My first Batwing

   / My first Batwing #1  

meadowlarkponds

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2006
Messages
280
Location
East Texas
Tractor
Kubota L2350, MF 383, Case 450 dozer, Kubota M4050 back hoe
I just purchased and re-furbished a used batwing and am ready to do some mowing. I've never used anything larger than an 8 ft mower before so I'm looking for some helpful hints from more experienced folks. Operating tips, safety things, etc. ...anything would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
   / My first Batwing #2  
You've got to give us some photos! Please!
What make is it?
How about some before and after photos?
 
   / My first Batwing #3  
....Waiting for Soundguy to chime in as resident Batwing expert. I remember the one he refurbed, looked like new when he was done.

/Todd
 
   / My first Batwing #4  
Ummm....they're not hard to use; but don't track like a 3pt. mounted mower. Can't help much with setup, but will pass along some operating hints.

On your outside turns, let the nearest front wheel of the tractor wander toward the edge of the cut area as you enter the turn and then trace the cut edge with the front wheel as you go through the turn The mower will try to hang towards the inside of the turn. This will bring the mower through the turn without leaving an uncut fringe at the outside of the turn.

When making inside turns, you should nearly double the margin between the cut edge and the nearest front wheel to bring the mower through the turn with a full bite. As before it'll be trying to hang toward the inside of the turn. This works with JD2640 and a Bush Hog 15 footer...dunno about other combinations.

Figure out which way the mower throws it's cuttings; to the left or to the right. The Woods and Bush Hog mowers I'm familiar with, throw most of the cuttings to the left. This means the right hand wing throws its cuttings into the center section, the center section throws into the left hand wing and the cuttings are finally thrown up against the left side of the left hand section. I therefore try go around a field clockwise so the mower will be throwing cuttings away from the grass I will be cutting on the next pass. But this is pretty standard for any bush hog. When the right hand section picks up a rock, you can often hear it transfer from one section to the next before it exits.

The front of the blade arcs should be adjusted a little lower than the rear...maybe a half inch to an inch. This means the leading edge of the arcs will do the cutting. The back edge will be moving above cut grass. You want to avoid a rear low condition as this means the grass is getting cut twice. Again, pretty standard for any bush hog.

Don't raise the wings very far with the PTO running. It's OK to raise them enough to get over a rock or short stump, but don't raise them all the way. The racket from the drive system will let you know when you're over doing it.

First trip around the outside of the field is always the worst. If it's unknown ground and you're expecting the worst, you might want to make your first pass a ways in from the edge, then, with the visibility this gives you, go back and try to hug the edge....but go slow. That outside wing can get in a lot of trouble doing the edge; especially near a woods.

Try to adjust wing and center section height so you can run with wing and height hydraulics in full float (all the way down). This relieves the pressure and stress on the hyd. system and keeps small leaks from developing and gradually draining your reservoir.
FWIW
Bob

P.S. Yeah, I defer to Soundguy on this subject. He's been into batwings alot longer than I have.
 
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   / My first Batwing #5  
I had purchased my 108hp Case at the same time that I bought my used Woods 3180 batwing.

First time out, I broke the reversable PTO shaft on the tractor in half when I engaged the PTO to quickly. On that tractor the PTO is engaged by pulling on a knob as opposed to say a lever so the "feel" is not exact if you know what I mean.

The dealer had supposedly gone over the tractor and did work on the PTO but did not properly repair it as I found out later when I had it gone over again by another dealer.

Anyway, after one long day when I was pretty tired, I engaged the PTO to quickly and busted the driveshaft.

My point here is that there is a lot of mass in that batwing and perhaps depending on your tractor, you need to respect that when you start the blades rotating.
 
   / My first Batwing #6  
After my mowing business took off faster than I antisipated, and we just couldn't keep up with the demand using all 6' or 7' mowers, my son and I bought a 95 hp Deere and a 15' Bush Hog 2615 Legend batwing this past spring. We do mostly larger acreage mowing, but even with that, some of our work is in confined areas or with lots of obstacles. I had my doubts about using the batwing in those conditions.

Never fear. They're very manueverable. With the mower being so much wider than the tractor, it's EASIER to mow around trees, and with a little practice, they're not at all cumbersome in tight quarters. The only ares where we don't like to use the batwing is in undulating/choppy terrain. (Too much scalping)

One added benifit is a wide mower is easier to deal with turns than a narrow cutter. You can make "paperclip" turns because track center to track center is farther apart. There's less wasted motion on headlands with a wide mower.

And, as has been mentioned, you have a big ol' massive machine hooked to your tractor. It's got enough "heft" to put a whoopin' on your tractor if you try to get rough with it. There's a lot of "flywheel" inertia with a batwing.
 
   / My first Batwing #7  
As another user pointed out.. I got a good deal on a well used jd 1517 batwing. Took a few months of sweat equity, some welding, lotsa pressure washing, and a couple weekends worth of painting to get it looking really good.

You don't mention the type it is, but in general, thing about these things:

there are 540 and 1000 rpm versions.. the pto yoke is different for each. Unless your tractor is capapble of both speeds , has both shaft, or a swapapble shaft , make sure you get the type that matches your tractor.

If your pto driveshaft is a u-joint type.. don't get in the habbit of making sharp turns under power.. it's kinda hard on the ujoints.. IE.. make sloping turns. Some mowers have a CV driveshaft and it handles much better on shaper turns.

DON"T engage your pto untill you have your wings down.

If your wings and tailwheels have transport locks, get into the habbit of using them. Never know when a hose will pop and drop a wing into oncomming traffic.. if the transport lock is on.. you are safe and won't loose your house and go to jail!
I don't know what size tractor you have.. but I think you will want a minimum of 75 hp to run a batwing. Mowing speeds and growth density , along with your hp will work out how fast you can mow.

Cgeck them mower gearboxes, and keep the umpteen dozen grease fittings lubed.

once in a while grab all your wheels to check hubs/bearings... ( yep.. that means you gotta jack the back up now and then.

DO get a nose jack if yours has the mounting nub for it. I have one and just swing it horizontal and pin it.. that way if i have to drop the mower int he field in an emergency.. it won't be on the ground and impossible to attach on re-hitching.

If no one's told you.. you pull these with your swinging drawbar.. not 3pt drawbar.. your tractor manual will tell you the toungue length setting to use based on the weight. A safety chain is reccomended as a flexible coupling betwixt your mower and tractor... don't have to be much.. just enough to keep the two together incase the toungue or pin breaks... not so bad going 4mph inthe pasture.. but real horrible when going 18mph down the highway in traffic!

All this said.. I'll defer to any specifics that FWJ has to offer.. I believe he makes a living by doing some mowing. I only mow my own property.. etc.

My unit has debri guards made from heavy rubber. some people prefer chains.. if you mow in the open around anyting of value..do use something. Some municipalities mandate chains if mowing in the right of way.. etc.

Soundguy
 
   / My first Batwing
  • Thread Starter
#8  
I really appreciate the comments thus far. Thanks to all.

To fill in some details that I left out, the batwing is a Rhino 15 ft and I'm planning to pull it with my 383 MF. I will pull it off the draw bar and operate off the PTO....but my tach is out on the 383 so I have to guess at an appropriate RPM. I hope that's ok.

I'm really sorry I didn't take a "before" picture as the mower was in pretty rough shape....the refurb included seals replaced, a bearing on one drive gear box replaced, all the wheels had to be repacked, and some steel panels had to be added where it was rusted through. Lots of rust and debris removed from all surfaces. I paid $1500 and have another $500 in it now, but it is looking really good. I'll post the "after" picture in the next day or so.

I need to get some "spacers" (not sure what they are called exactly) to help set the mowing height and take load off the hydrolics and plan to go into town tomorrow to purchase those. I may take a trial mowing run after that and will try to follow the tips you guys have posted on the inside and outside corners and operation.

Its really a big implement back there and until I get comfortable with it, I'm going to take it slow and easy. Thanks again.
 
   / My first Batwing #9  
TSC sells those spring loaded cast aluminum 'donut' style split spacerss in a pack of 3 assorted sizes.. pretty cheap.

soundguy
 
   / My first Batwing #10  
I would start out by reading the operators manual which is posted for free on Rhino : Home which will tell you everything you need to know. Some advice I have is when starting, idle up to around 1500 rpm, slowly engage the pto, idle up to operating pto and then go forward. When shutting down, throttle back to idle on tractor and then disengage pto to reduce wear on pto brake. If the shredder sits outside, check the slip clutches to make sure they are set properly.

When first hooking up, make sure drawbar distance is set correctly for the proper 540/1000 rpm. Also make sure hydraulic hoses have enough slack for turning, but not so much to hit the driveshaft. I run a rubber strap across the 3 point ends to ensure hoses stay off the driveshaft.

If you turn to sharp the u-joint will start knocking real hard and you might catch your tires on the shredder.

I'm not admitting to all the above, but have done the majority of them.
 
 

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