Ford 641 rotary mower capability

DracerX

New User
I've got an old 641 (appears to be a mutt assembly) that I've used with a very old and beat up 60" King Cutter hog for many years. Recently got a new Land Pride RCR1860. Specs call for 20-65 HP to run it. The tractor is having a tough time powering this. Goes a few feet and stalls out. The blades are much heavier than the old mower, and it takes a bit to get up to full speed.

I've checked fuel, spark, and compression. Compression is 125 psi after 4 pumps each cylinder. I thought maybe the coil was having trouble under a load and swapped on a hotter coil, which promptly burned up my Pertronix sensor! New parts for that repair are on the way.

Is anyone on here using this mower with a similar sized/powered tractor?
 
Check the cutting height.

A decent 641 should operate just about any 60" mower in nearly all conditions.

Dean
 
I agree with Dean.
I had a 3 cylinder 2000.
Iirc it was rated 33 hp at the pto.
Your 641 is rated about 34 hp so they pretty
close in size.
I used a very heavy (800lb?) 5' Bush Hog
brand rotary mower behind that tractor for a
couple of years and it was a good combo.
With the compression numbers you list it has
to be either fuel, spark or timing that is
causing the lack of power.
I would also check your air filter for
obstructions.
 
The cutting height is set to about 6" and I'm cutting 12-18" high grass and weeds. This tractor is missing the original air cleaner setup and uses some homemade contraption. I removed it and tried running without it. Made no difference. I tried draining the fuel line to the bucket test and it flows very well. Will try the bowl drain next to see how that flows prior to removing the carb. If that fails, I'm going to clean out the carb (again) and see if I missed something. The timing is set at 10 degrees at idle. Maybe it is not getting full advance? There is no Proof meter currently, but I have one to install. At least I'll know what the rpm is instead of going by ear. Thank you for the help so far.
 
I use a 6 foot cutter behind my 641 without many problems. Really thick or 6 foot tall grass will force me to take a little less than a full cut. In addition to checking the tractor make sure the cutter spins freely and blades are on correctly.
 
(quoted from post at 17:24:54 05/10/17) I use a 6 foot cutter behind my 641 without many problems. Really thick or 6 foot tall grass will force me to take a little less than a full cut. In addition to checking the tractor make sure the cutter spins freely and blades are on correctly.

Thanks guys. I'll get to it this weekend and report back. Going to recheck everything above as well as put the mower on blocks and check it out as well. It is new, so it "should' be good to go. I did make sure that the gear box was filled before operating it.

Thanks for the replies with similar combinations as well.
 
About 6 or 7 years ago I bought a new Woods MDS 1260 10.5' HD rotary cutter. It was delivered with incorrect spindle gearboxes. The blades rotated too slowly and backwards.

Dean
 
I ran a 5' Howes bush hog & a 6' Woods finish mower for 20 years with a Ford 2N so I KNOW your 641 is strong enough to do what you are trying to do.
 

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