Sidearm Mower Ideal For Roadsides

Sidearm Mower Ideal For Roadsides HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Mowers (38) 34-5-18 Mowing area ditch banks is easy with Don Sawvell's sidearm Bush Hog. With its unusual sidearm design, counter balancing weights and belt drive, it can go from horizontal to plus or minus 45 degrees without even slowing down. "We offset the mower and hung it on a frame within a frame," says Sawvell. "This lets us raise and lower it with the 3-pt. hitch attached to the outside frame. We also use a cylinder on the inside frame to separately raise and lower the mower 8 in. if we come to a gravel ridge or other obstacle." The outer frame of 1/4-in. walled, 4 by 4-in. boxed steel tubing attaches to the 3-pt. hitch on the tractor. It runs back to a trailing wheel salvaged from an old windrower. The mower deck and its pto-driven belt drive, as well as its counter weight arm, hang on the inner frame. The inner frame and the weight arm are fabricated from 3 by 3-in. steel tubing. The design allows the mower deck to ride to the right of the tractor's rear wheel. A 24-in. stroke hydraulic cylinder mounted between the inner frame and the mower deck provides at least 135 degrees of tilt. "We can run it in the vertical position and lower it down over vegetation," says Sawvell. "It's great for shredding brush." To allow that range of tilt, the deck is attached to the inner frame by a pipe hinge. The hinge also houses a power shaft with pulleys to drive the mower. This arrangement maintains a constant distance between the shaft pulley and the drive pulley for consistent power to the mower, regardless of what position it's in. "We ran the original pto power shaft back to a belt pulley that transfers power to a pulley on the enclosed drive shaft," explains Sawvell. "The shaft transfers power forward to a pulley that is then belted to the drive pulley on the deck." Initially, Sawvell ran the mower on a 540-rpm pto shaft; however, he noted belt slippage at that speed. He then kicked it up to 1,000 rpm's, which eliminated slippage. A larger belt pulley on the mower deck is used to slow the speed down for the 540-rpm rated mower. "We've used it for about 15 years, and it works great," says Sawvell. "The mower is starting to get worn, but the carriage will work with any rotary mower." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Don Sawvell, 19430 Sawvell Rd., Quinn, S. Dak. 57775 (ph 605 386-2685).

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