Woods 3 Point Single Spindle Mower Owners

Dean

Well-known Member
I own both Woods BB720X and BB840X rotary cutters.

The 720X operates as it should but the 840X does not like the tail wheel lifting the cutter when traveling through depressions, etc.

Indeed, the "break link" (flexible link at the top of the three point designed to slack the support bars connected to the tail wheel assembly) does not "break." Rather, the support bars bend to provide the needed slack between the top of the three point and the tail wheel assembly (much like a chain would slacken). It makes no difference whether the lift is raised or lowered.

When stationary and with the lift lowered, the break link mechanism is free to "flex" as designed and as does the identical assembly on my BB720X.

The mower is set up per the Woods owners manual.

Anyone experience similar symptoms before and know what can be done?

Dean
 
I have a 6' one. I have wondered about that link, but apparently it always works. I wonder if, because of the way the holes are punched, (maybe offset), bolt bent, bushing not concentric, if maybe the link goes slightly over center and locks up? Have you tried switching them around? Lubrication?
 
I never saw a third link on a one wheeled trailer so I have never hooked my rotary cutters third link to mow.
50 years ago when I bought my first rotary cutter I did hook it up and it was a pain from time to time.
If I used it where I couldn't mow with my craftsman lawn mower because of trash I would use one. I would normally choose to clear the trash with something other than a rotary cutter. Clearing first makes the Cutter last longer.
 
Your saying that the link is free to move with nothing binding??? If it is then look at how the link pivots. I have seen them that are not made correctly. The pivot points/bolts should never line up even close to a straight line. The center pivot point/bolt is supposed to always be higher than the stop bolt and mounting bolt. This way when the tail wheel lifts the rear of the deck the link pivots upward and thus allows the lift linkage to shorten. The most common issue I have seen is the bolt closest to the hitch should have a bushing on it that has a slightly larger diameter than the other spacers. So when the pivot link is in the down or lift mode the pivots pints still do get in a straight line. I think what happens is during assembly the wrong bushing or even no bushing gets used there. So the linkage pivots line up. So if the tail wheel lifts the link age is locked and will not pivot up. I have also seen older mowers with this area worn and they will lock/break over center too. On those usually building up the end of the pivot bracket with welds helps.

An easy way to test this is when the mower is unhooked you should be able to push back on the top link bracket and make the linkage pivot/ shorten. If you can then you need to look at why the linkage is not working. I have taken the bushing out and put in a stack of washers with a larger outside diameter.


You can see the center line on the BB840 in the top picture. It is close to straight so it takes more force to make the linkage compress. You can see the two smaller bolts just behind the pivot arm. The front one of them should have a bushing on it that acts as the stop I am talking about. Even if your does you still need the pivots to be more out of alignment.

I know the second picture is of a different model you can see how the hitch pivot points are misaligned more. So it takes less force to compress the hitch. So work on your hitch so it is closer to looking like that.

Truthfully I think they kind of mess up when they engineered the hitch on the BB840 when compared to other woods models.
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Good information, JD. Mine is absolutely straight.

Moveover, the yoke weldment that connects to the three point frame is defective. The two halves were not positioned together properly when welded and misalign by about 1'8". All bushings are in place but perhaps one or more is not correct. I will take a closer look after reading your post.

I bought the mower new in 2012, so it is well out of warranty on elapsed time though it likely has less than 100 hours on it. Not expecting any help from Woods.

The mechanism is identical to that on my BB720X, which works flawlessly.

In any event, I'm not fond of the 840X ()bought it for use with another tractor, since sold) and plan to replace it with either an 8' twin spindle or 12-15' BW.

Dean
 
I have "fixed" it for the second time, but have little confidence that it will remain fixed.

Removed, straightened and repainted the lift bars, and left the attachment bolts even more loose at the pivot points. None were very tight.

Don't like to do this because it causes rattles that can mask other, more concerning noises.

Also lubricated the sliding surfaces in the break link and will do so regularly. Don't like to do this either because it accumulates dust and debris.

It's working properly now but the lift bars are absolutely parallel with the break link yoke, and I believe it's right on the edge of not working.

Looks like the long term solution is to weld up the misaligned surface of the yoke to increase the minimum break angle.

Hopefully, I can use it until the off season.

Dean
 
I almost bought a Woods BB600X last. When I first looked at it I thought, this is exactly what I have been looking for to replace a 50 year old Covington HD Cutter. I got them to pick it up for me to look underneath and it was not smooth bellied. 2800 dollars was good price. It looked too much like stuff would hang up and snag on stuff that I left it there.
 

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