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#370 Weed Cutter


Dutch

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Nice to have the right tools (whatever size) to do the job. One question though. Do all sickle bars stand up vertical or only some. My early style only goes up maybe 55-60°. It would be easier to store in my barn with the bar at vertical.
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Reminds me of that Richard Pryor movie where the neighbor had the souped up mower with flip out chainsaws to cut off any bushes and trees that got in the way.........................
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Kent, Yeah........ Spent 2 hours in a Tea Room this afternoon. $20 bucks for a pot of lousy tea and one of those sandwiches without crust. Now I talk like this. It should wear off by tomorrow. Didn't have any snow this year, so really couldn't test the front lugs. They do seem to "grab" rather than "plow". Greg, That sickle is a planetary drive. It only goes up half way with the lift. I pushed it all the way (vertical) and hooked the transport chain.
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My daughter wanted a picnic area cleared, I said I’d do it. I kept thinking of Robert Frost’s poem. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And work to do before I sleep, Too much work before I sleep. That motivated me to finish hooking up my #370 Weed Cutter. Wow! Does that thing work well………… It will cut up to 1½” thick, and push out of the way what it cuts. This attachment, designed for a non-RBT, presented more of problem than any other attachment I fitted to a RBT. It was designed to operate from a plain pulley mounted in front of the grill. Clutching was accomplished mechanically by loosening or tightening the belt. When I mounted it behind the grill on a RBT, there wasn’t room for the mechanical linkage. That problem was addressed by installing an electric clutch. So, now I have my weed cutter and sickle mounted together on the same tractor. A mean cutting machine, even with the hood off.
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Dutch, So now it's non-RBT instead of FDT... don't tell me that you're getting PC... Great before and after pictures... evidence of just how much work you can do with the right attachment on these garden tractors. Noticed you're running lugs all around... how do you like them on the front? The foot-draggin' Clubhouse Custodian...
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Dutch: Very cool--that bad boy can "chew" on 3 out of four sides.... Wow! I just went back, after realizing the scenic shots were "before" and "after" shots! Holy cow-what a difference. You must have run the chainsaw some in there, too, right? Can you operate the sicklebar vertically? More to the point, can I operate my (nonplanetary--it's about a 1960 vintage) in a vertical or near vertical position, off of my Landlord (1968?) or off of my Wonderboy 700? I have a couple hundred feet of hedges I'm responsible for. Once I ignore them long enough, I have to chainsaw them down again. I'd like to be able to run down the sides w/ the sickle, in a near-vert. position (or better yet--vertical!) and then only have to deal with the top of the hedge? Please tell me this is possible? Anybody else done something like this? Thanks again. Peter
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Peter, The sickle will operate above horizontal when raised with the lift. Don't know about full vertical, haven't had a reason to try it. Just chain yours up and turn it by hand to see if anything binds. Let us know........... Using the sickle on top of a hedge is easy. Just build a platform (like an elevated highway).
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Dutch: I will let you know, but that's a couple months off, at the rate I'm going (spread too thin right now). Hey, I already thought of the "elevated highway" for doing the top--a little impractical, but good humor, and I know you're j/k. But you gave me an idea: put the tractor on the back of one of my father's antique flatbed trucks, and drive the truck forward.... If the access were a little better, it just might tempt me. Peter
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I had no idea athat a weedcutter would work that well.I have a #370,was trying to sell it.Mabey I ought to mount her up,never have tried it.
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So what kind of blade are on that weed cutter?? I take from the name its intended for above ground cutting only, still looking for a means to tear this spagmum moss up with its mat of roots. Sure is nasty stuff on a tiller..MPH
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Marty, The Weed Cutter blades look like regular mower blades to me. Of course, the tips are exposed so you don't have a deck pushing the weeds down, plus saplings get "lopped" when the blades get them pushed up against the front panel. I have wanted to experiment by putting a bunch of old carbide saw blades on a shaft, spaced about 1" apart, and make a vertical cutter. Sounds like that could be a solution to your spagmum moss problem.
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Dutch: What will you use to hold/spin the shaft--a sacrificed snowblower, with the bottom of the auger housing opened up? Whatever it is, it better have a good "scatter shield." Have you considered mounting the individual blades like the blades on a "flail" mower, i.e., loosely, (pinned at one end only) so that they don't break off when the hit something immobile? Just a couple thoughts.... Peter
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Peter, An old snow blower or tiller housing would probably work. The blades would be center mounted just like they are on a saw. They could be held by fiction or be spring loaded. No keys, so they would stop if they hit a solid object. I haven't pursued the idea because the basic concept may be flawed or impractical. How long would a saw blade last? Would the shaft diameter be large enough? What I may try first is fitting flail blades on my revitalizer. There are already holes in the knives and there's room inside the housing.
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Marty, Why don't you remove the tines from your tiller (not really that nasty a job), and make up a couple of straight knives. If they work, make a whole set and cut up that spagmum moss with its mat of roots.
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Herb, I thought about usding saw blades last year before I bought the 18inch notched plow culters, which sortta do the job. Problem is a saw spins several thousand RPM, at the 300 hundred or so a tiller spins its real slow cutting. seems the best deal around here is a D6 or bigger..
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