Making Bush Hog Safe On Old A

NYVines

Member
Hi All... I have a 41 A that runs and operates perfectly. I am looking for advice on making it safe to bush hog with. I purchased
an IH 6 ft bush hog and am looking to build a guard that will keep rocks and debris from flying forward on the operator. I am
thinking about something welded with mesh and a frame. Has anyone seen anything like this? I am also hoping to surround the PTO if
possible. My grandsons will use this occasionally. We have many tractor and mower combos but want to work this A and give them
experience as to how it was.
 
First off you need an ORC on the PTO shaft or the hog will push you into a tree etc. As for the guard seen many made for many tractors but not an A as such but see no reason one could not make one
 
Never tried a 6' brush hog with an "A". But when I use mine with a 460 in my fields and fence line it took a lot of power. I would think the "A" would would be a tad under powered? I sharpened my blades but when I get into the thick stuff and small saplings my tractors are working pretty good with at least twice the HP. Now if your going to use as a "finish mower" maybe? I have not tried with my "C" as a finish mower. My yard is to rough to cut down far enough with the 6 footer with the brush hog digging in attempt to "Flatten" things out. Your mileage may vary with your choices but this was my experience using a 6' brush hog. Also tried it on rained on hay that I gave up on. That did not work. Really need a chopper for that clean up work. My grassy hay did not want to cut down to smaller lengths and just threw it around leaving a mess for the next cutting. No doubt my blades needed sharpening when I finally did it, but mine takes a fair amount of HP and can't imagine using a smaller tractor on it? Smaller being subjective. My brush hog is an older machine and pretty heavy duty. Not sure if that makes a difference in how much HP it takes to spin it in comparison to a newer lighter model? Let us know how it works out I am curious to see if my "C" would handle it? That won't happen anymore this year and I got the "C" late this summer so have not tried it yet. Just assumed if my bigger gassers had to work hard the "C" would be under powered? Regards, John.
 
Not nearly enough power to run a 6 foot hog with an A! I have one behind our JD 4600 and it makes it snort sometimes! And it's 37 pto hp, your A is 16, according to tractordata.
 
The '39-'47 vintage A made about 29 belt hp at the Nebraska test. The A and B grew considerably in power during their production runs.
 
you will need an over running clutch. a must have. safety concerns.

i run a 5 ft bush hog on a c farmall. it depends on what i cut. small brush, weeds, briars, etc. when the cutting gets a bit heavy, i have to pull out of the land and only cut half of the width.
 
I use a Woods L306 six foot belly mower on my A. It handles it very well and the only concern with projectiles is at the discharge chute. It also has a plug for the chute so you can completely avoid any discharge if needed. Even though it's a finish mower it does well tall grasses too. You might consider this for younger users.
 
I pulled a 6 ft Brillion rotary mower over hundreds of acres every year with our Farmall Super H, 33 PTO hp, even mowed hay with it. The Brillion was very similar to the IH #311 6 ft rotary mower. I never had anything come flying forward near me. Hit a brick bat once, it exploded like a hand grenade but everything stayed low.
I really can't imagine covering much ground with a bush hog behind a JD '41 A. Dad bought a '40 JD B in Dec., 1968, needed something he could narrow down to 67-68 inches wide so he could pitch 2-3 loads of manure into the spreader every year. Took a while but eventually it just sat waiting for those loads of manure. Didn't use it to haul water or feed to the hog lots, didn't rake hay, didn't run the bale elevator, it just sat! That B had the 4 spd trans, 4-1/2 mph road speed, reverse on it seemed faster, miserable to back up with anything with it.
The sales brochures IH put out on their rotary mowers showed shields they made for IH tractors to protect from flying debris. C.H. WENDEL had a picture in his 150 Years of IHC of one in his rotary mower section.
 
You can run a 6 brush hog OK with an A. You might be in low gear in taller grass though. Tall extra thick grass will be a challenge but you will not know how much of a challenge till you try it.
 
(quoted from post at 06:55:02 11/21/19) You can run a 6 brush hog OK with an A. You might be in low gear in taller grass though. Tall extra thick grass will be a challenge but you will not know how much of a challenge till you try it.[/quot

Oh, I thought I was in the Deere forum. Better get a bigger horse Than a Farmall A for the 6 footer. An A Farmall will work hard just spinning a 6 foot empty.
 
Many bush hogs I see have a row of short chains hanging across the front opening of the deck to deflect flying debris.

Best PTO protection I've seen is a modern plastic shield with the large "bells" on the ends to cover up the U-joints, and is designed to be chained in place so the PTO shaft spins inside.
 
My Squealer has a heavy rubber strip on the front and rear of the unit to avoid debris from being thrown from the unit.
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When IH made its first rotary mower in the fifties it was 5ft and the manual shows it attached to a super c, but in 52 or 53 that was the only size they made. Funny thing it had two safety devices. A sheet metal covering over the front of the mower and an optional shield that mounted to the back in Of the SC to protect the operator. Bet IH sold a lot of those
 
As to the guarding on the front to protect the operator....I cut down some truck mud flaps and bolted them on and they work great. A little flexible but nothing get through it. I put them on 2 bush hogs and as a pulley guard on my 907 flail mower
 

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