Help With A New Old David Brown 880

Hi experts
i really need some help, i just purchased an old david brown 880. It came with a howard slasher and when we viewed the tractor slashing before we bought it it was scalping so i mentioned to the seller that it looks to be cutting a bit low. I figured we could adjust it, so we purchased it.

When it arrived at our place he showed us that he welded on both sides of the slasher some metal plates to help raise the slasher up higher off the ground so it didnt scalp any more when in the down position. I also noticed he had cut the front of the slasher because it was extremely close to the back tyres.
So we gave it a test run it was ploughing on both sides of the slasher and digging in deep to oir grass. It caused a fair bit of damage to the paddock. We tried to raise the slasher but it seems to only have two positions. On the ground or fully up.

I was wondering if anyone can offer some advice as to where to adjust or test to see if we can adjust it. Im new to tracter ownership, im familiar with rideons ad somewhat mechanically minded as we service our own rideon, deck, clutches etc.

There should be a stop on your hitch lever I would
think that you set so the implement wouldn?t go all
the way down

Hrrm you wouldnt happen to have an image of what i need to look for would you?

I will see what I can come up with

with no tail wheel you're gonna have a hard time adjusting it. find one with a tail wheel and you can adjust with the top link as long as it's a solid hook-up on the bushhog, just make the top link longer and you raise the height, shorten and you lower. most 5 foot had a solid link, 6 foot went with a loose link. from the pics it looks like you have a solid hook-up just add a tail wheel

You can get a set of chains and links that run from the 3pt pins on the lift arms to the top link bracket on the tractor to adjust and hold the height on the 3pt arms.
And adding a tail wheel would be a big plus.

I agree, add a tail wheel, or 2 tail wheels.

You can search "mower tail wheel" for some ideas, or go to a place that sells mowers, get some ideas and measurements.

Find what replacement wheel assemblies are available, design your brackets around it.

Junkshow has 2 Douglas finish mowers that are older than Shep. The rear trail wheels, and for that matter all 4 of the swiveling wheels have a vertical shaft on the swivel long enough to add or subtract short pieces of tube or pipe to shim the deck height in relation to the wheel.

I had to extend the connectors for the three point hitch on my cutter to keep it out of the tires of tractor. May be an option for you to get some distance between the cutter and tractor.

That looks to me like someone took a trailer style mower and tried, poorly, to make it a 3 pt. Theres no way the mower should sit that close to the rear tires. I think you're going to have to get a competent welder to fix that mess if you want to use it. Needs at least on tail wheel too on something that size.

You don't have the correct center link on the 3pt of that tractor. The draft control is sensed through the spring loaded link. There's a cable under the cross box under the seat. That cable hooks to a slot in the proper link to control it. Good luck finding one. I have two 850s in the form of Oliver 500s and don't have the center link for either one.

Here's a picture of what that link looks like.

Your 3 point hitch controls are not working correctly. The control should allow for precise precision position of the height anywhere from fully raised to fully lowered. This may be due to the way your draft control is set, or it could be some other deeper issue.

The 3 point hitch control should consist of two controls, position, and draft. The draft control will have settings ranging from light to heavy. For mowing you should have the draft setting at the lightest, IMHO.

I highly recommend you get an owner's manual for the tractor. It will have instructions on how to operate the hitch, as they are all not the same. There are places online that sell reprints, and you stand a good chance of finding an original on ebay. It is money well spent.

Another issue is the angle of your mower. When you lower it to the ground it must be going nose-low in order to dig in. You can adjust the top link to change that.

Your tractor has 3 different modes for the 3pt. hitch to operate in. You need to get it into the "Height" mode rather than "Draft", or the "TCU position.
To change modes you first have to pull the white quadrant lever all the way back, against the spring and compress it. It is important to have the lever all the way back, so you don't break the linkage inside. Once the lever is held there reach down on the crescent shaped dial and rotate the knob to "Height" position. You should then be able to position the white lift lever in the quadrant to a height that you desire. Sounds like the selector knob is in the TCU mode presently. If this doesn't work, something is out of adjustment or something inside is broken.
Loren

(quoted from post at 02:44:31 12/07/17) Your tractor has 3 different modes for the 3pt. hitch to operate in. You need to get it into the "Height" mode rather than "Draft", or the "TCU position.
To change modes you first have to pull the white quadrant lever all the way back, against the spring and compress it. It is important to have the lever all the way back, so you don't break the linkage inside. Once the lever is held there reach down on the crescent shaped dial and rotate the knob to "Height" position. You should then be able to position the white lift lever in the quadrant to a height that you desire. Sounds like the selector knob is in the TCU mode presently. If this doesn't work, something is out of adjustment or something inside is broken.
Loren

Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed instructions everyone, i have a few things to test out this weekend.

unfortunately the tractor is at the farm 1.5 hours away so i cant just run outside and check it. I will report back though.

(quoted from post at 07:43:17 12/06/17) You don't have the correct center link on the 3pt of that tractor. The draft control is sensed through the spring loaded link. There's a cable under the cross box under the seat. That cable hooks to a slot in the proper link to control it. Good luck finding one. I have two 850s in the form of Oliver 500s and don't have the center link for either one.

Here's a picture of what that link looks like.

Click to expand...

Was at an auction with a DB 880 with that top link. Sold the top link separate from the tractor!