rear wheel for brush hog

[defed]

thanks for the tip. there is no independent pivot for the top link, just its own ball sockets. i have used it like it is for 4 or 5 years, and i always hated how it road on the ground. i was going to try w/ no top link, but now i will have to check the ones out at TSC and see how they are. for years, i've had a rinky dink rear wheel, and somehow it held up....then i swapped the cheap tire for the real laminated one, and then things started to break! i'm thinking the 3pt has something to do w/ it.

another thing i noticed w/ my new tractor, where the lower arms connect to the pins, the pins are set back on the angle iron a few inches. this allows me to actually lift the whole unit w/o the top link attached. the lower arms hit the protruding angle iron, not allowing the mower to tilt back. never noticed this on the old tractor, maybe it had narrower arms. then again, if i lifted the mower too high on the old tractor, the pto shaft would hit the deck (was bent when i got it and i accidentally broke it once myself). nowhere close to hitting on the new tractor.

it came w/ my old tractor when i bought it, i've beat on it pretty good, have made some repairs to it over the years...can't ask for much else from a free brush hog.

 

[defed]

while searching for pics of the flex link, i found a pic of the type of wheel i am going to fabricate. i will make it possible to add dual swivels like the one pictured, but it will currently only have one in the center.

 

[Soundguy]

imagine a u shaped piece of flat stock with 2 sets of holes drilled in it. one set across the flats near the bottom of the u.. one set near the top. this Y shaped piece is narrow enough to fit between the members that now holt your toplink at the mower. use the pint that normally holds the mower toplink to hold the u shaped piece using the set of holes near the bottom of the u.. place the toplink in the other set of holes.. now you have some swivel.

soundguy

 

[djradz]

If you don't want to fabricate a flex-link, you might be able to get one direct from KK or through TSC.

 

[defed]

sounds pretty simple to make. thanks for the description.

 

[defed]

i looked at the factory wheel assembly and it is pretty stout. alot more so than i could have imagined from looking at the pics. but, i have already started (90%) done w/ my turnbuckle adjusted single wheel.

it would be 99% done, but i didn't take into account the angle of the swivel wheel to to the ground...the spindle the tire assembly swivels on ended up at a fairly steep angle to plumb, so when the caster spins 180 degrees, it's a cpl inches higher than it started due to the angle relationship of the spindle and caster. kind of hard to explain w/o a picture. i just need to reset the rear spindle to be plumb and it should be good to go. it would work as it is, i think, but would probably add stress to parts as the wheel tries to lift the whole unit up and down as you change direction.

 

[Soundguy]

post some pics when ya get a chance!

soundguy

 

[defed]

sure, i can, but my fabrication work isn't THAT good. i'm a rookie at it, but so far it's coming out pretty good. in fact, i'll try to get some now before i change the wheel angle so you can see what i was talking about.

the worst part is the jerry-rigged caster. i started w/ a pre-made swivel about 6 yrs ago, and have modified it a few times, often in a hurry, so that looks REALLY bad, but it works.

 

[defed]

here you can see the problem i created when i attached the caster to the support arm...i welded the arm on square to the swivel. as you can see, this causes a severe angle mismatch when going from forward to reverse.

the last pic has a line drawn where the swivel should be positioned to make it plumb. the problem is that i think my support arm will be too short to keep the wheel from hitting the brush hog in reverse. i have more square tubing to make another. but my half round cut outs came out so good, i hope i can do it again.

 

[defed]

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