Bent my bush hog or 3PH ?

[DK_Farms]

I noticed that the right sway bar was pinned in the "float" hole position, and the left is not. That might contribute to letting the draft arm on that side be susceptible to a little more loading than the other side. I find that there is enough play in the linkages to allow me to swing the cutter and not have to use the oblong pin holes. When I do that, I end up with 3 holes showing on each side on my 4610 and the cutter is centered. Speaking of float, make sure your lift arms between the rockshaft and draft arms are pinned in the "float" position. This can absorb a little of the forces applied to the draft arms that might be caused by twisting (i.e. backing into a brush pile that has a great big ant mound on one side of it).

 

[normde2001]

WHOA!!!..... Stand back and look at that thing. In your first picture you will see that the lower lift arm pins are not hooked up the same, sending the cutter way to the left side.

 

[BillyP]

According to what I see in the pictures, ain't no adjustment gonna take care of that (although it does need to be set up right). It looks to me like something has to be bent. It's like you made a turn and banged the cutter up against a tree, really hard.

Hope I'm wrong.

 

[pruntyc]

I'd hook it up right first and go from there. Sometimes just a little bit off close makes a lot of difference when you go back aways. At least it would give you a starting point.

 

[bebster]

Case closed! I was able to pull the pins, and then very slowly move the tractor forward and backward while turning and watching the hole positioning. When both were lined up over the 2nd hole (and the cutter was centered), I stopped and re-pinned them there. No other damage apparent, which would have been a bummer on a relatively new tractor.

 

[Glenn9643]

I'm glad you figured it out and didn't actually have any damage. I've found that after I connect to the implement (usually box blade or bushhog) I can lift it just off the ground with the 3pt hitch and then shove it around to get the pins aligned to have a good snug hitch. I like to have the least amount of play possible as far as lateral sway. If it's pretty snug and you hit something when making a turn with the bushhog there is less chance for bending something I think. If you get them snug enough, you'll probably find that you have to remove the pins in order to take the bushhog off the tractor. Again, glad everything's OK.

 

[BillyP]

Congrats, I'm sure glad I was wrong.

 

[bebster]

DK Farm's suggestion seems like a good one. I'll check that out tomorrow. In the meantime, I've become more careful of what I back into. If it's a sapling that has some substance to it, I try to catch it square on the back of the cutter, so as not to cause the cutter to slide off to one side.

BTW, it's sure nice of you southern boys to help out a yankee-in-need!

 

[frank_f15]

glad it was just an adjustment, and no dammage. keep the check chains or sway bars tight. almost no movement, at least that is the way i do it.

 

[Bird]

I always did just like Glenn9643; picked the implement up so it could be pushed back and forth, lined it up straight behind the tractor, then did whatever fine adjusting was needed to put the pins in with as little slack as possible.