Stupid brushhog question

[Slamfire]

By going slow and observing the action of any two wheeled cart you can learn just how to handle the pull behind bush hog. If you have tight places to mow, backing up can get pretty hairy, considering the pto shaft may decide to part company with the tractor. That's the reason for the shield on the tractor to keep that shaft from hitting the operator. By using a drawbar hole other than the one in the middle, I'm able to get the bushhog up on berms that I don't want to drive on.

 

[BB_TX]

I use the same technique as Bird. Remember that pulling a trailer type and turning a corner is going to leave an area uncut in that corner. To cut that area would be like backing a trailer into the corner. Of course, the same is true for the 3pt type, it is just a little easier to back it.

 

[NIXON]

. If you have tight places to mow, backing up can get pretty hairy, considering the pto shaft may decide to part company with the tractor. That's the reason for the shield on the tractor to keep that shaft from hitting the operator

Could you explain that to me . I'm not trying to wind you up.
I just don't understand what you're saying . And, I sure don't want be be eating any part of a Brush hog . John

 

[MossRoad]

You might want to think of a PTO shaft as a tube with splines sliding inside of another tube with grooves to accept the splines. As you raise or lower a 3pt implement the PTO shaft has to get longer or shorter or the shaft would bow. If the shaft would extend too far, one section (or tube) would slide out of the other tube and then you would have spinning steel tubes flailing about beating anything in its path to death(literally).

 

[NIXON]

Moss road.
Thanks for the explanation . I never really considered the fact that a slip shaft could be extended that far . I can see where things could get real ugly real quick ! John

 

[Henro]

Granted if the pto shaft extends too far and falls apart it is not a good thing. But why should that happen backing up?

Seems like it could happen easier then going forward.

I also am a novice at brush hogging...have one on order. So I would like to understand why if the pto shaft is correctly sized for the possible range of movements of the brush hog, while it is attached to the 3PH, it might be expected to come apart...

Is this truly a worry in the normal case? OR just the exception to the normal rule? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Slamfire]

The angle between the bush hog and the tractor can get real acute much faster when backing up than when going forward, because until you get good at it you have a tendency to steer the wrong way. Once the hog has started to turn it is pretty difficult to get the front wheels straightened out fast enough, if you made a mistake in the first place. Several things can break and all of them will leave a wildly spinning shaft free from the tractor. The shaft can extend too far, seperating, the shear pin can break in the coupling, or the pin securing the shaft to the tractor's pto shaft can seperate.

 

[Henro]

Just to make sure I understand...

I am referring to a 3PH brush hog like I ordered...not a pull behind.

Seems like the only angle that can change would be in the vertical direction. Since the 3PH hook up is there at two points and the tail wheel can go where it wants unless it hits something...like a tree stump.

So backing up still seems to me not to be THAT different than going forward. But I do see how it could be different and how things could maybe happen more quickly, since the brush hog would be going first, and if there was a drop off or other unknown thing there, the tractor would not see it first and the operator would lose any possible warning of the danger that might be there.

I think I understand the point of trying to correct movement direction if a mistake is made. But couldn't one just stop if he screwed up steering and started going in the wrong direction? And then move forward again and correct the mistake?

As a novice if there is something inherently dangerous related to backing up with the brush hog I REALLY want to understand it, since I expect to do fair amount of backing up when initially clearing a couple hillside acres.

Please bare with me on this...just trying to learn more [and to understand as fully as possible in advance] about a piece of equipment I have never used... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Slamfire]

Well I've been expounding on my towed model. I don't know much about the three points. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> So I would like to understand why if the pto shaft is correctly sized for the possible range of movements of the brush hog, while it is attached to the 3PH, it might be expected to come apart... </font>

Simple... because people frequently don't size the correct drive shaft to the implement. Or they add a quick hitch and the drive shaft needs to be lengthened. Or the top link comes lose and the brushhog drops over the side of a bank. Or the towed type takes a slide down a bank and tips, etc... There are plenty of things that can go wrong, and the drive shaft could come apart. It's just something to be aware of. Drive shafts are extremely dangerous. That's why I hate them. That's why my tractor doesn't have them. They scare me. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif