[RogerOrange]

Hi,

I want to add a mower deck to my JD970.
Being in southern callifornia there isn't much of a "lawn" to speak off. Our 3 acres are a far cry from a golf course and all that grows on it are weeds and some kind of grass that turns bown in the summer. Thinking about bringing more life to to soil by planning cover crop and mowing / mulching it at the right time.

I have no clue about these things. From reading online I think that a "Flail" mower might be the right choice. Am I on track with this assumption?

The Flail mower I am looking at is a Woodmax FM62. There is also a FN62H that has a feature to shift the mower deck hydraulicly to the left or right. The price is the same but I don't have the hydaulic pump on the back. Since I ultimately might need hydraulics for a backhoe or other implements I am might want to go for that. But I am clueless how to go about this and if / how this would interfere with the existing PTO and the hookup to the other implements.

There is also a 78 size version but the stated minimum power requirement is the maximum for my tractor (30HP). Am I asking for trouble for going to this larger size?

Looking forward to your advice!

 

[Kennyd]

Welcome to GTT,
Flail's are great-much more compact than a rotary or finish cutter, and a bit more flexible too. Adding any rear hydraulics to your machine will likely run $500ish, and be a custom DIY job since you machine is so old. Does your tractor have a loader?

 

[RogerOrange]

Welcome to GTT,
Flail's are great-much more compact than a rotary or finish cutter, and a bit more flexible too. Adding any rear hydraulics to your machine will likely run $500ish, and be a custom DIY job since you machine is so old. Does your tractor have a loader?

Yes it has a loader.
Can the Hydraulic pump remain attached so I can keep using other PTO driven implements?

 

[Kennyd]

What pump are you referring to? I was suggesting you could tap into the tractors existing hydraulics and not add an external pump-that will cost even more.

 

[RogerOrange]

What pump are you referring to? I was suggesting you could tap into the tractors existing hydraulics and not add an external pump-that will cost even more.

Ah no I am to chicken to tap into the existing system.

I was told that there are hydraulic pumps that can be driven by the pto..

 

[Kennyd]

Yes, there are...but then you need a large reservoir, larger hoses, filter, valves to control whatever, maybe a cooler.

PTO Pumps | Hydraulic Pumps | Hydraulics | www.surpluscenter.com

I do not think you can connect an implement and the pump at the same time-maybe I'm wrong on that but then you will be sharing/splitting horsepower between two different things.

 

[RogerOrange]

Yes, there are...but then you need a large reservoir, larger hoses, filter, valves to control whatever, maybe a cooler.

PTO Pumps | Hydraulic Pumps | Hydraulics | www.surpluscenter.com

I do not think you can connect an implement and the pump at the same time-maybe I'm wrong on that but then you will be sharing/splitting horsepower between two different things.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge

Its not a big deal not to have the option to shift the flail mower to the side hydraulicly.
Perhaps it can be done by hand, have to call Woodmaxx again. The lady on the phone wasn't very knowledgable.