Tailwheel? What Tailwheel? I don't see a tailwheel.

[bcp]

Why do North Americans require tailwheels on their rotary cutters? Much of the rest of the world doesn't.

Bruce

 

[CincyFlyer]

Yeah, you foreigners have skids instead.

 

[bdhsfz6]

When cutting smooth, level ground, I usually don't use the tail wheel on my brushog. On rough uneven fields I find using the wheel minimizes scalping and saves time making 3pt implement height adjustments . When cutting in reverse, the wheel also helps the cutter ride up over obstacles (Logs, stumps, thick brush etc.) without getting the skids hung up.

My neighbor on the other hand took the wheel off his hog since he never uses it. IMO, it's just a matter of preference.

 

[DieselBound]

Most of those cutters don't look like they're more than light duty. Might be that most of Europe has already been cleared and there's little need for cutters that are as hefty?

I figure my cutter is about 1,100 lbs. Extend that weight out 6' and that's a lot of leverage force happening back at the tail end.

Tailwheels, although prone to getting smashed up, can act as feelers for big stuff (stuff that might not be all the common over in Europe). On my property I have a LOT of brush, brush that covers a LOT of tree/log debris; I will back in, slowly, and feel whether I'm starting to hit a real obstacle.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I use my tail wheels for height control. There is no way to do it otherwise and get a nice cut. I also change height depending on what I am cutting.

 

[Wagtail]

My 'slasher' doesn't have a tailwheel... which is why I don't refer to it as a "Bushhog" on this forum.

It's exactly as the pictures above and I don't know of anyone who uses a tailwheel (here in Aus); unless it's a golf course. You either lower it onto the skids and drag (lifting for a turn) or set it at a height.

 

[Piston]

At 1,000 pounds for my brush cutter, sticking way back there, going over rough ground bouncing around, I’m pretty sure the tail wheel takes all the stress off my top link. That is one reason I use it all the time (aside from raising the brush hog high to cut large diameter trees)

 

[Tractorable]

I pull a 630lb 5ft Bush Hog Squealer behind my '52 Ford 8N. When I lift the bush hog on the 3pt, I can almost lift the front of the tractor up with one hand. If I didn't have a tail wheel to take some of the load off, I wouldn't have any steering.

I manage the front height of the bush hog with check chains which allows me to take all the load off the hydraulic cylinders.

I manage the rear height with the tail wheel. I set it a little higher than the front to allow cut material to move out the back. It also reduces the horsepower requirement because having it angled slightly higher in the back means the blades aren't chopping the material twice.

Love my tail wheel!

 

[EddieWalker]

When I was first starting out, I didn't understand how the tail-wheel works. I adjusted the deck of my mower so it was flat with the ground, tightened up my top link and started mowing. I found that when going up over a hill, my tail wheel would come off of the ground, and when cutting down into a low spot, it wouldn't get down there all the way.

Then I learned off of TBN that you never tighten up your top link when mowing. You want it as slack as possible, but still able to lift the mower if you need to.

Now my shredder follows the contour of the ground with all the weight consistently on the tail wheel and three point arms. Even better is a finish mower with 4 wheels, one at each corner.

 

[DieselBound]

I also think that tail-wheels aid in discharge: tail should be slightly higher to help discharging material.

I'm so much happier now that I have units that float the top link. Amazing the difference! Scalping is drastically reduced now. Wouldn't want to be trying to run only on skids (I've got a lot of tree root crowns to mow around; if I didn't have a tail-wheel I'd be constantly manipulating the mower height.

Gotta have wheels!:thumbsup: