"Steerable" Tow-Behind Mower Cuts Between Trees

"Steerable" Tow-Behind Mower Cuts Between Trees MOWERS Mowers (31H) 22-6-13 The cost of commercial tow-behind tractor mowers prompted Jon Wickham, Cutchogue, N.Y., to build his own pto-powered rig. He came up with a design that's unlike anything on the market. The mower has a rear-mounted steering axle. It allows him to swing the mower 5 ft. to either side of the tractor and to cut weeds between trees in his orchard. "I spent only about $1,300 to build it. Commercial mowers sell for at least $6,000 and won't do what this one does," says Wickham. He started with a neighbor's 3-pt., ptodriven International 311 rotary cutter that had burned up in a fire. He mounted the front steering axle off a Buick Regal car on back of the mower. He cut off the front half of the car frame keeping the front axle tie rods and other steering components in place. He then mounted a hydraulic cylinder on the car frame so he could "steer" the axle from the tractor seat. He attached a center drag link from a 1986 Chevy S10 pickup to the center link on the car. The pickup drag link attaches to the hydraulic cylinder. He used 4-in. dia., 13 ga. irrigation pipe to build a 12-ft. long pto shaft. He beefed up the mower frame with a pair of steel rails on top of the mower that run from front to back. He built a long hitch on front of the machine so that when the mower is working off to either side, the U-joints don't run at too sharp an angle. "I got to use it last summer for the first time and it worked great," says Wickham. "I use our 1947 IH M diesel tractor equipped with a wide front end to pull it. A single hydraulic lever lets me steer the mower from one side of the tractor to the other. The trickiest part was building the 12-ft. long drive shaft so it wouln't vibrate too much. To make the driveshaft I cut off a length of 4-in. dia. galvanized irrigation pipe and laid it in a length of channel iron to make sure it was exactly true. Then I welded a round steel plug into each end of the pipe and welded a universal yoke onto each plug. To make sure the plugs were exactly centered inside the pipe, I first centered each plug inside a lathe and then welded the universal yoke onto it. "I used the Buick car because its small 14-in. wheels keep the mower low to the ground so it doesn't knock fruit off the trees. I mounted a spare tire and tire changing jack on front of the mower so that if I get a flat tire I can change it right in the field." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jon Wickham, 28700 Rt. 25, Cutchogue, N.Y. 11935 (ph and fax 516 734-5454).

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