rear wheel on bush hog

[JerryG]

Stephen,
OT means off topic. The explanations that you gave are exactly what I was wanting to know. When surfing the net and or talking to people from AU, it seems that they always have cutters without wheels. Maybe I just missed them, but I have wondered how they worked without wheels. Thanks.

 

[rozett]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( All this talk makes me wonder again, when you think about it, what effect does the rear wheel have? )</font>

One of the main reasons for the rear wheel is so when your tractor starts to go up an incline the wheel keeps the back of the mower from becoming a plow. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif That's also why the manufacturers recommend slack in the toplink bracket.

The owners manual for my LP 60" RC says to level the deck front-to-back, then level it side-to-side, set the deck at mowing height, then adjust the rear wheel to just touch the ground.

 

[OkieG]

Gary,
I will review my manual and let you know if there are any valuable specifics, but I believe the recomendations are pretty general. They do convey the basic concepts though.

If the front of the deck is higher than the back, the material being cut will be cut a little bit shorter with each rotation of the blades, as you drive forward. That will shred the clippings, but the cutter blades will be constantly engaging material through the full arc of their rotation. Clippings will be shreded, but the constant contact of blades to material is horsepower intensive.

If the rear of the deck is higher, material will only be cut at the front of the blade arc, so less hp intensive. The greater the angle between front and back means a less smooth cut, best for brush and saplings. The greater angle helps keep you from contending with the little brush and sapling stumps more than once in a pass.

If the deck is level or the front just a bit lower than the rear, (more like a finish mower blade set up) the cut will be smoother...best for grasses, a manicured finish, or a final pass.

I don't think there is an exactly correct angle. With the basic concepts in mind, you can find an angle that suits you and your equipment and gives you the most acceptable result.

By the way, the uses for the specific set-ups mentioned above are just my own, and therefore, they are fair game for differences of opinion.

As a practical matter, I don't put too much thought into fine tuning brush hog adjustment most of the time. I just slap that baby onto the ground, set the front for the cut height I'm looking for, and procede with plenty of toplink slack, which means tailwheel is on the ground. If the results could be better, or the tractor is struggling, or I am approaching an obvious problem, knowing the basics gives me an idea what kind of correction to make.

OkieG

 

[MicroPilot]

So position control is where the 3PT height correspnds to the position of the control. I've never seen a tractor (not that I've seen a lot of tractors) that didn't work this way, hence my confusion.

 

[OkieG]

<font color="blue"> If you consider the cutter acts like a sled where it rides the contours of the ground why the rear wheel. </font>

Stephan,
With your tractor and cutter on a level surface, let's say that the cutter deck is maybe a couple inches off the ground and parallel to the ground. You have no rear wheel, so the deck is kept parallel by the toplink, which obviously has no slack in it, or the rear of the deck would be dragging on the ground.

The front of the cutter rides the contours as you drive forward, beacuse it's close to the tractor. Small dips and rises affect the front of the deck very little, because it's only a couple feet behind the rear tires. The rear of the deck is a different story. It is several feet behind the tractor, and there is an exaggerated effect as you travel across an uneven surface. Go down a dip and the rear of the deck rises up in the air noticeably (not contour following). Go up a small rise and the rear of the deck digs into the dirt, scraping like a boxblade (also, not contour following).

The front of the deck follows contours because of the tractor's tires. The rear of the deck also needs a tire to properly follow terrain contours. Now, if you have a rear tire in place, but have your toplink adjusted as you have it now, ie no slack, the rear tire will still keep the back of the deck from digging in when the tractor climbs a bit. But, the deck will raise up in the back when tractor's nose points down a little. With slack in the toplink, however, the tractor can head down a little gully and the rear wheel will stay on the ground (finally, we have contour following).

Of course, if you mow with your deck physically contacting the ground all the way around, then it could truly act like a sled and no tire would be necessary for terrain following. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

OkieG

 

[JerryG]

<font color="blue">our slasher sit on the ground on skids all the time </font>
If I understand Stephen right, the cutter trails on the ground just like a sled. To keep the blades from hitting the ground or to make to cutter higher, the skirts can be adjusted down. You just drag it around in float all of the time.

 

[OkieG]

Jerry,
I'm not familiar with what a "slasher" is. Apparently not like brush hog style cutters I have been refering to.

Has Stephan been questioning why he should use a rear wheel on a slasher??

I thought we were talking apples and apples.

After rereading his post, I believe he sees our cutters to be similar to a slasher.

If you are right, then it was my mistake. Thanks for helping clear up my confusion.

OkieG

 

[JerryG]

He was explaining how a slasher worked. A Slasher is what we call a brush hog or rotary cutter. They do the same thing anyway, but have full length skids instead of rear wheels. Anyway the smaller one are that way, apparently the larger ones have wheel like ours do. Instead of using the lift and the tail wheel to adjust cutting height, you lengthen the skirts. They must slide up and down to lengthen or shorten. If I am incorrect, maybe Stephen will correct me.

 

[stephan]

I think we are all kind of talking about the same thing and so as not to hijack this thread I have started a new one with some pictures of my slasher.

But to explain a little my slasher or RC, I think the terms are interchangeable if slightly different in design, is used in "float" all the time and generally rides the contours. It does have issues, like reversing, where a wheel might be beneficial and having looked at some of the pictures of some of the properties here they are more of a parkland then what I have. So perhaps the wheel is not so important?

 

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Oakie,

What IS the proper angle for a rotary cutter? You said the front should be lower than the rear when the wheel is touching but you didn't say by how much. Thanks. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )</font>

About 1 degree. That gets you about 3/4" to 1-1/2" lower in the front, depending on the size of the cutter.