DIY poor men's FEL brush cutter

[WinterDeere]

Hawkin
That depends on the torque / HP desired as well as hydraulic motor speed.

Rule of thumb for hydraulic pump is one HP will provide one GPM flow at 1500 PSI. Hydraulic motor would be similar.

Following this, a mower that requires a 25 HP PTO would require 25 GPM at 1500 PSI, or any combination thereof. Way beyond most CUT's.

 

[2manyrocks]

Good Works Tractor did a review of a hydraulic front mounted cutter on the 25hp Summit tractor on Youtube.

I've wondered about mounting a self powered flail to a FEL. 48" MATV120 Flail Mower, Self-propelled with Gasoline Engine 680665944811 | eBay

 

[MossRoad]

Next question, this is for you hydraulic experts. Could you retrofit a hydraulic motor on one of these to run off your front 3rd function hydraulics? What size/torque motor would this take? Then you could indeed run it vertical to mow the brush on the edge of the road.

You'd first have to see the gallons per minute (GPM) and PSI that your tractor can provide.

From that you'd have to determine a hydraulic motor displacement that can provide the desired blade RPMs at the GPM and PSI that your tractor can deliver.

Then you'd have to consider how to cool the hydraulic fluid.

That's most likely an issue. My machine is entirely hydraulic. A hydraulic ram like on a tractor 3pt hitch doesn't generate much heat as it's only used intermittently. A hydraulic motor is another animal. And a hydraulic motor under load (like grass blades and even air) combined with the plumbing (fittings, elbows, etc all cause friction heat) causes a lot of heat. That has to be dissipated through volume and a cooler.

My machine with just a 25HP gas engine running it, has 4 hydraulic wheel motors and still provides 8GPM at 2500PSI to the mower deck, and has a 10 gallon hydraulic reservoir and a cooler with a fan.

So those are just some of the issues to consider.

 

[2515R Dude]

Good Works Tractor did a review of a hydraulic front mounted cutter on the 25hp Summit tractor on Youtube.

I've wondered about mounting a self powered flail to a FEL. 48" MATV120 Flail Mower, Self-propelled with Gasoline Engine 680665944811 | eBay

I think it is the same approach as i did.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

You'd first have to see the gallons per minute (GPM) and PSI that your tractor can provide.

From that you'd have to determine a hydraulic motor displacement that can provide the desired blade RPMs at the GPM and PSI that your tractor can deliver.

Then you'd have to consider how to cool the hydraulic fluid.

That's most likely an issue. My machine is entirely hydraulic. A hydraulic ram like on a tractor 3pt hitch doesn't generate much heat as it's only used intermittently. A hydraulic motor is another animal. And a hydraulic motor under load (like grass blades and even air) combined with the plumbing (fittings, elbows, etc all cause friction heat) causes a lot of heat. That has to be dissipated through volume and a cooler.

My machine with just a 25HP gas engine running it, has 4 hydraulic wheel motors and still provides 8GPM at 2500PSI to the mower deck, and has a 10 gallon hydraulic reservoir and a cooler with a fan.

So those are just some of the issues to consider.

Thank you for that info.!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

way to go, order one

Too rich for my blood!! I am on the poor man's path like you. I was just saying it is possible.

 

[2manyrocks]

Tractor manufacturers could make this more feasible if they'd put front mount PTOs on tractors. I think Kubota has some kind of front mount mower for one of the smaller tractors. Summit posted they are evaluating one that I think would be driven by their mid mount PTO. But apart from these, I don't think there are that many factory options until you get into the realm of some very expensive tractors.

It's rare to even see a DIY mounting a self powered cutter on a FEL.

 

[4570Man]

Help out one of your slower readers here -- why? The operator's not going to be in the plane of the spinning blades or in the discharge path, are they? In fact the operator has some height and distance as added safety margins. What hazard am I not seeing here?

Operating a push mower on the lawn is pretty ballsy, if your spouse leaves those green metal plant stakes lying around camouflaged in the grass. I can attest they will completely penetrate the mower's trailing flap shield. For some reason I still have ankles. So far.

If you left the mower on the ground it’s pretty safe but being on the FEL allows you to lift it up to do more severe cutting.

 

[4570Man]

Next question, this is for you hydraulic experts. Could you retrofit a hydraulic motor on one of these to run off your front 3rd function hydraulics? What size/torque motor would this take? Then you could indeed run it vertical to mow the brush on the edge of the road.

It takes a lot of flow to make a decent mower. Most auxiliary hydraulics are only a couple GPM. I’ve also heard that the electric actuated 3rd function ones can’t handle continuous use. Idk how true that is. You could run hoses to rear remotes and get better flow but even then it’s not a lot. Tractors weren’t designed around the idea of using hydraulic powered implements. Most tractors that do successfully use a hydraulic brush mower or snow blower have a pto hydraulic power pack.

 

[2manyrocks]

^by the time you factor in the cost of a rear hydraulic PTO pump, a hydraulic tank, hoses, and hydraulic motor needed to satisfactorily drive a brush cutter, it gets to be cost prohibitive. That's why I believe any practical and cost effective front mower for a CUT will need to be driven off either a factory front PTO or driven by a PTO shaft from a mid mount mower PTO. Otherwise, the cutter will need its own engine.