[AT] Second cutting

[Spencer Yost]

I just found the problem a few hours ago. It is the height of the hitch. The clue was the owners manual that I was reading for the fourth time, and it warned that you should adjust the flotation springs after you switch tractors since hitches will be different.  That set a lightbulb off in my head. So I flipped the hitch bar so that the tongue of the mower was 4 inches higher. Voilà I now have a floatation weight that approximates specifications.   

The manual says that the hitch should be 13 to 17 inches above the ground, but I thought the PTO shaft was at too sharp of an angle.  So I had set the hitch for the lowest position which was about 12 1/2 inches.  Close enough I thought. 

I thought wrong.  

I did not need to tension the springs any more after that.

Problem solved I think!  Now all I need is a spring scale that will measure past 50lbs so I can assuage my curiosity.  I think it's 85lbs


Now I wondering about something else.  The manual says the end of the pto shaft to the hitch pin hole should be 14" exactly.  I can get 13 or 15.  Seeing as how finicky hitch height was, should I try another bar and get that 14" exactly?  Or is there some wiggle room in that measurement?


Spencer

> On Jul 25, 2015, at 19:53, Spencer Yost <yostsw at atis.net> wrote:
> 
> The male alpacas are enjoying a banquet of fresh cut hay while the 861D takes a breather.
> 
> The new mower did very well with cutting but I had a lot of trouble with drafting.  It was very hard to keep the height correct. If I extend the cylinder there is simply too much weight on the head.  I created way too many dirt gouges.
> 
> And of course like any new piece of equipment it took a little while to get used to. It always takes a time or two before you get the spacing between the tractor and mower absolutely correct 100% of the time.
> 
> All in all I'm pretty pleased with the mower.   Pictures are below.
> 
> Spencer
> 
> 
> 
> <image.jpeg>
> <image.jpeg>
> 
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