Brush Hog Setup

Ford 2000; 3 cyl. gas; 4/1 trans... my daughter is getting married at a friend's farm and at least some of the parking will be in a grazing pasture. I have volunteered to bush hog the field close to the wedding date and, having not bush hogged in years, would like some advice on setting up the machine on the three point hitch. I have some knowledge of setting it up and I've read a lot about it and seen some videos but would like advice from those with hands on experience. Have read that the front end might want to be lower than the rear so cut grass is expelled. Is that correct and are there any other things to look out for. The field is pretty flat and been bush hogged many times before as well as being cut for hay.

What gear should I use for mowing? My tractor is a 4 speed. I have a drive shaft with cover and the attachment to the gear box is a round shaft with hole for shear bolt. I do not yet have a slip clutch. Must I have one if I use grade 2 shear bolts?

Also, any ideas on the amount of gas the 2000 may use per hour when bush hogging on fairly level ground in medium tall grass?

Thanks.

There are some variables to consider with what you are cutting, how much throttle you may need and what gear to use. You'll have to be the judge of that and operate accordingly.

Be safety conscious, mower deck guards in place, people & critters nearby when mowing is a hazard. These things do not forgive, they just shred.

You want the mower level side to side and my preference for front to back is about an inch lower in the front, by either or both, adjusting the top link and the tail wheel height.

Grade 2 bolt is usually what is specified and for good reason, you'll be find with a 1/2" grade 2 shear bolt, just tighten it down a bit. It's meant to shear and protect the gearbox and tractor from heavy shock loads. If its just grass you are cutting, you will not likely shear the bolt.

Correct adjustment, and sharp blades make all the difference in getting the best performance, and cutting at an efficient speed. Blades should be balanced as well.

I can recall quite a few years back now, putting new blades on my 6' rotary cutter, getting the book for it and adjusting properly resulting in being able to cut in the next gear higher, just due to the previous. It makes a difference. Some may not fuss for a small job, most of these have trashed blades and take a lot of abuse while still performing well, for some that is enough.

Check the oil in the gear box, top off as necessary, grease the pto universal joint fittings, and the tail wheel, both the axle shaft and pivot, both will have grease fittings.

With a 4 speed, the tractor has a transmission driven PTO, so you need an Over Running Clutch, not a slip clutch. They are two distinctly different things with two distinctly different purposes.

A slip clutch serves the same purpose as the shear bolt, in that it protects the implement and the drive line of the tractor in case the mower hits an immovable object and stops spinning. The slip clutch will slip and the shear bolt will shear. There are pros and cons for each, but there is no reason to have both.

An Over Running Clutch (ORC), on the other hand, protects other people in the area, and other things in the area, from being run into or run over by the tractor. The PTO on that tractor is directly coupled to the rear wheels when the transmission is in gear, so when you push in the clutch and apply the brakes to try to stop the tractor the angular momentum of the spinning mower will impart its force into the rear wheels and try to keep the tractor moving forward, and the brakes on those old tractors are not that strong when they are in tip-top shape, so the tractor can be driven forward by the momentum of the mower to the point that it overpowers the brakes and it keeps going and runs into whatever you were trying to avoid hitting when you tired to apply the brakes. An ORC acts like a ratchet on the PTO shaft between the tractor and the implement so it allows the PTO to apply power to the mower but does not allow the mower to apply power back into the PTO.

Marcus look on your proof meter/tachometer for an indicator showing where to run the engine at to obtain 540 rpm on the pto. Should be a little triangle or the numbers 540 with a line pointing to a specific engine rpm. Depending on how rough the ground is and how short you want to cut the grass you will be in 1st or 2nd gear. If you want it really short it may take two passes. I assume this is a 5 or 6 foot cutter?

Thanks for the good information. I do have an overrunning clutch for the pto shaft but have not yet needed to use it. The bush hog (not sure what brand it actually is) is a 5' width, I believe. The fluid in the gearbox looked like a chocolate malt milkshake so I changed it out when I brought the tractor and mower home and it doesn't seem to leak. My proofmeter has long since quit working but I got a Mini Tach for the tractor and need to install it this weekend and figure out how to get to the rpm's to drive the mower. I think I've seen charts that relate gear to rpm's to pto revolutions but gotta research that a bit more.

What's the thought on raising the bush hog when turning. Seems to me that you should but if the ground is level, is that necessary. I'm assuming you don't want to load up the lift arms with a lot of lateral movement, correct?

Thanks.

+1 on the ORC. You need it, absolutely. You don't want to have to be explaining how you drove the tractor thru the fence (go over to the Ford N pages and read some of the stories there...same could happen to you).

As for fuel burn - If you take the above suggestion to make two passes, first one high then second one lower, I'd guess about 1.5 gal/hr. If you try to hog it all in one pass, I dunno. Like other guys, I run our 6' cutter nose-low by an inch or two and it does clear the cuttings out well.

I really would suggest two passes, since people are going to be walking thru the area. Two passes will leave the cuttings short and less ankle-grabbing. Cutting an area for 50 or so cars shouldn't take much time, even with two passes.

Be sure to pull the grill and check your radiator often. It'll probably get loaded up, especially on the first pass.

Oh, and if you've got a down exhaust (muffler under the footboard), then take an extinguisher if the grass is tall & dry...or get someone else to do it with an up-exhaust tractor.

I might also just say, I have never once brush hogged or mowed with a tractor with a proof meter. I've always just throttled up according to the height of the
grass/weeds and speed. If it starts to bog down, give it more throttle!

1800 rpm on these tractors gets you the recommended 540 pto rpm.
Be safe and use the over running clutch, it's not much fun having the mower shove you through a fence or into a tree.
Once I have the mower height set I never raise the lift unless it's necessary, make your turns and let the tail wheel carry it around

use the ORC, use the grade 2 shear bolt.

if no proof meter, just run at about 3/4 throttle. if the grass looks thrashed vs cut, go more throttle, or lower gear. You can
likely cut in at least 2nd gear if not 3rd, depending on the obstacles, ground condition and vegitation.

I have a 72 cylinder gas Ford 2000. What every has said about the ORC is good info and I use one. I have a 4 speed with the high low gear. I usually run it in first gear and with the high low lever set to high gear. That will put me at a reasonable speed, or just use second gear with the high low in low. I usually run around 1/2 throttle to 3/4 throttle. What has been posted so far about the height sounds good to me. I use a 60" brush hog on my tractor. Good blades do make a difference in cutting and how nice it will look after cutting. I do not make the blades razor sharp but try to get a little bit of an edge.

I forgot to add when sharpening the blades I weigh each blade on a postal scale I have. It will measure down to a 1/10 of an ounce. I always make each blade dead even to cut down on vibration.

(quoted from post at 11:20:52 08/11/16)
I have a 72 cylinder gas Ford 2000. What every has said about the ORC is good info and I use one. I have a 4 speed with the high low gear. I usually run it in first gear and with the high low lever set to high gear. That will put me at a reasonable speed, or just use second gear with the high low in low. I usually run around 1/2 throttle to 3/4 throttle. What has been posted so far about the height sounds good to me. I use a 60" brush hog on my tractor. Good blades do make a difference in cutting and how nice it will look after cutting. I do not make the blades razor sharp but try to get a little bit of an edge.

Click to expand...

Your 4 speed with high/low shifter is actually called an 8 speed transmission. In a '72 2000 the 8 speed could have live or non-live PTO. The model number will tell you what you have. Second to last character would be a 2 if it is non-live and a 3 if it is live.

I have checked and it does not have the live PTO.

I have not yet checked the sharpness nor weights of the blades. They do seem to swivel as they should and the stump jumper appears to be OK. When I bought the tractor the mower came with it and I did a brief turn or two with the mower engaged. It seemed to work fine.

Many thanks for the excellent advice all have provided. I'm looking forward to having a little bush hog time in the next few weeks.

Just thought of a couple more operating question...do I need to set the draft control to try to keep the front of the mower at a constant height or do I lower the lift to control mower height? I'm thinking if I lower the lift totally, the mower will be plowing up the ground. Doesn't the lift want to hold the height of the front of the mower?

When do I engage the mower? Get the engine up to rpm's, engage the pto and then lower the mower? Or, drop the mower to it's intended position and then engage the pto?

As you can see, I'm mostly a newby at this so I do appreciate your advice. Thanks.