Mowing hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing

   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #21  
Ok, for those of you without a tach, go to harbor freight and order the PHOTO SENSOR TACHOMETER p/n 41727, its a great tool and very accurate. Measure the PTO revs and mark the position on the throttle. You also may make a bracket to hold the throttle in place. Remember to set the speed a bit high to allow for loading, say 540 +25 rpm.
You surely will find other uses for the tach.:thumbsup:

useless. throttle setting will change for a given pto speed based on load

a vibration tach on the injector line would work.

soundguy
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #22  
When I bought my 2200 Yanmar, it has a 4 speed PTO, the dealer realized I was going to use it for bush hogging. He told me the US made bush hogs were designed to use with a 540 RPM PTO. He said the lowest PTO setting was 540 RPM. He further stated that you could put it in a higher gear and really make it sing, cutting anything it crossed. But he also stated he had seen guys totally sling apart a new bush hog by running it in the higher RPM's on the PTO. I set my PTO and throttle to turn 540 RPM's or somewhere close to that and if I am in thin growth, I set the tranny and 2 speed at a higher gear ratio but always try to leave the PTO at 540. If in thicker growth, I slow down the ground speed but keep the hog running at 540. If in really thin growth on flat land I kick up the pto a notch and set the tranny/2speed higher but decrease the throttle, still somewhere in the 540 range on the PTO but tractor just really idling along doing its thing leisurely. Like most things, you got to use it a bit, get used to it and use common sense. But try to keep the bush hog running close to 540, even if you kick it up and slow it down, the PTO speed is the main concern. If it's not straining the tractor and cutting grass like you want, you must be doing it right.

I later got a Ferguson TO-35 to do my bush hogging with. It has a 2 stage clutch and high/low rear end. It is far better for bush hogging than my yanmar. But I did a lot of cutting with the Yanmar and it survived well.

Not familiar with the finishing mowers. If they say to run the PTO at a higher speed, go for it. But most US equipment was built to run 540 RPM's.
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #23  
Well, I guess I'm old school. When mowing or bushhogging, I run the PTO at the lowest speed that gets the job done satisfactorily. Sometimes that's 540, but most of the time it works out to around 450-480. No point in spinning the heck out of everything and listening to a roaring engine for little return.

This comes from growing up on tractors that had no tachometers. Those old Farmall Hs, JD As and Bs and Oliver 88s did a lot of work without tachs, but you had to judge throttle setting on the quality of the job being done. That worked well for years and still does.

When mowing lawn with the B7610, I go in low range. High range won't make the job go much faster because my lawn is rough. I did try mowing in high range once. The only difference I noticed afterwards was the the tractor's hydraulic oil (as felt on the oil cooler tubes ahead of the radiator) was much hotter than when I mowed in low range. It wasn't dangerously hot, but definitely hotter than mowing in low range where the oil temperature merely becomes warm.
Bob
 
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   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #24  
useless. throttle setting will change for a given pto speed based on load

a vibration tach on the injector line would work.

soundguy

On the diesel tractors I am familiar with, the throttle adjusts the RPM setting of the governor and the governor will adjust the amount of fuel to maintain the set RPM.
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #25  
On the diesel tractors I am familiar with, the throttle adjusts the RPM setting of the governor and the governor will adjust the amount of fuel to maintain the set RPM.

the gov only adjusts so much... IE.. it only has so much range... if the load is high, you will need to manually adjust the throttle setting. The gov does not have infinite adjustment range.

soundguy
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing
  • Thread Starter
#26  
My BX2200 does not have a tach. The PTO is 540 rpm.
So when the dealer told me to mow at full throttle does that mean full throttle will produce 540 rpm for my mid-mount mower ? If that is true, then it doesn't matter whether i mow in high or low gear as long as the ground speed gives me a nice cut etc...... ?



Well, I guess I'm old school. When mowing or bushhogging, I run the PTO at the lowest speed that gets the job done satisfactorily. Sometimes that's 540, but most of the time it works out to around 450-480. No point in spinning the heck out of everything and listening to a roaring engine for little return.

This comes from growing up on tractors that had no tachometers. Those old Farmall Hs, JD As and Bs and Oliver 88s did a lot of work without tachs, but you had to judge throttle setting on the quality of the job being done. That worked well for years and still does.

When mowing lawn with the B7610, I go in low range. High range won't make the job go much faster because my lawn is rough. I did try mowing in high range once. The only difference I noticed afterwards was the the tractor's hydraulic oil (as felt on the oil cooler tubes ahead of the radiator) was much hotter than when I mowed in low range. It wasn't dangerously hot, but definitely hotter than mowing in low range where the oil temperature merely becomes warm.
Bob
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #27  
My BX2200 does not have a tach. The PTO is 540 rpm.
So when the dealer told me to mow at full throttle does that mean full throttle will produce 540 rpm for my mid-mount mower ? If that is true, then it doesn't matter whether i mow in high or low gear as long as the ground speed gives me a nice cut etc...... ?

Depends on the load but most likely answer is yes, on my JD roughly 3/4 throttle is PTO when it gets under heavy load i have to increase throttle a bit.
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #28  
I believe the BX series Kubotas will run 540 at the rear PTO when the engine is turning 3200 RPM. The mid mount mower (mid PTO) turns at 2500 RPM.
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #29  
My BX2200 does not have a tach. The PTO is 540 rpm.
So when the dealer told me to mow at full throttle does that mean full throttle will produce 540 rpm for my mid-mount mower ? If that is true, then it doesn't matter whether i mow in high or low gear as long as the ground speed gives me a nice cut etc...... ?

As said earlier, I owned a BX2200 for six years and was also told to run it at full throttle which I did. My son in law now owns it and runs it that way. My BX2660 has a PTO speed of about 2950 for MMM and 3000 for rear PTO; may be off 50 one way or the other. With wide open being 3300, I wouldn't be far off by running it wide open.

Yep, the correct ground speed can determine the quality of cut which will vary with different types grass, height, humidity etc. In the end, whatever combination, within reason, of tip speed and ground speed that give you the desired results will be OK. Some of us get too tied up in minutiae.
 
   / hi-gear vs. low-gear mowing #30  
My BX2200 does not have a tach. The PTO is 540 rpm.
So when the dealer told me to mow at full throttle does that mean full throttle will produce 540 rpm for my mid-mount mower ? If that is true, then it doesn't matter whether i mow in high or low gear as long as the ground speed gives me a nice cut etc...... ?

wow.. full throttle for 540 pto? I would have expected 2/3 or 3/4 at most.

In any case.. pto speed will be some ratio of engine speed.. thus setting engine speed to achieve correct pto speed is needed.. then select a drive range to give you a good ground speed.

soundguy
 

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