Brush hog conversion

[deaop06]

I am going to convert a 5' brush hog to hydraulic drive and mount it on a skid steer. I have read a lot about this and have a question. I read that I should enforce the deck under the drive gear box. Is there enough shaft length to say add 3/8" of steel? I never had one apart so don't know if there is enough shaft length. Hope someone can help me with this. Thanks

 

[flyerdan]

The idea of reinforcing is to give the mounting pad a bigger footprint so that stress cracks won't develop, probably 3/16 plate would be sufficient, and if welded to the inside of the deck wouldn't effect the blade height in relation to the deck. There should be sufficient clearance for that, or it would be getting bound up by debris all the time. One thing to consider on a hydraulic drive is that large rotating masses don't lend themselves to sudden stops when you shut off the aux, it really needs some run-on plumbing so that it won't tear something up.

 

[deaop06]

The idea of reinforcing is to give the mounting pad a bigger footprint so that stress cracks won't develop, probably 3/16 plate would be sufficient, and if welded to the inside of the deck wouldn't effect the blade height in relation to the deck. There should be sufficient clearance for that, or it would be getting bound up by debris all the time. One thing to consider on a hydraulic drive is that large rotating masses don't lend themselves to sudden stops when you shut off the aux, it really needs some run-on plumbing so that it won't tear something up.

Thank you for the answer. I found a brush hog for $300 and it is in good shape. It has set out but was off the ground. It will get a paint job. So I will turn it over and take a look. I thought if it had a spacer I could just put the plate on and bolt everything through that. 3/16" would be plenty as it is 1/8" now and not rusted out. I am trying to get it running for under &600. Will build the mounting plate for it so won't have to buy that. Hope I have enough steel because it is not cheep to buy. Thanks again.

 

[CraigClayton]

Twenty years ago I bought a Woods 5 ft rotary mower with bad bearings and 1/4 of the welds with stress cracks. I replaced the bearings and repaired all the stress cracks with 1/8 " 6013 welding rods on AC . The 6013 is a shallow penetration rod and is very good on sheet metal. The swinging blades were built like tanks and even once split small rocks. I powered the mower on a Ford 8 or 9 N that did not have a over running clutch. When I was cutting close to my neighbors fence I pushed in the clutch but the momentum drove the tractor into the fence. Only my pride was damaged. On a 3 pth regular tractor 5' mowers can be wild and bouncy. I have no knowledge about the hydraulic HP but most of the gear boxes are 30 and 50 hp. I sold the mower some years later. CraigClayton