home built ditch mower??

[countrybumpkin]

Looking at building something for mowing ditch banks and such, was thinking of finding a small lite weight bush hog and making a side mount style maybe. Was wondering what you guys have built or come up with for doing this type of work. Will be used on a 34 hp L series kubota.

 

[Don87]

I saw a you tube video of someone attaching a pushmower to their FEL for that purpose.

 

[countrybumpkin]

Well now that does give me some ideas, I was thinking of running it off the tractor , but having it's own motor would work fine for what I was needing too. Anyone else have more ideas??

 

[jenkinsph]

The nice thing about using a small mower is you can reach farther without so much of an weight imbalance. Should be simple to rig up compared to buying gearboxes and associated linkages. I would like to have one that will reach both sides of the ditch from the street. An important consideration is oil for the engine, need to keep the angle of the deck within limits of the engine design criteria.

 

[Fixemall]

Old guy up the street brought me two sets of handles to weld together for his little push mower, he can now do both sides of the ditch from the house side, I thought about fabbing up a rig for the loader but then I just decided to spray the ditch instead.

 

[countrybumpkin]

Yeah I don't need a large mower, or one for real extreme angles, definitely lighter the better. The oil issue has been on my mind, a buddy of mine has a real nice older john Deere rider that he got to turn into a small spray tractor, and is going to remove the deck I think it was a 36" if I could rig up a motor to run it may work nice. I remember seeing some mowers on the net that were built using what appeared to be a mower deck and were belt driven, but have been unable to locate them anymore, anyone seen these before or have a link to them ?

 

[Don87]

The nice thing about using a small mower is you can reach farther without so much of an weight imbalance. Should be simple to rig up compared to buying gearboxes and associated linkages. I would like to have one that will reach both sides of the ditch from the street. An important consideration is oil for the engine, need to keep the angle of the deck within limits of the engine design criteria.

You need a setup like a backhoe. Using the pushmower idea, you only need small square tubing to hold it, and very little counterweight(if any).

 

[Don87]

The nice thing about using a small mower is you can reach farther without so much of an weight imbalance. Should be simple to rig up compared to buying gearboxes and associated linkages. I would like to have one that will reach both sides of the ditch from the street. An important consideration is oil for the engine, need to keep the angle of the deck within limits of the engine design criteria.

This is a little bit of a concern, but in the days before weedeaters.............I remember tying ropes to the handles of pushmowers to lower them over the banks and pull them back up.

 

[MossRoad]

Someone in the Power Trac forum took an old Snapper riding mower deck and put a hydraulic motor on it to drive it. They are pretty tough little decks. Small, single blade, round deck.

 

[Fixemall]

Get an old push mower and rotate the motor 90 degrees on the deck, that will fix the oil issue as it won't load the head or bottom of the block and the cam activated oiler will still do it's job, even at a 45 degree angle.

 

[jenkinsph]

You need a setup like a backhoe. Using the pushmower idea, you only need small square tubing to hold it, and very little counterweight(if any).

Good point and I have lots of square tubing to work with. If it wasn't for the new fence on the property line I would use a sickle bar cutter on each side of the ditch.

 

[o2batsea]

I hate mowing ditches mainly because every time I do it reminds me what a chump job they did on the road into my place. They fall away at 45 degrees.
Anyway, my usual MO is to use the push mower and weedwhacker in combo.
My other technique is Roundup. This works pretty well, if you don't mind brown.
My imagineering solution is to put several string trimmer heads on a bar. This would keep the assembly light weight, so that rocks won't get kicked out. Haven't acted on this scheme yet cuz I don't mind brown too much.

 

[Don87]

Good point and I have lots of square tubing to work with. If it wasn't for the new fence on the property line I would use a sickle bar cutter on each side of the ditch.

Be sure to start a build thread if you decide to tackle it.

o2batsea had a good idea also : string type trimmer. Then one could use a 2 cycle engine, and never worry about the angle.

 

[LBrown59]

. I remember seeing some mowers on the net that were built using what appeared to be a mower deck and were belt driven, but have been unable to locate them anymore, anyone seen these before or have a link to them ?

I saw a you tube video of someone attaching a pushmower to their FEL for that purpose.

I have a old barn foundation at my place, parts of it I could not mow since the sides were so steep. I got tired of thinking about it and went to a yard sale. When I saw a cheap push mower there for $30, I found a solution. I bought the mower, brought it home, and took off the wheels. Then I bolted it to wood frame. The frame has 2 long "forks" that slide into my tractor bucket. And I also ratchet strap it as well. On mowing day, I start the push mower, then keep it running by tying the handle down with a wire. Then I lift the bucket over the weeds, and lower it. (I do all this in low gear, at idle) On some areas, I roll the bucket back to match the slope, then back up the tractor, while lowering the bucket. Make sure you have a heavy weight on the 3pt. On bad hills, it helps to lower the weight to the ground. I can't say it is easy, but it does work, I can get the weeds maybe 3-4" above ground level. The only other way to do it would be a string trimmer, but thats why we have tractors

1*A friend had given me a Box store push mower .
Last fall I took it to a small engine shop who fixed it for 25 or 45 dollars and it runs and starts great.
2*I bolted the mower to a 5 or six foot pallet so i can pick up the pallet with my bucket forks .
This gives me about a 9 to 11 foot reach out from the front of the front wheels of the tractor.
3*I ratchet strap the pallet to the loader bucket .
4*I use a bungee strap for this.
5*I do the same thing.
6*I use the BX23 BH.
7*Beats a srting trimmer all to pieces.

That's brilliant.

*****

 

[Don87]

*****

Thank you for resurrecting this thread:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/214822-boom-mower-backhoe-electric-motor.html

Now can you resurrect the thread with 'wolfy's' FEL mower?