Pictures of the mower I've broken

This is a follow-up to my earlier post about frustrations mowing....
I don't know the brand or model. It's about 5-1/2' wide. Does not completely cover the tire width of the Ford 3000 it's mounted to.

Pictures of the unit, and this morning's break.
(A shop in town is going to weld it for me.)

I'm using a chain on the top link connection. How snug should it be? I want it to be tight enough to pickup the mower when I raise the 3point arms. But, maybe float on the ground too?
Should I have the front of the mower higher than the rear?

My tachometer is broken. How do I know the blades are spinning fast enough?

I noticed it doen't cut well when I'm going up-hill. It seems the PTO loses speed due to the engine lugging. Is there a way to direct more power to the PTO?
I try running 3rd gear, but it's too fast. Second gear is crawling...

That picture shown looks to be mostly weeds. I'd get a flail mower as the blades on those when
impacting rocks are light enough to swing back out of the way. And if you really get tangled up like
wrap barbed wire up in it the belt will just snap.

The front of the mower should be (about) 1/2 inch lower than the back, where the blades spin not the deck. The mower should float downward 5 or 6 inches from level to keep from lifting when the front tractor tires go into a small depression. It should not lift fully immediately when lifted, front first, then rear. Engine speed can be wide open all the time it is operating. The mower will not mow correctly if going slow. Gearing down is best. Take the time. Make sure the blades are sharp. Jim

What do you mow? If grasses only, then put a longer, sharper edge on your blades. I did that with my brush cutter because I did not cut heavy brush anymore, and I knew there were no rocks or other hazards.

If you mow or sometimes mow heavier brush, then keep the current angle on the blades and just sharpen them to original spec. Also, if you mow heavier brush or encounter rocks, then I would highly recommend having someone weld new steel over the original steel. Looks like the old stuff doesn't have a lot of protection left.

I would think a 3000 would spin that mower like a top with no problem. Does not sound like a great idea to not have a solid top link. I would not have the front higher than the back - if anything gets chucked out you don't want it flying toward the tractor. The lugging up hill may be due to tractor climbing the hill bogging the engine in too high of a gear. PTO speed is probably 1540 rpms. So probably a bit more than 3/4 throttle.

Tim

Howdy Dan,

Firstly, you have some bad cracks at the front of the deck. Need to get those weld repaired ASAP. One of the problems I have with my old Ford 3600 is that the lift doesn't hold the deck where I set it. It is always drifting downward and gradually cutting too low. To solve this problem, get a three point chain stabilizer kit. Not expensive, typically $30-$40. With this kit, the deck will stay up where you set it. You can lift the deck no problem, but when you lower it the chains will hold deck cutting height where you set it. Lastly, you are probably using high strength bolts for shear pins. Check with your local tractor dealership for some low strength shear bolts.

The ratio on mower gear boxes vary greatly and a high speed unit for making lawn mower looking cuts on good grass will bog in trash/brush..I have three , all with different ratios..yielding 10,000 ft/min blade tip speed @540 pto, up to 16,300ft/min. A typical home use rotary lawn mower is 17,000ft/min.

This post was edited by JMOR on 06/15/2023 at 02:42 pm.

Here's a kit available from Yesterday's Tractor:

https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/MHSK1_Mower-Deck-Height-Stabilizer-Kit_9603.htm

That mower doesnt look well built. You can do what you want but if it was mine i would start looking for a good used name brand or a new one. I bought a Bush Hog 15 or
so years ago and have never been disappointed in it.

my best guesses...

your mower is cracked and broken at the front mounting points that pick up the mower and carry its weight. They are broken loose from the front angle iron... and pulling up the sheet metal.

Second I believe this is caused by improper top link adjustment that lets the pto shaft HIT the mower deck when you pick it up and the pto shaft hits the front of the mower deck.

third... this makes the pto shaft break very quickly when the shredder is lifted too high, while further cracking the front mounting points of the shredder. SO.. there is the story.

How to fix... make sure the top link or chain, is not too loose. when you have the shredder in the correct shred position, the top link should be adjusted tight at that point only... so the shredder can run level to the ground, front and rear, with the sides of the shredder just off the ground, not dragging, (or set higher if you want to cut higher) The tail wheel is critical to making the shredder run level, at the cutting height you want... then and only then, tighten up the top link, removing all slack... so... that when you now pick the shredder up to top height, the pto shaft can NOT touch the shredder. If it does touch, its usually because the top link is too loose.

If... you get the top link TOO tight,, the rear wheel will not stay on the ground and the shredder will be tilted forwards and not run level. If the top link is TOO loose, the pto shaft will hit the front of the shredder when you pick it up.

If you cant get the top link to adjust correctly, then add a bolt and nut to the 3 pt lever notch that will keep you from raising the shredder too high to prevent further damage. Ive used clothes pins, vice grips, nut and bolts, and other methods to keep me from lifting the lift lever too high.

Looks like a Bush Hog <a href=https://bushhog.com/discontinued/bh-rotary-cutter-rz60-razorback/>RZ60</a> which is a fairly light duty rotary cutter. There is a spec sheet, owners manual, and parts manual available to download at the link.

The part youre holding in your hand, does it slide into another square piece or does it straight to
the ujoints at the hog end?

I feel your pain, nothing more aggravating than to have breakdowns when you're trying to get the job done:-(
sotxbill has some excellent points and deanostoybox has named it, a light duty Bush Hog brand mower.
BEFORE it broke the FIRST time was the PTO shaft telescoping like it should? If so then that weld in pic #4 looks like it didn't penetrate enough, I suspect your welder in town will fix that problem. IF the new welding fixes the shaft issue then you -may- want to get the front deck welded up too as mentioned earlier. IF it breaks again then the PTO shaft needs some attention. The PTO shaft must NOT touch the frame while mowing or when lifting while it's turning, it will cause more issues. Good Luck with it!

I have had to do a lot of repairs on our Bush Hog, I'm very disappointed how it was built, I should have
looked at them better before buying. The biggest flaw is that the stump jumper isn't round, so it had
leading edges to hit stumps and rocks. The King Kutter we had was better designed. I have been able to
repair everything on the Bush Hog, from gusseting the stump jumper, welding up and reinforcing the frame, to
putting a complete new rear skirt on.

When mowing FORGET THERE IS UVEN A SECOND gear in it let along a third
They are all to fast for mowing. And that tractor is not made to have
enough power to run a mower at that speed. How fast do you walk at a slow
speed, no faster with tractor. No way to put more power out to mower than
the tractor is designed to make and you are trying to way overload it. A
wonder you have not broke the PTO INSIDE the tractor. And that is going to
happen if you keep on abusing the tractor like that. To be breaking the
PTO shaft something is not put together correctly, if it is you will not
break a PTO SHAFT. Sounds like you do not belong on a tractor, let
somebody that knows what they are doing take over. First learned about PTO
shafts 70+ years ago. And you do not want a chain in there for a top link,
with that if you would catch the front of the mower on something that
mower will be laying on top of you on the tractor and they will ber
calling the morge to haull your body away. Won't need an a ambulance as
you will no longer be breathing.

It looks like that weld on the shaft was cracked for a long time on 3/4 of it. Stress over the years will do that.

Someone made a good point about the pto bottoming out and creating issues for you, something to look into. Especially with a chain for a top link, you can go through a
valley and really shorten up the pto causing it to bottom out.

How dull are the blades on it, dull blades take more power.

Front of a mower should be a tiny bit tad lower than the rear. Or else your mower is working twice as hard, as it mows the grass in from
Nt and then if the rear is lower it is also mowing it again on the rear.

I can tell if a tractor is going about full throttle by sound, but I dont know how to tell someone how to know that..... without the tach and without experience I dont know
what to say. Most tractors pushing the throttle all the way is just a few 100 rpm more than it should be, so back off just a little less than wide open. But thats not a real
good rule, just kinda often.....

Those big heavy weeds you are mowing through do take more power, Im sure you need to be in 2nd to get them cut down well. That type of vegetation is a real power
sucker.

Good luck!

Paul

sharpen or replace blades,use lower gear ,weld every broken places
reinforce them. make sure shaft halves are half way in when
setting flat. full throttle n slow ground speed down a gear.
i got 1 of that same mower,good sharp blades n set proper way nose
down mine leaves it looking like a lawn mower did it

What transmission do you have in your 3000?
It sounds like you have the straight up 4
speed which is known to pretty fast.
Your tractor should run that mower just fine.
I also run a 3000 with a too heavy 6' Bush
Hog and it does just fine but it is the 8 sp
model so I have some low gears.
Where in WI are you? If not far from
Minneapolis bring that drive shaft over and
I'll weld it for a 12 pack of my favorite
pale ale.

Grease, grease, grease.



I had a civilian job mowing military air fields everyday for 2 years. I would grease at the end of the day for
the next morning and at lunch, ran at the appropriate PTO speed and never went high gear while mowing.
I never had a breakdown. The other operators were only greasing once a week, maybe a little more, but
certainly not as often as I would and they had many breakdowns. I know I was excessive with my
greasing and I also wasnt paying for it, but it showed me it makes a difference.

That looks like my International Agritech brush hog, although mine is only a four footer. The company is no longer in business and I don't know if spares are available. I was able to get blades for mine from TSC.

If you're tractor doesn't seem to be lugging, you're probably all right for PTO and ground speed. You won't hurt anything if you run your tractor at wide-open throttle. If it starts lugging down or running hot at WOT, shift to a lower gear.