M&W Heavy Duty Weed Mower

[Mack 0]

While at the swap meet in Portland, IN I met a fellow that had this mower for sale. He said he bought it because it was for an Allis B-1. However, the brackets on it were for a Cub Cadet and he did not have the ones to fit the Allis. Anyone ever seen one on an Allis or Simplicity? As you can see in the background of the second pic, is the AC 300/400 sickle mower which got most of my attention and I was able to acquire..... I didn't forget the weed mower though. A few weeks later I got in touch with William "Geezer" DeTurk, a Cub Cadet and M&W enthusiast. He told me that he had seen some literature on it but had never see one and thought they had never been manufactured as the factory had burned down around that time period. After showing him the pictures I had taken and giving him the owners contact information, he made a deal to acquire it. Hopefully, he will send me scans of the rest of the owners manual soon and I'll get them on here.

[Chris727 1,703]

Never seen one of those. Thanks for posting.

[Killer_A-C 0]

Paul Friddle (debshirl) has one....

[dentwizz 6]

Cool way to do a bush-hogish thing :) Don't have quite the crick in the neck at the end of the day.

[Kent 435]

Never seen one, though SmilinSam had a different kind of non-Simplicity mower. Not sure how well that thing would work on any type of rough or sloping surface with only one caster wheel in front, especially if it attaches to the pivoting front axle like other front attachments do. Not sure how well the mover deck would "float" over the ground -- might scalp severely... 3-point hitch ones on the rear are tied to the same side-plane as the back tires on the tractor. The trailing rear caster can move up and down, but the mowing deck doesn't tilt side-to-side.

[3314WV 0]

Never saw anything like that. Very cool piece though....can't be that many of them around...

[johnmonkey 4]

Real neat looking. jh

[Mack 0]

"Geezer" gave me a copy of a brochure for it but have not been able to get my scanner to work. Here are a couple of paragraphs from it. "It's a weed cutter that can also be used on lawns - not a lawn mower that might work on weeds." “The M&W mower burr-cuts a swath 34 inches wide and cuts as low as ¾ of an inch and as high as 11 inches from the ground surface.” “Whether you’re cutting 2” or 10” high – the M&W cutter is always “on the level.” New parallel bar lift frame keeps the cutter head flat at all times – no tilting or tipping when cutting height is changed. The tractor’s standard lift lever is used to lift or lower the mower.” Also, the bottom section consisting of the safety guard with caster wheel is considered a lawn cutting accessory kit.

[JimH 1]

Neat cutter. Thank's for posting.

[SmilinSam 3,615]

Never seen that one before. Seen (or had myself) 3 other similar types, but they were alot more streamlined than that one. Is there a location of manufacture printed on the tag?

[Mack 0]

Sam, Near you?

[SmilinSam 3,615]

3 hours east of me. The mower I currently have is I believe made in Colfax Illinois. This is interesting, because Colfax is only 3 miles west of Anchor. Cant remember off hand the town where Bachtold walk behind weedmowers were made, but it was in the same general area of Illinois. If I'm not mistaken, Roof was also made in Illinois(maybe someone else can verify this) If so, there were alot of weedmowers made in Illinois. I have had a M&W weedmower before, but it looked nothing like yours. This one was more round and streamlined and fit into the same place your mower deck or front blade would pin to. Super heavy though. Bachtold made mowers since the 40's and their general product is still made today but under a diofferent name I think. Seems in and around the 60's and early 70's these companies in and around Anchor and Colfax began making weedmowers like we are discussing for major Garden Tractor Brands. I have had them for Simplicity and Wheel horse, and seen ones for Cadet and John Deere. I know that I have never seen a weedmower as such made for any Simplicity or AC product after the 3300 series Simplicity with the center oold style hang down PTO. The deeres and cubs I have seen them paired with are in about the same time frame 71-72. Thats just what I have surmised off the top of my head from what I have seen. I'm sure there is some interesting history around these mopwers and their production if one knew whom to ask or where to look.

[SmilinSam 3,615]

I managed to scrouongeup somepictures of two types I have had. Here is one similar to the one I currently have. Mine differs only in that it has shiny new paint and it also has a pair of idlers to guide the belt to the front. This one is the one made in Colfax.
[img]http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv227/Smilinsam/weed2-1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv227/Smilinsam/weed2.jpg[/img]
This one is the one I think had the M&w label and was made in Anchor, but I cant remember. Next time I go over to my tractor buddys house I'll look because he has one like it. I never used one like this, but it is close to the smae style as the long framed yellow one, but shorter.
[img]http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv227/Smilinsam/weed4.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv227/Smilinsam/weed3.jpg[/img]

[Mack 0]

Got some more info from William this morning. Here are a couple more pics. Side views of it mounted on a Cub without the "lawn cutting accessory kit" and the Allis brackets.

[anytractorman 1]

That is a great accessory for the tractor,I would love to get one for my 3416. Those big spruce trees would be a lot easier to mow under!

[SimplicitySwede 1]

I didnt know M&W made parts for LTs and GTs. I know my farmall M has some M&W add ons

[sierradriver 0]

Thanks for posting now I want one

[Mack 0]

Have not been able to contact "debshirl" Paul Friddel but I did find a picture and some comments from one of his previous posts. Looks like he mounted it to an AC 200 series.

quote:

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finally called m&w about mower deck finally got ahold of a guy that had been there for about 35 years remembered that that line of mower had been built for john deere allis chalmers and cub for a few years he is looking for info on deck he also laughed said that 210 was built and about 200 was returned to factory because of problems and not being able to sell units so that seems these are kinda rare said there was to different kind of units built one was shaft drive being the larger unit and one was belt drive hope to have more info in future

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[larry8200 4]

wow

[Mack 0]

Here are the scans of the brochure I got from William(Geezer)DeTurk

[rpickle 0]

That is very interesting.

[Mack 0]

Just an update from William. He has it mounted and has done some trimming with it.

[MDB 128]

That is one cool looking setup, I sure could have used that the last couple of days reclaiming out of control lawns.....:D