Redneck engineering

[Geo-TH,In]

Some people ask about a mower for 3 or 4 acres.
Has anyone bought or built a pull behind mower?
I once had a 59 inch woods belly mower. I was thinking of making it into a pull behind mower.
Instead I sold it and bought a 72 inch woods belly mower for my Farmall C.

Do we have any Rednecks that build pull behind mowers?

 

[Oregon Tractor Jack]

I worked with a guy that made a gang mower out of like five push mowers. He went around to local garage sales and bought a bunch of old push mowers. He attached them all together and pulled them behind his truck. It worked pretty well except when one of the old mowers would quit. There would be long strip of tall grass. He got tired of trying to keep all those mowers going.

OTJ

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I worked with a guy that made a gang mower out of like five push mowers. He went around to local garage sales and bought a bunch of old push mowers. He attached them all together and pulled them behind his truck. It worked pretty well except when one of the old mowers would quit. There would be long strip of tall grass. He got tired of trying to keep all those mowers going.

OTJ

When I was a kid I knew of a welder and he also had a small private airplane.
He rigged up a way to pull many push mowers to mow around his hanger.
I think 3 20 inch push mowers and a 59 inch woods mowers work.
Remove the spindles and install 3 engines with 20 inch blades.
Be cheaper than buying a tractor and mower.

 

[Rich'sToys]

When I was a kid, back in the days when riding mowers were fairly new yet and not that big, our neighbor rigged up an offset hitch to pull a push mower behind their rider and mow a wider cut. At the time we thought it was pretty cool!

 

[Tom Railsback]

Rich, I did the same. It was easy--a piece of light channel and a couple bolt holes. It worked well for getting under Russian Olive trees with their thorns.

 

[Tony in SD]

Nothing new around here. Just a scaled down version of New Hollands bidirectional tractor with mounted swather & pull type hydro-swing. Both setups have been around for years maybe decades.

 

[Duner Wi]

I have an Agri Fab tow behind finish mower that I use for field roads and along woods edge. Mine is made so if you get to close to tree on woods edge it deflects off the tree with out damage to anything. I pull mine offset behind a riding lawn tractor. so I have an effective working width of about 80 inches.
Once I got used to the offset I can't imagine not using it to mow all the lawn.

 

[DavyH]

When I first moved to our property I hired one of these mowers which has 3 normal push mowers side by side. It sort of worked ok but had to drive very slow and as mentioned above when one mower stalled which was quite often in long grass you get an unmowed strip and you couldn't tell straight away. The mowers felt a little underpowered for the application and I found it too frustrating to use.

I ended up buying a Chinese flail mower (similar to the photo below) which could mow a wider strip with a single large engine. I can mow faster with it and if the going gets really tough you can hear the engine loading up so you can slow down a bit so it can catch up. As a mower concept it's really good. I've had to beef up the steel in a few places as it was under engineered but it works great.

 

[Russ from MN]

When I first moved to our property I hired one of these mowers which has 3 normal push mowers side by side. It sort of worked ok but had to drive very slow and as mentioned above when one mower stalled which was quite often in long grass you get an unmowed strip and you couldn't tell straight away. The mowers felt a little underpowered for the application and I found it too frustrating to use.
View attachment 83354

I ended up buying a Chinese flail mower (similar to the photo below) which could mow a wider strip with a single large engine. I can mow faster with it and if the going gets really tough you can hear the engine loading up so you can slow down a bit so it can catch up. As a mower concept it's really good. I've had to beef up the steel in a few places as it was under engineered but it works great.

View attachment 83355

That reminds me of the Mott corn stalk chopper we have, it's about 4 feet wide and has a 2-cylinder Wisconsin on it. I use it for mowing hunting trails in the fall.

 

[WI Dan]

Some people ask about a mower for 3 or 4 acres.
Has anyone bought or built a pull behind mower?
I once had a 59 inch woods belly mower. I was thinking of making it into a pull behind mower.
Instead I sold it and bought a 72 inch woods belly mower for my Farmall C.

Do we have any Rednecks that build pull behind mowers?View attachment 83275View attachment 83276

Brother uses one on the trails. It's a rough-cut version, two wheels. It's not bad.
What I found frustrating was pulling it with the ATV "four-wheeler". The thumb throttle was tiring because you couldn't go fast. The pull-behind mower would do a lot better with a geared machine.

 

[Duner Wi]

I really like the deflector in front of tire for what I mow woods edge, under bushes etc. The added wheels help for scalping on uneven ground.

 

[unc]

I worked with a guy that made a gang mower out of like five push mowers. He went around to local garage sales and bought a bunch of old push mowers. He attached them all together and pulled them behind his truck. It worked pretty well except when one of the old mowers would quit. There would be long strip of tall grass. He got tired of trying to keep all those mowers going.

OTJ

Morning Geo- I bought a Swisher sixty inch finish mower probably fifteen years ago. It has it's own B&S engine (14 HP if I remember), and has a floating four wheel carriage. I pull it with a Minneapolis ZTU row crop. I have no idea how many acres it has cut, but I've always been happy with it. Usual maintenance, oil changes, sharpening blades, belts and tires. I've haven't needed to do bearings or spindles yet. Only small gripe, the tubeless tire valve stems didn't last long, so I tubed the tires. Original tires are still on it. Would I use it to cut three or four acres? I don't know, but it sure has been a handy machine to have around. I liked it so much, I bought the rough cut two wheel version for the less than smooth places. The draw bar can be adapted to use a quad to pull it.
For me, the self powered mower is of more use than a PTO machine. unc