Mike_IUOE
Well-Known Member
I thought I'd share one of my projects with everyone. Last year I built my own brush mower for my track loader. I've been wanting to do it for a while and have been grabbing scrap steel here and there. The one I made is 80" and uses all off the shelf parts that I can get at my local farm store. I use this for light brush cutting and mowing tall grass. When testing it out I knocked down and mulched up around 2" diameter small trees with not much effort, but I did not design this to be a super heavy cutter or forestry mulcher.
Framework- I mostly used scrap metal That I gathered up over the months. I had to buy a few pieces for it. For the frame I used 6" channel with an additional 3" channel on top of it. The plate is 1/4" diamond plate and the bracing is 3" channel. I made the quick attach plate using the 1/4" plate and 3/8" flat stock.
Hydraulics- Most of my hydraulic parts came from Surplus Center, and I used their online calculators to do the math on deciding what motor to use. At the time I had a high flow machine, but I made this to run with standard flow. It took alot of playing around with the numbers and combing through available motors to find one that would give me good power and the right rpm. I added a bypass valve to allow the blades to spin down after shutting off the hydraulic flow. This prevents a sudden stop of the blades when it is turned off. The valve I used was a pressure relief and also had a crossover relief to allow spin down. My motor connects to the gearbox using a coupler that slides onto the gearbox splines and has a shear pin on the motor.
Gearbox and blades- For this I used all off the shelf parts. I did not build or fab anything. All the parts used were designed to be used together and I knew there would not be any problems with it. I used a 72hp Omni gearbox that goes on any run of the mill brush mower. I can easily buy parts for it at any Tractor Supply or Rural King. Attached to that I used a 2" hubbed blade pan with 2 rotary mower blades.
Once all that was built I had the hoses made and gave it 2 good coats of Industrial Rustoleum. I did add SEM RustShield catalyst to the paint to add hardness and speed up the dry time.
And there it is. It's been a good mower so far. It doesn't get used a whole lot, but is really valuable when I do need it. I think my next project is going to be a power rake. After using a few different ones and looking at others online, I think I can make one that will fit my needs. Plus I enjoy the time in the garage building things. I'll try to take more pictures on the next build.
Framework- I mostly used scrap metal That I gathered up over the months. I had to buy a few pieces for it. For the frame I used 6" channel with an additional 3" channel on top of it. The plate is 1/4" diamond plate and the bracing is 3" channel. I made the quick attach plate using the 1/4" plate and 3/8" flat stock.
Hydraulics- Most of my hydraulic parts came from Surplus Center, and I used their online calculators to do the math on deciding what motor to use. At the time I had a high flow machine, but I made this to run with standard flow. It took alot of playing around with the numbers and combing through available motors to find one that would give me good power and the right rpm. I added a bypass valve to allow the blades to spin down after shutting off the hydraulic flow. This prevents a sudden stop of the blades when it is turned off. The valve I used was a pressure relief and also had a crossover relief to allow spin down. My motor connects to the gearbox using a coupler that slides onto the gearbox splines and has a shear pin on the motor.
Gearbox and blades- For this I used all off the shelf parts. I did not build or fab anything. All the parts used were designed to be used together and I knew there would not be any problems with it. I used a 72hp Omni gearbox that goes on any run of the mill brush mower. I can easily buy parts for it at any Tractor Supply or Rural King. Attached to that I used a 2" hubbed blade pan with 2 rotary mower blades.
Once all that was built I had the hoses made and gave it 2 good coats of Industrial Rustoleum. I did add SEM RustShield catalyst to the paint to add hardness and speed up the dry time.
And there it is. It's been a good mower so far. It doesn't get used a whole lot, but is really valuable when I do need it. I think my next project is going to be a power rake. After using a few different ones and looking at others online, I think I can make one that will fit my needs. Plus I enjoy the time in the garage building things. I'll try to take more pictures on the next build.