Help With 4 ft. Mower and 53 Jubilee

mrlewp87

New User
__Using a Howse 4 ft. mower. I still don"t feel confident about the mower (Bush Hog type), in terms of it"s position and 3 pt. hook-up to the tractor. Reason being the strain it seems to put on the Jube when mowing. I need to point out that the pastures were way overdue to be mowed. (had to solve the over-heating issue first) The grass was-some still is- up to 24" tall, and in some low areas where the rain settles, it"s extremely thick also.
___Currently, after raising the backside by dropping the wheel one hole, I"d say the bottom edge of the sides sit about 4" from ground. The blades are a bit under 2" higher. As for front-to-back leveling, I"m getting conflicting info. The manual says "at least" 1/2 in. lower in front, but no more than an inch!?? That"s not an easy thing to achieve. I think the Howse is at the 1" point lower, if not more. Just last night I read a post in which someone said they mow with the front end a full 2" lower than the back! I"ll bet if you could look at a single pass like that, you"d be able to see a curve in the cut grass. ___I read about the increased load it puts on the engine if the blades are not level, but perhaps worse if lower in the back instead? So, after a great deal of time, using 2 levels, trying to put the tractor and mower on the same plane- I think I found a good setting. All of this is for naught, however, when I"m having to make 2,3,and 4 passes over the tallest and thickest grass!! Because once you raise it, the mower finds a new level state, which may suck up more HP from the engine?
___I know I"ve gone way long here. One more note and/or question is about the top link. I"ve tried it in all 3 of the positions available. It"s now pinned in the bottow hole. I"ve learned that if the pin atop the mower"s bracket isn"t very close to being snugged up at the front of the slot (closest to tractor)..the back end of the mower could drop when going to raise it. That just doesn"t look good, and seems it makes for a harder job for the lift arms!?
___**Just how low should I be cutting pasture grass? We"ll not let it get out of control again like this.(tractor problems, noted below) And.. btw, I am mowing at the PTO mark, 1500 RPMs. Sometimes going to 1700 due to the grass height.
___**What gear? In 1st, it does go smoother, but that"s WAY sloooowwww!! I"m usually in 2nd, and realize that more HP is now demanded to move the tractor forward, at the same time having to mow the grass at a higher rate. If you"ve stuck with me, but are truly dizzy by now... I need the basics in mowing, I guess. And what can I expect from a 60 yr. old, 30 HP tractor?
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___((THE FOLLOWING pertains mostly to the Jubilee and might help in responding to the above. And/ or may be of interest to other owners of "mature" tractors. ;-)
___Spent a great deal of time with the "Jube", adjusting carb and timing. I"m no expert, so I read many posts to gather information on both matters, and bought a timing light.
___It starts on the first crank, sounds real fine for an old machine . I focused on the manual"s max. degrees BTDC, for 1200 RPMs. Then, based on some opinions, and several field tests mowing over-grown pasture grass, I set the Jube to 1200 RPMs again, and slightly advanced the timing-not using the strobe- and could tell she was revving up some.
___I think it had a little more spare power in the tougher/taller/thicker grass, but it still seemed to bog down too easily. OR,... and I expecting too much out of her?
 
look at the top link extension I installed on my howse cutter. I have a t0-35 fergy, so it has about the same hitch angle as your tractor.

I found the top link needed to be higher, so when I raised the cutter, the rear of the cutter would come up higher. otherwise, at some point the front the cutter would be higher than the back.

this top link extension solved that problem, it also gave my some movement if I when into a low spot.

go over the heavy grass twice, 24" heavy grass is tough as we do not have much over 20hp.

ask any question you have on this forum.
these guys have seen it all and someone will know how to solve your problem
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4 foot is to small for a Jubilee. 1st gear is all you want going to fast as your doing causes things to happen that are not good. A Jubilee will handle a 5 and even 6 footer with little or no problem
 

You will learn that "the Conditions" may dictate adjusting to your needs..

As long as the PTO shaft is relatively straight, you can run the rear as high as you NEED, to allow the trash to exit the chopper..

For pastures, you should be back to around your 1" higher in the Rear..

SHARP knives are a Must, to best use your power..

Beware, advancing the timing without a Timing Light..you can get into detonation and ruin your Rings before you realize it..

I prefer to go Counter-clockwise with my BushHog.
You get the best cut by NOT taking a full "Cut width", allowing the cutter to clean-up what the previous rear wheel tramped down.

Don't re-cut the same day, allow the moisture to leave and the cutting will be easier..

Sometimes I think that anything smaller than a 60" chopper is too narrow and not efficient..

I use a 72" (6ft) Bush Hog on my JD "B" virtually anywhere..

Ron.
 
The first thing I would do is check the blades and see how dull they are. If they are not sharp then it will pull hard. Now you DO not sharpen a rotary cutter blade to a knife sharp edge. It will be dull the first time you hit some dirt/gravel. You sharpen the edge until it is maybe 1/16-1/8 thick at the front.

The second thing to do so you have the rotary cutter cutting the same height, it take two small chains and put them from the top link mount on the tractor to where the lift arms hook on the rotary cutter. I usually weld a piece of flat iron with a hole in it to fit the top link pin on one end and the three point pin on the other end, to the chain. So you end up with a chain with two irons to hook it to the two pins. You make the length of the chain be so that when your hitch is down, an the chains are tight, the front of your rotary cutter is where you want it. This way you can lift it when you want/need to and then just let it down to where the chains are tight and the height is back to where you want it.

Chains like this are an option with many grooming mowers. They come with a bracket that makes them adjustable.

The set in the picture are hooked to the mower but you can get the idea of how they work.

They also will stabilize the mower from moving side to side.
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Each response was worth my price of admission! ;- D Thanks to all. First I"ve heard of that extender. I"m an insane improviser, and wonder why that didn"t occur to me. If I were to closely watch someone else operating the hydras, maybe I could"ve seen more.
___*One factor I failed to mention; the surfaces/ ground level of the pastures is as bad as it gets, I believe. Pitted, pockets galore, just a horrible ride. Not so bad on the "Hey Jube" (that"s mine! only to use. Ha) , compared to the Yanmar 1500 we use to drag. You better have a chiropractor on call if you take that one too fast. Ha. It"s a great little machine, tho.
___ Oh, one more question. I"ve noted that I"ll raise the mower at times. Rather than changing gears- 1st or 2nd only, I"ve been simply raising and lowering the mower in attempt to maintain the least amount of bogging-down I think the Jube will tolerate. Or "most", I should say, by what I"m hearing from her. Is that not a good practice?
__ I"ll take the advice on 1st gear only, and only mention gear changes because of one post or tutorial I had read. I knew I"d not be doing that, not without coming to a near stop! Of course then you have all these varying cuts, and the temptation is to go back over the area again.
__*Waiting till the next day? for going back over half-cut high grass-- I"ll try that. Thanks again to all!
 

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