3-Point Hitch DR Power 3 Point Hitch String Trimmer

altoonapillarrock · Sep 8, 2017

I ordered the 3 point hitch string trimmer because I have about 3 weeks of string trimming every year on my property. I am 75 now and I want to minimize my time swinging my heavy duty brush cutter.
The pallet arrived at Yellow Freight in Portland and the cardboard part was crushed but everything on the pallet looked OK. I got it home and lifted it out of my pickup with a 1/2 ton hoist I have in my garage ceiling. Assembly went OK.
I measured the PTO shaft and per instructions I was to cut two inches. I decided it was time to order a set of Pat's Quick Disconnects. I would like to make it easier to change implements. These took about 3 weeks to arrive and they are pretty cool. I remeasured the shaft and no need to cut it.
I don't have any implements that require a PTO so this is all new to me. First the u-joint is like a shrink fit on the gearbox shaft. I had to insert a crowbar in the u-joint and pound on it with a short handled mallet. Finally got it on. After straining for a couple hours I could not get the other end of the PTO on to my BX24 output shaft. Then I noticed the safety chain is too short. I unhooked on end and tried again. No luck. Next morning I discovered it's really a three step process. 1-get the slots in the u-joint lined up with the slots on the tractor shaft. Pause. 2-push in the button until it stays in. Pause. 3-push the u-joint in until the button pops out. Stop and drink a cool glass of water.
The plate that holds the strings was in upside down. Once I flipped that over I could put in the green strings. From the directions I have no clue what the maintenance position is or how to achieve that configuration.
Anyway. I got it all set up and 2 hours later my week long choir was complete. The wheel collects a great tangle of grass which takes a long time to untangle. I bought a couple of 3/4" galvanized washers and added them to the assembly.
Probably a shear pin would have been better than the 5mm key but whatever. It's important to slow down the RPM when engaging the trimmer. Also I bought some golf cart mirrors and put them on my tractor to keep and eye on the trimmer. The BX24 is 48" wide so the trimmer is way out to the right. This is great. All in all: pretty good design.

George the Beagle · Sep 8, 2017

I've wondered how one of those things actually works. Thanks for the post.

CalG · Sep 8, 2017

New and unfamiliar things always present some challenges. That's just the way we work.

Is you spend time with the tool, It's quirks will become like traits of an old friend. Just something to live with and enjoy. After a short while, You will see ways to make it BETTER.
More pleasing and useful to you. There is NOTHING made by man that can't be made better. ;-)

JOHNTHOMAS · Sep 9, 2017

Interesting for $1000. 3-Point Hitch Trimmer Mower: String Trimmer and Fence Mower | DR Power Equipment

bdhsfz6 · Sep 9, 2017

An interesting piece of equipment. Although there is no published minimum HP requirement, at first glance, it seems to be designed for smaller tractors with a narrow tire width. The 63" cutting reach of the arm only extends about 2 feet beyond the tire on a larger tractor with a 72" tire width. I already get about half that with my mower. The only advantage I see for this product is mowing fence lines with a small tractor. For that, it looks like it would work well.

IMO, for mowing stream / pond banks or road edges with a larger tractor, the $1000 is better spent on a sickle bar cutter.

628pm · Sep 9, 2017

Showed it to the wife, she would still rather have a sickle bar. But with my bx2680 I don't think I want over a 5' sickle bar, hard to find used.

altoonapillarrock · Sep 9, 2017

I wouldn't have purchased this if I didn't have a narrow tractor. It works well with a narrow tractor.
Also I am doing woodlot management not pasture management. The invasive weeds are crazy here. Our 19 acres of woods are tilted about 30 degrees facing south looking over the Columbia River. When I first moved here I was brush cutting solid blackberry bushes 15' deep.
That was before I discovered Crossbow. I use Crossroad now which is similar. This herbicide kills woody plants, not grass. Every fall I spray the invasive weeds. I am using the DR trimmer do the grass along side my half mile long gravel driveway that has a 20% slope.
I don't know is Crossroad would be applicable to a pasture situation. I used the green string which is the lightest and it knocked everything down. I think the orange string could handle much worse brush.
I think my tractor has 17 hp at the PTO. It doesn't take much to get the trimmer spinning.

JOHNTHOMAS · Sep 12, 2017

bdhsfz6 said:
An interesting piece of equipment. Although there is no published minimum HP requirement, at first glance, it seems to be designed for smaller tractors with a narrow tire width. The 63" cutting reach of the arm only extends about 2 feet beyond the tire on a larger tractor with a 72" tire width. I already get about half that with my mower. The only advantage I see for this product is mowing fence lines with a small tractor. For that, it looks like it would work well.

IMO, for mowing stream / pond banks or road edges with a larger tractor, the $1000 is better spent on a sickle bar cutter.

628pm said:
Showed it to the wife, she would still rather have a sickle bar. But with my bx2680 I don't think I want over a 5' sickle bar, hard to find used.

Interesting that you guys would like an implement that cost three (3) times as much (Over $3000 at least for 5' one, see Everything Attachments site) better. I believe for the same or near same money I''d say the same thing.

:laughing:

:cool2:

prevent · Sep 30, 2017

While not the DR Power 3-point trimmer I do have the Titan Attachments 3-point trimmer, after comparing them and their owners manual I think it is safe to say the same company in china is manufacturing these. I actually used the DR manual in some instances since it has pictures compared to the one provided from titan. I got it on 4th of july sale for $800 shipped to my house including tailgate drop.. compared to titan it would have been $1150 for same mower and tailgate drop. Overall it works fine and I would purchase it again... As OP said I cut the driveshaft 3" (I didn't measure, It just didn't fit and I knew 3" would be enough while still leaving around 8" of overlap between the two pieces) I also had to pound the driveshaft onto the mower's gearbox spline thing (idk why it was so tight, but it's on and is fine) Oh and the grease zerks on the u-joints to the drive shaft are smaller than normal so I can't grease them using those zerks until I find new ones...

URL to model I bought
Titan 3-Point Hitch Attachment Trimmer Lawn Mower Category Cat 1 Tractor

my pics (trimming time is down from 3-4 hours by hand to 1 hour by tractor. I now end up doing 1 pass outside fence and 1 pass inside fence to make it look nicer.
before

after

These pics are from first time using it, I wish I took pictures when I did a second trimming this year, it's much cleaner with shorter grass and takes even less time, it honestly looks like I spent a lot of time mowing the fence line and I did a quick pass on the outside.

JOHNTHOMAS · Sep 30, 2017

Thanks a lot guys. Got me to looking and have bought a used sickle mower from my brother in law for $150 plus 3 or 4 bales of grass at $3 each for my 3 Pygmy goats which I need to go pick it all up next week. Trailer hooked to truck and ready to go. You guys hunt for ways to get me to spend money. I have about 500' of sloping down bank beside the street that can be cut so much easier/quicker/safer with a dropped down angle sickle mower driving down the street plus the return drive from the lower part angled up to make the cuts meet that I had to buy it or believe I do.
I buy from Titan or have bought a few things from them. On their email list and receive 15% discount codes often.