New guy here...Some brushhog questions

[Grrrr]

I have a gear driven tractor with two stage clutch too. I simply leave the engine rpm where it is and shuttle shift into reverse and whatever gear I want. Just don't push the clutch pedal all the way in (to the second stage) and the mower never slows down that way. Then you start cutting backing up. Same thing to go back to mowing forward.

That is the same as what I do.

My PTO takes a long time to spin down as it has no brake on it.

The problem I find with gear tractors is unless you have one with a complex gearbox, you only have two reverse speeds. One is way to slow, the other is too fast. I normally end up going to fast.

 

[Leon Wittner]

My Kubota L2800 Manual says to tighten the Turn Buckles to prevent the arms from rubbing the tires with the attachment attached. And it came with a rubber bungie cord to hold the arms together when no attachment is on the 3 point hitch. Hope this helps.

 

[RobT]

Sorry about that. I should have said "540" rpm, not 550. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[JerryG]

I have the MF version of the EHSS, Massey calls it a PowerShuttle. I drop the RPM some but no where close to idle. Just a couple hundred RPM. That is if it is under a load. If there isn't much of a load and I'm going at a some what slow ground speed, I don't always drop RPM then.

While we are here asking questions, how about this one:

when the bush hog is engaged and one wants to reverse direction, what methods do you use, particularly with respect to engine RPMs (and from that, the PTO RPM)?

I don't have an HST so maybe HSTs keep the PTO speed constant. The Massey (gear, 9:3 or something) has a dual stage clutch but I generally didn't reverse with the bush hog running (to change forward speeds, the engine RPM was lowered so the dry engine clutch would last longer).

With EHSS[1] 16x16 I sometimes lower the RPMs to maybe preserve the wet clutches a bit, sometimes don't (works either way). Just seems to take a lot of power to spin the bush hog back up after reversing if the engine RPMs are lowered and the PTO is left engaged-- but maybe this is what everyone does? Cutter is Bush Hog 278.

[1] EHSS is electro hydraulic shuttle shift, the computer (or some mechanism) uses hydraulic control of wet clutches to reverse tractor direction when the operator flips a lever (no clutch pedal use is needed). Dealer service pretty strongly recommended not getting manual reversing clutch FWIW.

 

[atgreene]

A couple ideas:

As far as backing up, once you have made your first trip around the field, there really should be no reason to reverse direction. Square your corners, drive past and do a 270 loop and head down the next pass. I mow my fields counter clockwise, as the material tends to throw away from the next pass. Thus, when I get to the corner I drive straight past, cut hard to the right and loop around 270 degree's, never letting off and maintaining speed. It's much more efficient and makes much easier on the tractor, as you never shift or change rpms.

My grandfather taught me this trick, and it saves a lot of time. My Kubota 4150 with a 6' heavy duty Wods can mow between 3 and 4 acres per hour. When I was mowing commercially, my competion couldn't figure out how I covered so much ground, until he saw me do loops at the end of the rows one day. I still kid him about it.

One other safety item, always run with the fel as near as possible to the ground. This will keep your center of gravity low, but most importantly, let you know when you're about to hit something.

 

[3RRL]

That is the same as what I do.

My PTO takes a long time to spin down as it has no brake on it.

The problem I find with gear tractors is unless you have one with a complex gearbox, you only have two reverse speeds. One is way to slow, the other is too fast. I normally end up going to fast.

Gr...
I have a shuttle shift so I have 8 reverse gears. I have seen others like yours with either high or low reverse. My friend with one like that says the same as you. One is too slow and the other too fast.

 

[JoeinTX]

"Well, congrats, you're either really good, or you have a slip clutch perhaps? I've just broken the one pin so far, but figure I'll do it again soon. Just hopfully not before I'm actually mowing with the thing. I have stumps and things in the fields and I'm not that familiar with the land yet, so I'm sure I'll use a few up getting to know my land."


No congrats necessary. I don't have a slip clutch on anything yet I've never sheared a pin. Weird, huh? I mowed for many years with an old Corsicana...and we cut some serious brush with it (mesquite, oak, etc) and I broke mount brackets when hitting embedded rock but never a shear pin. The mounts, BTW, we fixed with welding and they have held to today. In that case, the 3 pt mount failed before the pin did. My current little 5' Howse has been used more for battering limbs/roots than cutting grass and to the point that it has killed the tractor on more than one occasion......no sheared bolts.


Many complain of the shear-bolt, I don't deny them, but I do wonder about the situation when I combine my experience.