Leveling wings on a batwing, BW12 mower

[Overtaxed]

What a great machine. Sorry, just had to start with that, but man, this is a great piece of equipment!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I know how to do this, but wanted to check and see if there were some tips/tricks. I'm getting some gouging on the wings (skid shoes) when I mow. The center section wings never hit, which makes me think that the wings are a little bit lower than the center (and visually, it appears that they are). I see how to adjust it on my mower, there's a turnbuckle (that was so tight that I had to get a 36" wrench to break it free!) that I can use to lift/lower the wings. But, I'm not sure what I should be measuring to see if it's "right"? Skid shoes on the center section to the ground and then skid shoes on the wing to the ground? Seem to make sense, but the Woods manual is worthless on this area, it barely tells you how to do it, let alone where to measure to make sure it's done right. Adjusting the turnbuckles seems to pick the wheels up on the wings, which is exactly what I want, the wheels are a little lower on the wings (visually) and that's causing the wings to gouge in places where the center section is fine. I'm guessing this adjustment is for all cutting heights, once everything is level it's level regardless of where the cylinder is positioned? Seems like it would be based on the way it works mechanically, but wanted to ask. I'm going to drop it down to cutting height on a level section of concrete and start measuring, just not sure what to measure and what those measurements should be (should the skid shoe on the wing be the same as the skid show on the center section, higher, lower, and, if so, how much, etc)?

Thanks for any help, I imagine this is the same for all batwings (although the adjustment procedure is different), so if anyone has leveled a flex wing cutter, pass along the experience and how you did it.

Thank you!

 

[leonz]

They build these things just like crop shredders to follow the contour of the ground. All the skids on all three sections should be of equal height for mowing.

There is no other real rule of thumb as your ground is going to determine how well it looks after mowing.

All the hydraulic cylinders do is raise the mower wings for the travel position period.

The turn buckles limit the amount of flex that can occur below the horizontal(which should be none) and you should always be using a long bubble level to level the wings before you set the mower height skids.

By the way YOU never want the skids to contact the ground they are there to prevent scalping period.


If they had helper springs like the ones used on 3 section disc harrows they would
be that much simpler to own.

YOU have to keep in mind and be aware of the fact that your mower will eventually
start to bend more at the hinges and make the metal warp more over time UNLESS
it was assembled and welded with welded struts under the mowing deck surrounding each spindle.

 

[Overtaxed]

So, simple version, the machine should be dead level across the wings and center section if it's on level ground? Yes, I have the turnbuckles and if I look at it now, on level ground, it appears the wings are a bit lower than the center section. That's what I'm looking to adjust (the height of the wheels on the wind sections).

 

[aczlan]

So, simple version, the machine should be dead level across the wings and center section if it's on level ground? Yes, I have the turnbuckles and if I look at it now, on level ground, it appears the wings are a bit lower than the center section. That's what I'm looking to adjust (the height of the wheels on the wind sections).

So, yours looks something like this one?

If so, adjusting the shiny turnbuckles will adjust how far up or down the wheels on the wings sit in relation to the main wings.
Despite what Leonz says, it shouldn't pucker or bend the wings to adjust that as long as you leave the wing fold hydraulic remotes in "float" as that is how the system is intended to have the wings leveled.
As for where to level, I would run the wheel lift cylinder all the way up, block it up so it cannot fall and crush you, then go to where the blades mount to the stump jumpers and measure height there at the front and back. They should be within 1/2" of the same height between the main and wing decks and the front should be a little shorter than the rear.

Aaron Z

 

[aczlan]

All the hydraulic cylinders do is raise the mower wings for the travel position period.
The turn buckles limit the amount of flex that can occur below the horizontal(which should be none) and you should always be using a long bubble level to level the wings before you set the mower height skids.

Might I suggest you look at the picture I posted of the model that the original poster has? The only turnbuckles on it are the ones that adjust the height of the wheels on the wing in relation to the wheels on the main deck. They don't have anything to do with the amount of flex that can occur below horizontal. They just set the angle of the axle that the wing wheels mount to in relation to the angle of the axle of the wheels for the center deck. That adjusts the height of the outside edge of the wing in relation to the height of the center deck.

Aaron Z

 

[Overtaxed]

So, yours looks something like this one?
View attachment 600369
If so, adjusting the shiny turnbuckles will adjust how far up or down the wheels on the wings sit in relation to the main wings.
Despite what Leonz says, it shouldn't pucker or bend the wings to adjust that as long as you leave the wing fold hydraulic remotes in "float" as that is how the system is intended to have the wings leveled.
As for where to level, I would run the wheel lift cylinder all the way up, block it up so it cannot fall and crush you, then go to where the blades mount to the stump jumpers and measure height there at the front and back. They should be within 1/2" of the same height between the main and wing decks and the front should be a little shorter than the rear.

Aaron Z

Yup, mine looks exactly like that, even the same color! Which clashes badly with Kioti Orange, but, hey, what are you going to do, right?

That makes sense, but.. Ugh. The thought of crawling under there over and over to get the "right" measurement seems like a bad day to me. There's really no "measure point" on the mower? I get what you're saying, measure off the blades, but why not a little sticker/weld/etc on all 3 sections that you can see from the outside?? Measure here on all three decks and make that measurement the same, easy, right? Because I'm not setting mowing height here, I'm just setting level, all I need is a level line across the decks to work from.

OK, rant over, I'm sure what you'd suggesting will work, I just don't envy myself the task of actually doing it.

 

[aczlan]

Yup, mine looks exactly like that, even the same color! Which clashes badly with Kioti Orange, but, hey, what are you going to do, right?

That makes sense, but.. Ugh. The thought of crawling under there over and over to get the "right" measurement seems like a bad day to me. There's really no "measure point" on the mower? I get what you're saying, measure off the blades, but why not a little sticker/weld/etc on all 3 sections that you can see from the outside?? Measure here on all three decks and make that measurement the same, easy, right? Because I'm not setting mowing height here, I'm just setting level, all I need is a level line across the decks to work from.

OK, rant over, I'm sure what you'd suggesting will work, I just don't envy myself the task of actually doing it.

I would measure to that once, then make a mark to show the cut line somewhere on the outside for future reference, that way you don't have to crawl under it again.

Aaron Z

 

[Overtaxed]

Well, that worked. Honestly I did it mostly by eye, the wings looked low, they look level now. Close enough, right? The cut looks much better and less gouging.

I also lowered the back a little bit, it was riding low in the front (which is where the skids are). Man, what a job that was, there's no good way to get a wrench on that adjustment and it needs a LOT of force to move it. Lots of fun, but I got it riding more level front to back too. Good news, all of these should be one time adjustments, no need to move it again once it's set for my tractor. What a great cut this thing lays down! I was testing my adjustments and almost mowed the property again well, just because it's fun to watch it work!

 

[aczlan]

Well, that worked. Honestly I did it mostly by eye, the wings looked low, they look level now. Close enough, right? The cut looks much better and less gouging.

I also lowered the back a little bit, it was riding low in the front (which is where the skids are). Man, what a job that was, there's no good way to get a wrench on that adjustment and it needs a LOT of force to move it. Lots of fun, but I got it riding more level front to back too. Good news, all of these should be one time adjustments, no need to move it again once it's set for my tractor. What a great cut this thing lays down! I was testing my adjustments and almost mowed the property again well, just because it's fun to watch it work!

You will want it a little lower in the front than in the back, that way you are cutting on the front half of the rotation of the blades and the back half of the rotation is free to re-cut the clippings. Otherwise it takes more power as the front half cuts down to say 3" and the back cuts down to 2.5", so it cuts everything twice.

Aaron Z

 

[Overtaxed]

You will want it a little lower in the front than in the back, that way you are cutting on the front half of the rotation of the blades and the back half of the rotation is free to re-cut the clippings. Otherwise it takes more power as the front half cuts down to say 3" and the back cuts down to 2.5", so it cuts everything twice.

Aaron Z

I'd read that, but, on the BW12, if you want to cut close, you can't have much slope on the mower. All the "low points" are on the front of the mower, which means that if you set the slope that way, you'll dig in a lot with the shoes (that's why I went messing with the rod to being with, too much digging). But you're right, I'm sure, setting it "front high" means 2 cuts on everything, perhaps better mulching because you wind up with 2 clippings on each blade of grass, but certainly more power. I set mine to just about dead level, the blades are almost the same height front/back. Keeps the skid shoes out of the dirt and seems to cut better too.

Now, just for fun, I'm going to complain again. Because setting front/back is a royal PITA to measure. Please, Woods/etc, put some marks on the stupid cutter showing blade height! It's not that hard, and I guess I could do it myself, but if you want accuracy, it would be far better if the vendors just snapped a line on the outside of the mower housings. Instead of crawling under the darn thing with a tape or my cutter setup jig, I could just use a simple tape measure. Would be SO much easier for setting one of these things up!