Useful attachments adapted to PT ?

[2manyrocks]

After 3 hours of mowing 1-2' tall grass and weeds, I'm very pleased with the results. The 15" wheels not only give me the ground clearance I wanted, they feel like the right size for this mower and my fields. They just roll over debris better.

Wasn't expecting the simple debris guard to work, but I'm pretty shocked at how well it reduced the debris being thrown back at the PT center section and left front wheel. I didn't have to back up or clear out debris from the left front wheel one time, and the amount of debris that built up in the center opening of the PT frame was negligible.

I also no longer see the PT blade whirling around. The whole deck feels so much safer now from this simple modification of adding 3x3x3/16 angle to brackets bolted to the wheel mounting holes. I made it easily removable thinking it wouldn't work well, but it may be staying.

Can't speak to how well it would work mowing 6' tall briars on a deck that has the smaller OEM wheels. I did see more debris being thrown out the front of the deck at the left caster wheel.

I'm now thinking about asking the local machine shop to turn down the height of the oil impregnated bushing so I don't have to use a washer as a spacer, but if I could think of a way of substituting a gull wing blade and upsizing the bolts, I may still do that.



edit: adding picture of clearance between PT and mower after these mods.

 

[MossRoad]

Very nice!!

 

[2manyrocks]

Thank you.

It seems to me that the cutting effectiveness of this deck is largely due to having the blades swing so close to the front lip and having a relatively open deck in the front. The deck pushes against the material being cut in a way that allows the blade to then sever the material. Then the angular design of the deck corners contributes to a good air flow of material under the deck.

When I added the 3x3 angle to the rear of the deck as a shield, I was thinking the material would bunch up near the rear left side, but in reality it seems to be mainly shooting out near the front left caster.

I don't know how much improvement there is to be had, but wonder if the air flow under the deck would be further improved if I added baffles to the underside of the deck following the OEM deck angles like this?

Chains in theory might allow more material to pass through the rear of the deck, but using solid metal for a debris shield seems safer in preventing material being thrown back at the operator, and it is quicker to fabricate and cheaper.

I don't know what PT was thinking when they made the slight downward bend in the deck at the rear, but I suspect they were attempting to deflect the debris exiting the rear of the deck downward away from the operator. It may be that the better design would have been to not use any bend and to have closed off the rear of the deck similar to this layout.



edit: And the other thing that would be stronger would be to extend the angle to the mount for the rear wheels. It would also be simpler and maybe stronger to place the outermost rear wheel support flush with the outside of the mower deck, but that would have meant moving the OEM mount.

 

[SpringHollow]

My 8' PT bush hog has chain links on the front and a rubber shield on the back.

Ken

 

[2manyrocks]

Looking at brush cutters for skid steers, I noticed that the SSQA mount is set at an angle that I'm guessing is more suited to tilting the forward edge of the cutting deck up. On the PT, the mount is at a 90 degree angle to the deck. That has me wondering whether I could get the front of the PT deck to tilt upwards instead of tilting up from the rear if I changed the orientation of the mount from the yellow vertical orientation to something more like the red angled orientation?

I thought one of our members bought a cutter from Rut Mfg that could tell me how the cutter lifts on it when mounted to a PT, but haven't been able to find that post.

The SSQA mounts are also fixed in horizontal position and don't have the horizontal side to side tilt of the OEM PT cutter mount. Is the PT side to side mount supposed to be greased?

 

[scootr]

I have a regular SS BH - no wheels. I see a better cut in tall material when I tilt the front up. I'm assuming the front cuts it once and the rear cuts it again but I'm guessing on that....

 

[2manyrocks]

I have a regular SS BH - no wheels. I see a better cut in tall material when I tilt the front up. I'm assuming the front cuts it once and the rear cuts it again but I'm guessing on that....

Please take another look at the photo I posted. The safety issue I am concerned about is the rear of the PT deck lifts at an angle that tilts the rear discharge back towards the operator station unlike the cutter on a SS which can be tilted away from the operator.

I'm trying to figure out if it's the angle of the SSQA mount on the cutter that makes changes the orientation of the tilt? Or does it also have to do with the loader arm configuration, too?