TO20 and Woods 5 foot brush hog fighting me

ceaston · Jul 26, 2016

I recently replace the output shaft and seal on my tractor. Leakage is down to nil. Last year I rebuilt a used Woods brush hog and it is in near new shape. When I spin the blades, the spin freely. When I run the brush hog out of gear, it spins up fine.
But when I try to run it in gear, it nearly bogs the whole thing down and it won't gain enough speed to do any cutting.
The individual parts seem to work but I can't figure out why they all won't work together. The last time I cut the field it ran fine and I parked it, only to be me with this situation.

Charlie

Tony in Mass. · Jul 26, 2016

First off- first gear. You ain't going nowhere fast doing this.
Second, cause you don't have live pto, try to get it to wind up before hitting the weeds, and then- not flat on the ground first pass, try to cut a foot or more- or say, half the height of the plant, once around, then lower, then lower etc. If it is thick and green or juicy stuff- or the stems are thick and wood rather than pulp, yeah, it will be a big job for the 20- and you... if you had a 35 or newer model with 2 stage clutch, this would be a pain for your left knee, but nothing else. So got to have tons of patience with a 20, and the first time cutting bush.
Then, don't let the place go wild anymore, keep it under control.

ceaston · Jul 26, 2016

(quoted from post at 15:01:06 07/26/16) First off- first gear. You ain't going nowhere fast doing this.
Second, cause you don't have live pto, try to get it to wind up before hitting the weeds, and then- not flat on the ground first pass, try to cut a foot or more- or say, half the height of the plant, once around, then lower, then lower etc. If it is thick and green or juicy stuff- or the stems are thick and wood rather than pulp, yeah, it will be a big job for the 20- and you... if you had a 35 or newer model with 2 stage clutch, this would be a pain for your left knee, but nothing else. So got to have tons of patience with a 20, and the first time cutting bush.
Then, don't let the place go wild anymore, keep it under control.

Thanks Tony, but that's not the problem. I mowed about 2 weeks ago and now we're at the point in the season where I should be able to mow in third gear if I wanted to as the grass is going to seed and has sparse stems about 20 to 30 per square foot. Very thin. The problem is the brush hog spins freely, the pto works fine but I can't get any power when I engage the clutch and the pto at the same time. I started mowing on a stretch where the grass was no more than 4 inches tall, so the height of the grass is a non-issue.
Still stumped.

Bruce(OR) · Jul 26, 2016

Fuel filter plugged up, not getting enough gas. Check the carb elbow first and work up from there.
Governor is not working.
Hope you checked the blades to make sure they are not folded up.

ceaston · Jul 27, 2016

(quoted from post at 17:19:58 07/26/16) Fuel filter plugged up, not getting enough gas. Check the carb elbow first and work up from there.
Governor is not working.
Hope you checked the blades to make sure they are not folded up.

New fuel tank and carburetor installed in May. All appurtenances checked and replaced at that time if not up to snuff. Fuel oil bath checked and thoroughly cleaned. Will double check that work.
The blades are swinging freely
However, I just checked the governor. I've never noticed it kicking in just on startup because I always start in a clear area and then enter the area to be mowed.
While it was at rest when I first examined it, I activated it and it seemed a bit sticky. This seems counterintuitive to what I'm experiencing but I'll pull the generator off for a closer look.
Thanks and I'll report back what I find.

TO20 and Woods 5 foot brush hog fighting me

ceaston

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Tony in Mass.

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ceaston

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Bruce(OR)

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ceaston

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