Stepped-up Mowing?

[steve_fay]

This is another post about Sherman add-on transmissions. My recently bought '46 2N has a Sherman Step-Up, which I haven't expected to have much use for, thinking of it like overdrive on a car trans. But after reading the original brochure posted on another site ( http://www.oldfordtractors.com/sherman/shermup.jpg ) I discovered recommendations for using the step-up for real work, not just driving on the road, or getting back to the barn when the rain starts pouring -- the fellow I bought a 9N from 25 years ago called the highest gear on any travctor "rain gear" .

It's hard to read the smaller print on that brochure image, even enlarging it, but it says that --at half throttle-- the stepped-up first gear gives you slightly higher speed than second gear at that throttle setting BUT WITH 60 percent higher PTO speed. And they recommend mowing that way. Now I figure they are thinking mowing hay with a sicklebar mower, not weeds with a rotary cutter like my Woods M5. But on flat ground, in lower grass/weeds the added speed might make the rotary cutter work more efficiently? I'm used to mowing in first gear, high throttle, in order to have the fastest PTO speed, and generally the most power if I get into tougher brush or go up and down hills. But maybe "stepped-up low" is worth trying and will work well for certain conditions. Anybody else have experience with this or have suggestions?

 

[Dean]

While increased bar speed will help when using a sickle bar mower, your N simply does not have enough HP to mow much of anything with a rotary cutter, finish or rough cut, in Sherman OD especially at reduced throttle.

BTDT.

Dean

 

[jackinok]

for the most part you want to run your equipment at its rated rpm and its critical most of the time on a sycle mower not to run pto speed too fast or too slow.where a sherman really shines (and what it was meant for)is in the fact that you could run pto at rated speed for equipment,keep ground speed up, but run at a lower engine rpm thereby saving fuel. its designed as more of an effort to save fuel rather than increase speed.For instance ,say your mowing with your rotary at 1500 rpm in first gear,and using a gallon a hour.By shifting sherman to high,you could theoretically lower you rpm to say ( as a guess)900,keep the same pto rpm and ground speed and burn maybe 3/4 gallon hour.it would work very well in light conditions and still does,but most of us while pulling a 5 'rotary need all the power one of these tractors has and we have to keep engine rpms up since hp increases with engine speed.you have to remember these tractors really werent designed to brushog with ,they werent around back then.now if you were doing work that required less hp,thats where a sherman really can pay for itself.especially at $4 a gallon,which was in my youth $0.25 a gallon!LOL