Good post Baloo. I shall be looking forward to you making this as I am collecting parts to make a flail mower/hedge cutter. May make a start this year ready for next parts depending. I have been looking into ways of powering the flails and have decided like you to use a hydraulic motor. Post plenty of pics Cheers
i think its the way to go, most of the bigger commercial stuff is hydraulic, i will be interested to see how you make the flails as i might put one on the back end of the mower
i had pondered that but as i dont have one i was thinking about making the hydraulic fluid tank way over size and a shape that promotes cooling before the fluid goes round again, dont know if that will work or not
HiI would disagree. Whilst hedgecutters are hydraulic due to the nature of the arm. Large mowers are almost always direct drive due to the vast inefficiency of hydraulics.
The hydraulic out front machines are all finishing mowers and won't deal with long grass, they bog down way to easily as they would need way bigger engines for there cutting width. Obviously not a problem for you as your engine is going to be 3-4times the size of what the same width ransomes would be.
Oil cooler will have a far greater surface area than any tank. And will also be pumped rather than just a natural flow.
It might be worthwhile making as much as possible of the pipework out of metal.
Rubber pipes don't expell heat aswell as metal. Especially when bundled together.
Running as much as you can in metal, spaced out will give you a large cooling area.
Hi
well thats a game changer then i based my idea that hydraulic was the way to go on a couple of big tractor mounted flail hedge cutters, i can see what you mean about the difficulty of getting belt drive up to the cutting head, dam near impossible i would think, so are we saying belt drive will stall less than hyd ? i certainly dont want a finishing mower, sometimes if im busy and i havent had time to mow the grass can be 6 or 8" long, as i havent started the cutting deck now is the time to jump ship, how would you drive the cutting deck ? straight off the crank pully to the deck like a ransomes or would it make sense to chain drive side ways from the crank pully to a shaft that runs front to back so i can have pto's at front and back so i can have a flail on the rear too ?
Could well be, where abouts are you ?@Baloo , I have three diesel Toro out front mowers kicking about, would they be of any use?
View attachment 313791
Are either of those 2 machines actually cutting grass???
did you mean a big area to mow or a big area to build the mower in but the answer is yes anyway lolnice build so far
i presume you have a big area for your build that your doing
dosent really look like they are doing much does itAre either of those 2 machines actually cutting grass???
Something else I though of that would probably be helpful depending how far into the build you are is if you flip the diffs you can have the engine and steering at the rear like the Kubota in the original picture giving better view and manoeuvrability whilst maintaining multiple forward speeds
Would also mean a pro straight off the crank to the rear is easily done then hyd to the deck at the front along nice long metal pipes for cooling.
i did start off with 4w steer in mind by welding 2 vitara front halves of chassis together then something like a transit connect engine and box low down in the middle but i decided to keep it simple for now, a lwb vitara makes it round where i have to mow so im sure an extra short wheel base one will too
i need to make a decision on the cutting deck next im being drawn to hydraulic as i would like the deck to lift up on 2 rams to allow me to get to the blades to sharpen them,
i also might have to change engine and box as the vitara box has the rear drive output high up in the centre not a problem on a lwb as the angle of the prop going down to the axle is fine but on my extra short wheelbase the angle of the uj's needs to be better than 45 deg and i dont think that will work, some thing like a landrover has the rear out put down low on the same level as the rear axle, brain is still working overtime
HiA Landover box would be bang on as they have the option of a pto and hydraulic pumps to go on the back of the box.
I doubt the hyd pumps would be man enough but the PTO to drive your own one would ideal
You can make the deck flip up with PTO driven decks. The point you lift off of just has to be in line with the yolk of the PTO shaft.
And the reason for the rear steer isn't for manoeuvrability it's so that the you can get tighter obstacles whithout having to shunt back afterwards so you keep up forward momentum and can go quicker.
It also stops you running over uncut grass on corners which doesn't get cut properly and looks naff after a couple of days
Hi
Am I right in thinking that if I used a pto on the back of the gearbox it would stop when I put the clutch in ? So the blades would only spin when I'm moving ?
And does that matter ?
and i assume i will also have a problem of the pto is going slowly as its after the gearbox and the mower will be doing 5mph or so, where as the crank pully will always be at engine speed 1500rpm ish or more if neededThe trouble with using a landy pto is although its bolted to the back of the transfer case its its actually turning off the end of the gearbox output shaft, not a problem running static things like a compressor/welder with the transfer gears disengaged, for a mower the blades will only get to turn while the vehicle is in motion unless you disengage the transfer gears.rather than use the gearbox.
Bob
i will measure up a landrover engine and box and see if it will fit, lr looks shorter which is good, its worth going lr to enable me to get drive to the rear axle easierand i assume i will also have a problem of the pto is going slowly as its after the gearbox and the mower will be doing 5mph or so, where as the crank pully will always be at engine speed 1500rpm ish or more if needed
and i assume i will also have a problem of the pto is going slowly as its after the gearbox and the mower will be doing 5mph or so, where as the crank pully will always be at engine speed 1500rpm ish or more if needed