything)

crawl underneath, look at the stump jumper, is it bent, coming apart from bar that holds it to the gearbox.. stump jumpers are EXPENSIVE.

Look for leaks of course, make sure the cylinders don't leak down. I'd like to see it run, then come back in a day or two and see if the gearboxes leak.

Jack up the rear of the batwing and see if all the wheels turn freely, if not, new bearings.

the side wing shafts take a lot of abuse. Long with little support, if they get bent at all, they go pretty fast. They get bent from the slip clutches jamming up and not slipping. On a used machine, figure you'll have to take the slip clutches all apart and the driveshafts to lube them up again.

CV driveshaft (main) is a big big plus.

Ease of greasing. There are a 1000 grease points on a batwing. how easy are they to get to. Do you have to remove bolts to remove protective stuff to get to the points or do they just have clipped on covers?

How do you adjust the height? some have little things that you put on the cylinders to keep them at the same height, are those all included?

HTH

 

[Builder]

Good stuff, thanks man. :thumbsup:

 

[Soundguy]

Finally found a local, nice condition 15' batwing for a reasonable price. It's a Woods 180. Woods claims it can be run on as little as 45 PTO HP. I have 62.

Anyone have actual experience running a 15' off 62 or less HP?

is that 62 engine or pto hp you have?

if 62 hp.. I might try it. our county used to have ld 15' hogs for clipping ROW on ford 5610 II units..

soundguy

 

[Builder]

62PTO. 70 Engine HP.

 

[Soundguy]

ditto on the 1000 grease points. it takes me a full tube of grease and 2 guns to do my JD 1517 15' hog. I have 1 gun with a 6" straight hard nozzle, and a lever gun with a flexi tube, plus I have a right angle adapter I can click on either...

soundguy

 

[Verticaltrx]

We run a 15' Woods Batwing on a M9540 and it does pretty well with it. The power is adequate, but the weight of the mower can really push the tractor around on hills. 3 scv's are required, it could be run with two, but 3 are nice so you have full control of both wings. It's also good to have float on the two valves used for the wings. Really a 100+ PTO hp tractor is what is needed to properly handle one of these mowers, the tongue weight is VERY heavy. You need a tractor with a pretty stout drawbar to handle it reliably long term, our 9540 is about minimum, not sure if the M7040 is the same 'chassis' or not.

Be sure to get one (new or used) with the CV type driveline, not the old two piece 'equal-angle' driveline. The CV head allows almost 90* turns with no chatter, it is a real pain to grease especially with all the new shielding however.

 

[CumminsLuke]

You'll be fine. I used to have an M7040(and now it belongs to my uncle) and I pulled a BushHog 3715 with it through 3' high fescue with no problems. I wouldn't try to cut it any lower than 6-8". Also, on the advice of my Kubota dealer, I'd run the pto speed at about 600 RPM's instead of 540 RPM's, man that made a heck of a difference in how it handled it and didn't bother the engine temp or anything. Now I am pulling a woods HD315 with an M9580 and I can go like heck.

 

[Soundguy]

For my batwing I do similar.. I run a few more engine rpms above the pto setting.. not only the extra blade speed.. but it gives a marginal but noticible boost in ground speed..

soundguy

 

[rjkobbeman]

We run a 15' Woods Batwing on a M9540 and it does pretty well with it. The power is adequate, but the weight of the mower can really push the tractor around on hills. 3 scv's are required, it could be run with two, but 3 are nice so you have full control of both wings. It's also good to have float on the two valves used for the wings. Really a 100+ PTO hp tractor is what is needed to properly handle one of these mowers, the tongue weight is VERY heavy. You need a tractor with a pretty stout drawbar to handle it reliably long term, our 9540 is about minimum, not sure if the M7040 is the same 'chassis' or not.

Be sure to get one (new or used) with the CV type driveline, not the old two piece 'equal-angle' driveline. The CV head allows almost 90* turns with no chatter, it is a real pain to grease especially with all the new shielding however.

This is good advice.

The M8540 and M9540 are the same chassis. The M5040/M6040/M7040 are also the same chassis, smaller than the M8540/M9540 chassis.

I would be more concerned about the physical tractor size and weight being able to man-handle the mower... rather than HP being able to turn the blades.

 

[FLHayman]

I have a Taylorway 15 ft. bat wing with the solid tires, and used to have a Woods 15ft. with the full size trailer tires. I've only had tractors big enough to just barely get 62 pto hp., so I know they're usable. Wetness of the grass, thickness, height can change things to where it's 4x's slower than when it's light, dry weeds. I can live with that, I like the width coverage.

Biggest thing for me is to lift it up with all wings level, slow down the motor, then engage the PTO. Like others have said, it's heavy, too, and will scrape some metal off your drawbar. I never felt like any 60-70hp tractor couldn't handle the weight of pulling it, but I don't now, or didn't then, have very much in the way of hills. Like others have said, I go for max tip speed, since the blades themselves are relatively blunt compared to a finish mower.

The logical part of me says that a 10ft (I have one) will handle almost anything, but with the 15ft. you may have to slow down. You can always gear down or cut less width to get the rpms up in a thick patch, of course. You can't ever get a 10ft (which is really 8.5 ft. after overlap loss) to keep up with a 15ft. in a light cutting situation, though!