Flail Mower Does Value Leader flail work with Pat's Easy Change System?

[tigerwillow1]

I haven't found this info looking through the forum. The answer for me is "yes". The pictures are a 60" medium-duty Value Leader flail mower (model EFG155) mounted on a Kubota B7510HSD tractor with the Pat's system. It's a bit on the tight side. The mower has to be tilted at least a little up in the front for the Pat's hooks to engage, and at some lift angles the Pat's adapter contacts a bracket on the mower. You can see the paint gone from a small dent in one of the pictures.

I went to the Betstco facility with one of the Pat's adapters before buying. I didn't look at every model of the medium duty EFG series but the ones I did look at all appeared to have the same mounting hardware, and the heavy duty EFGC series case and mounting hardware also looked the same to me. There is absolutely no chance of the Pat's system working with the light duty EF series mowers. Their case and mounting brackets are significantly different. Since it's a close call, a small design change in either the Pat's adapter or mower mounting brackets could change the setup from "works" to "doesn't work".

I'm busting the horsepower guidelines with the mower-tractor combination. The Value Leader specs want 24 HP, the tractor is 21 HP and the Kubota specs say the maximum flail mower size is 42 inches. At 665 pounds, the mower is 5 pounds over the max weight for the tractor's lift arms. So far, it's working just fine, with the qualification that I don't mow anything very heavy, and with the hydrostatic drive it's easy to cut the forward speed if needed.

 

[boggen]

to state it... any "quick hitch" including pasty easy change, to other... is "NOT" universal. folks will need to modify 3pt hitch attachments. and should be consider at times a requirement that they may need to modify there 3pt hitch attachment to work with some quick attach thing.

5lbs over max weight... but reality... you are pushing stuff further behind the tractor with pats easy change.... lowering overall lift capacity.

and one last thing.. MAKE SURE you double check the PTO SHAFT LENGTH....all PTO shafts should need to be cut down to proper length to fit a given tractor. while there are a lot of PTO shaft lengths out there, many places only sell a handful of lengths. and require folks to cut the shafts down to correct size.
www.everythingattachements.com = a good description / videos of how to check for PTO shaft length. there most likely some videos on tillers they sell that might be of interest to you as well.

 

[ishiboo]

to state it... any "quick hitch" including pasty easy change, to other... is "NOT" universal. folks will need to modify 3pt hitch attachments. and should be consider at times a requirement that they may need to modify there 3pt hitch attachment to work with some quick attach thing.

Pats may not be, but there is an ISO spec for at least Cat 1 & 2 quick attach.

 

[gwdixon]

As with many tractors, implements, and hitching devices, there are very loose standards. Farmers should have a cutting torch and a welder (and sometimes a BIG hammer!) to get things to really function well together.

It appears from the photos that the Pat's hook is a bit too thick to comfortably hook up without scraping on the mower. You could grind a bit off of the hook without losing too much of the strength.

On my small Caroni flail there was no access from the bottom for the hook to reach the lift pin due to mower frame tin. The choice was to hook it up like a ball (but the Pat's frame was too deep) or cut a couple of tabs off the mower frame tin to allow access. Out came the plasma cutter and the problem was solved.

Think about what will make it work better and then make it happen.