Front mount ATV paddock topper and light duty rough/slope terrain brush mower

[Xfaxman]

I don't see any spindle offset so that the blades overlap slightly:

This offset prevents leaving a strip of unmowed grass:

Hope you can get it working out front, maybe add some weights to give the tires more traction.

 

[cpy911]

I don't see any spindle offset so that the blades overlap slightly:
View attachment 730898
This offset prevents leaving a strip of unmowed grass:
View attachment 730896

Hope you can get it working out front, maybe add some weights to give the tires more traction.

Yes, offset would be better, but I had measured my cheap craftsman rider with a two spindle deck and found about 1/4" blade gap between the blade tips...I went with 3/8" to ensure the blades don't crash into each other. I am not looking for a perfect look...just knock down the weeds and seed head grass that the cows missed.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

Hope you can get it working out front, maybe add some weights to give the tires more traction.

The problem in "pusher mode" is that even with the two front swivelling wheels on the mower, when trying to turn uphill, the weight of the mower is just too much for the quad bike's front wheels to effect any change in direction. Even with 4WD selected, the front steering wheels of the bike, being in the middle of the train, have next to no effect. So the whole rig just keeps going straight ahead, with the bike's steering wheels scuffing sideways.

I photoshopped the mower to revert it to push-mode (ie - photoshopped out the towing mod), and the mower in the composite photo is in the original position relative to the quadbike. The bike and the mower are to the same scale. In push mode, the bracket at the rear of the mower was secured by two pins to a frame fixed to the front of the bike.

 

[cpy911]

The problem in "pusher mode" is that even with the two front swivelling wheels on the mower, when trying to turn uphill, the weight of the mower is just too much for the quad bike's front wheels to effect any change in direction. Even with 4WD selected, the front steering wheels of the bike, being in the middle of the train, have next to no effect. So the whole rig just keeps going straight ahead, with the bike's steering wheels scuffing sideways.

I photoshopped the mower to revert it to push-mode (ie - photoshopped out the towing mod), and the mower in the composite photo is in the original position relative to the quadbike. The bike and the mower are to the same scale. In push mode, the bracket at the rear of the mower was secured by two pins to a frame fixed to the front of the bike.
View attachment 730988

This is exactly what I experienced when I was doing a test run. I quickly changed the design to pull behind and it works better...

 

[cpy911]

Finally had a chance to take the machine AKA "Dual Red" out. It has been super, super wet here in pacific northwest and finally had a dry day to try it. It exceeded my expectations. Having no mulching and just a flat deck, means the material just gets shredded, I heard no bogging down of the Briggs 6.5 HP motors at all!

 

[cpy911]

Another update. I had a chance to take the unit with my old Honda ATV over some really thick 2'+ tall fescue. It did ok if I went really, really slow. The right mower tended to stall out a lot. I think it could not discharge to the side very well (there is a 2X6" there that is the frame) and was receiving discharge from the other mower too. It would then get a clump stuck between the blade tip and frame and kill the engine.

If the grassy area was not very thick, I could go a lot faster with minimal problems. I found that taking it into "rough" areas (that are not regularly mowed) puts it at risk. I hit a small stump that was impossible to see and damaged some of the wooden parts of the frame and popped a couple welds. About 15 mins of repair I was back at it, but realized it should be used in the finished areas and pasture areas, not rough woodland/creek areas. The original purpose of the unit is to "top" clip pastures on occasion 1-2X a year to knock down what the cows don't eat. That will be an easy job as the cows eat the bulk and knocking down seed heads will be easy task for this. I have it set to about 5" height and is perfect to leave forage, but knock down the weed seed heads. So, it will do the work nicely as designed. The lawnmower engines are easy to find <$50 and I can keep this unit going for a long time for cheap. Overall, for about $150 for the engines and castors...it will pay for itself in time over using a tractor with brush hog. The ATV is fast and to knock seed heads down will work nicely.