Drum mower on Farmall 560

[Spencer2598]

I have been looking at drum mowers lately and am thinking about updating from my old haybine. I致e been mainly looking at Reese 2400 and 3100 but I知 not sure if my old 560 can handle either of them. I know that if I go with the 2400, or any other brand of drum mower, I would need the conversion kit to make it 3 pt. Has anyone ever put one on a 560? Are these two mowers just too big for me and I should be looking at a smaller model? I would probably be looking at a used model. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[searcyfarms]

ive never put a drum mower ( don't really know what one is ) unless its called something I call something else ;-) on my 560 but I have put a lot of other things on it including a cat1/cat2 style 3 point adapter and it works slick

I will check out the mowers and see what kind of HP they are needing - I have my 560 for sale so maybe u can use them in tandem LOL

 

[searcyfarms]

that was easy, well it looks kinda like a disk mower..........

A minimum of 65 HP is recommended to power the 2400 - per site - is your 560 a Gasser or Diesel - my 560D has pump specs of a 706D so it is a little healthier than stock, not that I ever use it that hard but that is how it came when my father in law purchased it. Mine has been babied the last 30yrs.

says they require less HP than a disk mower so maybe that would be a plus? - never cut with a disk mower either. all I've ever cut with was a sickle and rotary.

Id say it would be ok for most applications but if you had abnormal situations you are likely going to be gearing down or clutching if min is 65 unless they are being generous to cover their backsides - maybe other guys on here have more experience - I will say this, a 560 263 Gasser or 282 Diesel is not a lugging engine you have to keep them wound up - I think they are rated 60 to 65 diesel/gas depending on the day and what not - the Gassers got turned up on the 706 and combine specs so many ran stronger - I think the 560 PTO rated rpm is 1800 rpm - the 706 gas/diesels were rated around 2300rpm I think and around 85 to 90hp so u could always increase rpm - not sure if the gassers were rejetted or had different carbs on the 263s - my 706 has the 301 german in it so totally different -

 

[Texasmark]

Not directly answering your question but offering some helpful hints on Drum Mowers:

Somewhat like Disc mowers, Drums mow to the side and can be raised and lowered with the 3 pt. They can be rotated 90 degrees to the "transport" position whereby they are directly behind the tractor...in line with it, or you can add a hydraulic cylinder, replacing the outer brace which will allow you to leave the mower in the mow position yet raise the outer end of it for transporting through gates and such without having to go through the trouble of disconnecting the PTO and manually moving it to the rear.

My 6' drum is another brand but weighs in at about 950#. The old IH/Farmalls had a lot of iron and length so they had the foot-pounds to offset weight on the rear, main concern is keeping the left front tire on the ground when the mower is in the mow position and raised off the ground for transportation.......in the mow position and mowing, the drum rides with it's weight on the ground and the bottom discs just slide across the terrain completely independent of the upper disc which contains the blades and rotates via the PTO.

Very little hp is required to turn the drum...I rotate my PTO shaft by hand when connecting the drive shaft without a problem. There is some resistance caused by the cutter deflector bar hitting the product to be cut, and the drum dragging along the ground....not all that much. In the actual cutting, since the blades protrude a little over an inch, there is little foot-lbs of inertia that has to be maintained via PTO hp.

My opinion of the HP requirement has more to do with a tractor heavy enough to manage the weight of the cutter rather than the hp required to actually do the cutting. If you have a light front end just add wheel weights or front end weights like you would use with a heavy implement anyway.

HTH.

 

[Spencer2598]

that was easy, well it looks kinda like a disk mower..........

A minimum of 65 HP is recommended to power the 2400 - per site - is your 560 a Gasser or Diesel - my 560D has pump specs of a 706D so it is a little healthier than stock, not that I ever use it that hard but that is how it came when my father in law purchased it. Mine has been babied the last 30yrs.

says they require less HP than a disk mower so maybe that would be a plus? - never cut with a disk mower either. all I've ever cut with was a sickle and rotary.

Id say it would be ok for most applications but if you had abnormal situations you are likely going to be gearing down or clutching if min is 65 unless they are being generous to cover their backsides - maybe other guys on here have more experience - I will say this, a 560 263 Gasser or 282 Diesel is not a lugging engine you have to keep them wound up - I think they are rated 60 to 65 diesel/gas depending on the day and what not - the Gassers got turned up on the 706 and combine specs so many ran stronger - I think the 560 PTO rated rpm is 1800 rpm - the 706 gas/diesels were rated around 2300rpm I think and around 85 to 90hp so u could always increase rpm - not sure if the gassers were rejetted or had different carbs on the 263s - my 706 has the 301 german in it so totally different -

Mine is the 263 gas but I just got it a few years ago and we told that the engine had been rebuilt. I really have no idea if it would have been turned up any or not. Are there any easy ways to find out how many hp the pto is putting out? I致e heard that the 2400 needs 65 hp but I知 wondering how much of that is because of the weight requirements? I know that they have a smaller 6 9 that only needs 45 hp and there are other brands that only need 45 or less. Would that be my best bet?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[searcyfarms]

if your 263 is stock - and only turning 1800 rpm wide open then it is going to be a healthy 60 to 65 PTO hp - from the description above it sounds like they are not that difficult to pull/manage an the weight of the rear of the 560 should handle things nicely you might have to put a weight on the front if you notice turning issues, i would just gear down and run it - worse case its used and you could resell and wont be out the loss on a new one - you could easily add RPM to your 560 by adjusting the throttle linkage running it at a little more rpm shouldn't be a huge issue with running the drum mower a little faster - from the description above i don't think u will really have much issue with it unless you have extraordinary fields you are working on occasionally.

I have a 6 foot Rear tiller that calls for 65 hp min - i can put my 560 on its knees easily but it also handles it fine in average conditions and depths - its when i try to use it in extreme conditions that it becomes marginal - same with anything on a PTO, i could run a 15 foot batwing with my 560 BUT that is pasture clipping if i am mowing CRP - NO WAY!!!

1900 RPM on the engine would equate to 570 at PTO
2000 = 600
2100 = 630
2200 = 660

so as u can see its not that big of an increase to be a major concern

 

[searcyfarms]

i love my 560 and am torn selling it - i don't need it and my 706 both but the 706 makes a better backup for batwing/disking with my larger implements - 706 is totally overkill for 5 acres of mowing ;-)

 

[hawkeye08]

We had a 560 Diesel on farm growing up, it was the only tractor we had that had power steering, it was a pleasure to drive over the others. Good luck with your questions..

 

[Spencer2598]

Thanks for the info on what you do with your 560! I use a 10 ft semi mount for clipping but I agree, if you try to really bush hog, that won’t work very well... When mine was redone, they did open the throttle on up so it will reach 2200 RPM. I normally stick with 1800 put I will open it up a little extra if the grass or weeds are extra thick in an area but knowing the approximate PTO is nice. My field fairly flat with only a couple of spots that are extremely thick. Thanks again for the input! Someone else with experience with a 560 is a huge help.

Good luck selling yours! I’m hoping to step up to a 706 or 806 one day as well.

 

[LouNY]

I have been looking at drum mowers lately and am thinking about updating from my old haybine. I致e been mainly looking at Reese 2400 and 3100 but I知 not sure if my old 560 can handle either of them. I know that if I go with the 2400, or any other brand of drum mower, I would need the conversion kit to make it 3 pt. Has anyone ever put one on a 560? Are these two mowers just too big for me and I should be looking at a smaller model? I would probably be looking at a used model. Any help would be appreciated!

I would expect that you would have adequate power to run one, might need more weight on the left rear.
When you say a 3pt conversion are you looking at the replace arms for the fast hitch or a total conversion.
One thing I have always liked with the fast hitch was you could have down pressure.
Are you familiar with the pins that would need to be moved to allow for the lift arms to float.
If your 560 has been gone thru many of those where bumped up to 706 displacements when gone thru.
The easiest way to verify your hp is with a pto dyno most ag dealers have them.