Under fence mower pictures,

[BHD]

a few mower pictures, started this mower last winter and got to with in a few hours of finished and had to work on other things, finally got it back in and finished it up to test it out and use, some of it evolved, (in theory it can be used right or left hand), but have not tried it the other way yet, only on the right side of the tractor,
some of my ideas did not work, and some I would change,




There is a wire in the picture below on the right side,












mowed about 3 miles with it yesterday, some weeds up to 4 foot tall,

it uses finish mower blades and spindles the gear box ix a standard "bush hog type" box, may have been better to go with a finish mower box could have used a smaller drive pulley,

one has to go slow as the deck is heavy and slow is better,

the spring is a garage door roll up spring, easy to find and easy to change and to get a different calibration,

 

[smstonypoint]

Nice work!!!! Thanks for sharing.

How much does it weigh?

Steve

 

[JD40MO77]

That thing looks awesome!!!
Could you post up some pics of the underside?
How thick is your deck material?

 

[nc redneck]

Interesting build I have considered doing the same. DR makes one for around $750 to $1000 . I cant get pass the fact I may end up with more $ in building one than just buying. I realize it is a homeowner type machine but I would like to use it behind a BX so light weight is important. You did a great job on it. Did you consider buying one or have parts laying around to use.
Thanks
Scott

 

[BHD]

most of the steel is used or repurposed, the deck is 10 gauge or less, It was some heavy lids on a flail mower /beat topper, my guess is the weight over 500 yet under 1000, no good way to weigh,

I did not have any working parts so there all new, the gear box, the gauge wheels, the spindles and pulleys, PYO shaft,

I looked long and hard at the DR unit, and all most ordered it, but the reviews, did not empress me, sing it is a string trimmer,

mine uses finish mower spindles, and I wanted the wider cut, nearly a 5 foot swatch is cut with twin blades, the spindles and blades are used on a "King Kutter" finish mower, the gear box is a standard 40 hp, rotary cutter gear box, and even tho it was belt drive I did order a slip clutch pto shaft,

the return ping is a garage door spring, I made it so basically by swapping out the one gauge wheel and the spring direction one could use on either side of the tractor,

I may extend the shafts on the gauge wheels for more adjustment, on many areas I just let the three point hold and the gauge wheels never were touching the ground, not sure if two are needed on the deck,

the deck is heavy and slow is the best, as it has some weight,

one idea I did have was to make a hydraulic motor driven deck and figuring out some way t to mount it on the 10 foot rotor cutter,

I was concerned about weeds pushing it back, has not been a problem, one thing that helps is if it is up not on the gauge wheels there is with the way it is set a slight tilt towards the tractor and the tilt aids greatly using gravity to keep it out and not trailing,

I will try to get a picture but the under the deck looks like a two blade lawn mower deck with out sides,

 

[Baby Grand]

Really impressive - nice work!

 

[DT86]

Very nice build. I have wanted one for some time.

What kind of clearance does the mower need to stay clear of wire?

 

[JD5210]

Very nice! Would you consider making a video and posting it? Would like to see it in action.

 

[Texasmark]

Very nice and every time you use it you say to yourself, I built that just for me the way I wanted it to work. Pride in your accomplishment.

Mark

 

[BHD]

Very nice build. I have wanted one for some time.

What kind of clearance does the mower need to stay clear of wire?

currently the way it is, the deck will clear a wire about 8 inches high,

if one would tilt the deck closer to the blade, (currently there is about 3" under the deck to the blade) one could reduce that distance, but I would want to try it first some how to see how it cuts taller grasses,

I got in to the wire on a 4 wire fence a few times, one the fence had a lot of dirt blown in to it the tumble weeds blew in to and pulled the staples out, and in a few places the wire was all ready broken,
(weeds were such a mess, I wanted them down at least before I tried to fix the fence back up).
but where the fence was maintained, it was about 8 to 10" up and worked well,

I think there could be some things done to work better on lower wires,

JD7210 I do not have a good way of doing video, no cell phone,

(if I was to build a second version, I would like to try a tapered down deck like I said above, ( I could most likely do a test with a wider band on the edge, simulating a deck closer to the blade on the end).

and I would redesign the swing a little, in that I would not put it at exact 90 to the frame but a light tilt toward the tractor so weight/gravity would be as instrumental on the return as the spring,

I would build the tubing on the deck gauge wheels lighter in weight,

and I would make the shaft longer, on the rear gauge wheel (and the frame gage wheel) so they could be adjusted for height of cut, the one in front I think I would leave as is just so it would not run in to a bank or mound, (would use a lighter wheel, most likely knowing what I know now)

the deck and blades weigh 250/300 pounds guess, that is a lot of momentum when it is swinging back,
(possibly adding a shock absorber in the swing arm could possibly solve the problem)
currently the spring buffer is essential to slow the return swing,

those are some of the things I would try if I would rebuild, so car I have mowed 5 miles of fence, with it and it will cut a steel tee post in to, but I am 95% happy with it performance.