Toplink Toplink vs Chain on bushhog attachment

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Has anyone ever know anyone that was injured by using a chain? )</font>

Nope, but then I never even heard of anyone using a chain instead of the regular top link except on this forum, and I have no intention of ever doing it myself. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I cannot see any advantage to using the chain if the regular top link is used and everything is properly adjusted.

 

[popeye]

Bird
Well put. I wouldn't want to be the first anybody heard about. I've seen mine jump several feet off the ground.
Mike

 

[normde2001]

Shari, he's referring to the check chains I attached in a previous post. they are used in pairs and just limit the drop of the 3ph to lessen strain on the hydraulics.

Bird, they are talking about mowers with rigid top mounts, (no swivel link). I also would like to see what happened to the driveshaft after all these folks "witnessed" someone being squished by a rearing mower. I suspect a person would be struck 5-10 times by lightning for every time that happened.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Bird........I have seen your advice on here as solid and real, among many others, and I am truly wondering what is the damage that can occur to the tractor itself from not having any "play" in the system when mowing with a rotary mower and it hits something. My old unit is as rigid as it can be and has nothing built into it to compensate for being able to move when an obstacle is hit. Will hitting something really cause damage to the tractor?......seems to me it is money down the drain just waiting for this to occur. .......

thanks.....Dennis

 

[PitbullMidwest]

I've mowed with my father in law's 8n for fifteen years with chain links like normde2001 showed in his attachment. However, the chains do not replace the top link but are used to suspend the brush cutter at a desired cutting height when the hydraulics are too weak to maintain their position.

We hookup the 3 pt like normal, lift the cutter up adjust the chains through the bracket and lower the cutter, this forms an inverted "V" from the cutter hookup pins to the toplink mount. The chains prevent the cutter from going too low.

 

[Bird]

Dennis, I would remind you that there's still more that I don't know than there is that I do know, so maybe the chains are a good idea. However, I've never seen such a recommendation from any manufacturer. Some things are a little tough for me to describe without pictures, but in 1995, the Bush Hog Squealer came with a chain running from the top of the A-frame where the tractor top link connected back nearly to the rear wheel. So you used your regular top link, but the A-frame could swivel on the two bolts on the bottom of the arms (top of the cutter). When disconnected from the tractor, you could actually just lay the A-frame back on top of the cutter. With that system, which I liked, you had plenty of "play" or swivel action, but the regular top link would have prevented the mower from kicking up more than 90 degrees. But for reasons unknown to me, Bush Hog eliminated that method and now uses a rigid A-frame with the U-shaped piece to connect the top link to which allows some, but nearly as much, swivel action. Now Howse uses a different method. Instead of the swivel, or a chain, the top of the A-frame has a slot instead of a hole to put the pin through to connect the top link. I usually adjusted the height of the front of the mower with the 3-point hitch, then adjusted the top link to the center of that slot to allow for a little play or swivel action. However, the method described in the manual was to lengthen your top link enough to push back on the rear of the slot enough to hold the front of the mower at the height you wanted with the 3-point in the float position. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I experimented briefly with that method; didn't like it because it seems to me that's putting an unnecessary compression strain on the top link and a considerable strain on the two lower pins in the opposite direction.

No matter what method you use, if the tail wheel(s) goes over a high spot, or the rear tractor tires go through a low spot, whether you reach the limits of the swivel, or whether you have a completely rigid 3-point hookup to start with, the 3-point hitch can rise, then fall back to wherever you had it set.

I can understand the theory of the mower hitting something and kicking up and forward onto the tractor driver, but for it to come forward instead of just up to 90 degrees, with the standard top link, it's going to have to collapse or bend that top link, and whether you are using the standard top link or a chain, it's going to have to destroy the PTO driveshaft and it's going to have to bend or destroy the A-frame. I realize anything's possible, but I just don't see that happening. And if I'm wrong, well, it wouldn't be the first time. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[markct]

well it seems to me that i have never actualy heard of anyone tipping over there mower ontop of themselves either, but i will say that if ya think about it a semi-mount plow has the same physics to it, just attached at the lower links, no toplink, and i dont recall anyone getting crushed by one of those. even a pull behind type brushog, the type with the wheels and drawbar hitch, could do the same thing too if the front edge of the deck caught something, but again, i never heard of it happening. i suppose that since the physics are there for any of these accidents to happen then yes they are possible, but highly unlikely. the physics are there for a tractor to tip over backwards almost whenever ya tow a trailer, but we dont worry ourselves to death over that, my point is anything can happen, but i wouldnt worry too much about the chances of a mower flipping on ya from using a chain toplink

 

[djradz]

Well said Mark. I must agree. I think we're "what-if" -ing this to far. With all those trailer type implements out there, (plus all these new-fangled - separately powered mowers for ATV's) I still have never heard of an incident. I think the chain as a top link can work just fine. Although I've never tried it, on a couple of occasions, just for testing sake, I've completely removed the top link, just to see how well the mower deck can float. On a related subject, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the use of check chains for obtaining a very level cut in level, rolling, and somewhat hilly ground. I've never had to use them for "weak hydraulics", and think maybe folks have gotten the wrong impression as to their benefit, because of their use there as well.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Well said Mark. I must agree. I think we're "what-if" -ing this to far. ... )</font>

If I may what if a little more...what if there is a ROPS? The worst case squish just became a more remote possibility!

I'M quite interested in this thread...hope to be the proud new owner of a rotary cutter in a week or two...my guess is that if I would use a chain...well...I might regret the damage, but I doubt that things would go as far as the "squish scenerio" suggests.

As long as the cutter is wider than the ROPS I suppose... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JerryG]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Perhaps I'm missing something, but I cannot see any advantage to using the chain if the regular top link is used and everything is properly adjusted.)</font>

If you don't mow in steep or rough areas, you don't need to even try a chain. I mow several times a year, in extreme steep, tight places and areas where the tractor is at an angle going across ditches. When mowing in areas like this, I know that I have bent the third arm twice and really think the I have bent it three times. That is why I replaced the third arm with a chain.