BCS 749 steering brakes barely do anything?

[erlingre]

Hey all,

I got a new BCS 749 a couple years ago, immediately attached a BCS flail mower to it, and have been dealing with poor maneuverability ever since. The steering brakes are bad enough that I'd rather just manhandle it to turn -- even when I'm lifting the flail off the ground and fully squeezing one of the brakes it seems to only barely slow the connected tire. The differential lock is not engaged, I regularly use it for mowing straight lines over bumpy terrain and disengaging it on turns so i know I'm not making a mistake there.

I've taken the wheels off to confirm they're engaging and gone through the brake maintenance video posted by BCS America. I've added 30lb of weight to the engine side of the machine to make it easier to lift the flail to turn the machine. My brother in law took a crack at adjusting the brakes too and couldn't get any improvement.

Anything else I should try to make my steering brakes work for me? Replace the cables? Tighten up the cables even though they're already difficult to fully squeeze? Maybe the brake cable is binding weirdly because the flail goes at the front so the handlebars are rotated around?

I haven't tested it without the flail. But I see other threads on this forum where people say the steering brakes are super helpful with the flail mower attached, and I want good brakes too.

Thanks for reading!

Hi,

I have a used BCS 740 with a Berta 33" flail mower. Handling the combo just by muscle for turning can be heavy on arms/wrists.
After a long session I got severe pain in one of my wrists.

Steering brakes of my used BCS 740 did nothing due to improper maintenance from the previous owner. I bought it used recently.
After cleaning, resurfacing the break pads and loosening the stuck (rusted) lever in the backplate the steering brakes works ok without an implement. I tried to attach the Berta flail mower and turning the handlebars, the steering brakes then hardly works.
I will experiment turning the handlebars without the flail mower attached and also try to lube the break wires.
It is important to try to let the machine do the heavy work to avoid pain/damaging wrists/arms of the operator.

Best regards,
Erling