Rotary Cutter

[nbryan]

Could be but 48* Lbs. is very light for a 5' rough cut rotary mower. Most decent 5' cutters are well above 500 Lbs.

Do as you like but I advise care, especially when traversing uneven ground while the mower is lifted.

SDT

Yes, I am careful, as it's clear by how the tractor handles with the mower raised that there's a big load back there.

The actual original M5 Dixie Cutter manual, which Woods emailed to me for free on request, lists the shipping weight 481 lbs. This old cutter has no hem chains or stump-jumper, is just base model.

I do like the idea of trying GeoHorn's idea of leaving the toplink off and just dragging it at the right height set with the lower arms. Maybe I'll give that a go next bush-whacking trip with it.

 

[SDT]

For many years I used a Rhino 72” rotary-cutter/shredder (very HEAVY) with a little 18 hp 9-N Ford to mow 10 acres and occasionally shred rough pasture. It was much too heavy for the 800# capacity 3-pt on that tractor and everyone warned me it was too wide for it also... But it worked just fine because I used it as a “pull behind” rather than a 3-pt lifted mower. I did not hook up the upper-link and used it only on the lower lift-arms (and it’s rear supported by it’s tailwheel) as a “pull-behind” mower and I could raise it in heavy/tall stuff for a first-pass then lower it for the final cut. Did that for 15 years because the tractor was free...and the Rhino shredder was free... and I was living on a tight budget as a single parent.

Bingo.

Semi-mount operation eliminates most of the transient stresses imposed upon the lift mechanism by heavy fully-mounted implements.

FWIW: Your 9N Ford was rated at approximately (IIRC) 18 drawbar HP at rated 1,800 RPM drawbar engine speed, whereas rated engine speed for PTO work was 2,100 RPM. Rated PTO HP was (again, IIRC) closer to 23 HP. More importantly, a Ford 9N weighs around 800 Lbs. more than does a B2650 ROPS and mounts 28" tires.

SDT