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Hey all, before anyone says it Yes I know it is dangerous but I am the only one around when it gets used and I know I am not getting in front of it while it is running. Got the mower for $20s and found out that it ran. :smile: Then I cut the front up a bit so that the blade could meet the heavy weeds and brush first before the deck pushed them over. So far I have used it to trim down a bunch of over grown weeds and heavy grass on my farm. The area I used it is too rough and step for the rider to get into so I built this. Added the extra paint as additional warning incase someone else was near by but I keep a sharp eye out when I am using it. It has cut down 1 to 1 1/2 inch diameter saplings and thick stalked bull nettles. Needs a bit more work on the carb but I am happy with it.


Tom

Effective. The only thing is you took quite a bit of the structural integrity out to so be careful going over big bumps and running into things that metal could easily warp and bend.

And honestly it is not really that dangerous looking

When I cut off the front of the deck I left in the circular ring inside but cut away part in the front and then pushed the rest towards the side by the wheel mount areas which offer some support for those areas. If the deck breaks I will just find another one or get it welded up. Will keep an eye on that.
Tom

Not familiar with the base mower but for it's and your own personnal safety I strongly recommend fitting swing back type blades .
FWIW I have a 1964 up font slasher fitted to an anchient (1964 ) ride on.
basically a single circle deck on some long arms.
We use it for cutting down tussock grass as it slashes them clean off at ground level then the owner follows up with his Cub Cadet to recut the clumps of cut grass ( weeds really ).
Naturally it is totally illegal but several contrctors who have seen it bought second hand decks and modified them to take the 2.5mm heavy duty low flute Honda 19" swing back blades.
The mower it sits on is only 30" wide & I have sold a few of those 2nd hand as well.
The boys like them because they are low enough to cut the grass under the bottom fence wire and just wide enough to do a clearing run along both sides of a fence line so eliminates hours of trimmer work.
Original tractor had an optional dozer ( har har ) blade and the slasher attaches to it's mounting points so if you are interested you would be looking for a similar type of machine.

Bertsmobile1
The mower is a $25.00 (USD) SEARS Craftsman mower I bought from a mower repair shop. I have seen the swing type blades and may go to something like that one day. I just use the mower around my farm to mow areas I can't/will not take my rider into. Mostly around the water line at the pond. It mows water very well :biggrin:

Tom

i can see where you are coming from and bending the crank on a $ 25 machine is not much of a loss.
However having it flip because the solid bar hit something too hard & then you falling on it is not a pretty thought.
Even with a functioning blade brake / engine cut out still lots of sharp & hot things to land on.
\
I Can usually knock down saplings to about 3" but it is a self defeating exercise as the stumps still block the wheels and the old saw with the really dirty blade will knock them off to ground level a fair bit faster than the mower does in any case.
A little somthing you might like to keep in the back of your head as old 24" mowers tend to pop up a lot for scrap metal prices.

Bertsmobile1

Thank you very much for the pictures. I had been thinking along those lines for building a heavy duty grass mower for when the fields get out of control. Gives me lots of information as the pictures show me ways to solve problems I found. Those heavy "fly wheel" type blade work real well in the heavy grass/brush. Have heard of people installing two regular blades stacked on each other to increase mass and cutting blade numbers.
Thanks again

Tom

The deck in the photo is of course a side discharge unit but it is a really old design where the height adjustment is on the deck via a pair of jockey wheels like a push mower.
So the boys have cut the front off & welded up the side discharge hole then run some 1' angle back to mount it to the mower.

Some popped an electric PTO on the end of the engine shaft.
Most use it for a roughing mower. We get a lot of tussock grass around here and if it gets better than 6" tall only a full commercial or flail mower will touch it as most decks will simply ride over the tussocks.
I would imagine the USA is somewhat the same here where blokes see deck size like like a phalis ( Mine is bigger than yours ) so the small mowers with small decks end up as toys for the grandkids or tossed out onto clean up. Back in the 60's & 70's the mower companies came upon the perfect mower for blocks up to 1 acre, the 8/30 and if you though you needed more power the 10/30.
For some strange reason the averaage Joe with a 1/4 acre block now seems to think they need a 20/42 plus a 21" self propelled for places the 42" deck can not fit and then a 16" push for the places the 21" wont fit & finally a line trimmer.

I have the parts listing for that particular slasher if you would like me to post it

Ok , took a while but here it is.
Found 1/2 the parts list, the important bit with the pickies



It attached to the mower via the mounting shown as 35. It pivots from this mounting. The further back this is the better from stability and easier height adjustment.
The two walking stick shaped rods shown as 30 they go to the height adjuster.

It fits easiest to an old AYP type tractor with a deck height adjuster lever in front of the driver.
These have an arm with hangers on them that attach to the deck so when you put the angle iron on the top of whatever deck you choose to use you simply space them so the existing height adjusters will slip into a hole drilled in the rails.
It is a lot easier to do than it looks.
The round nosed side plates are important as these will touch the ground and become the anti scalp device. So they need to be able to skid along the ground.
On the original both sides were open but I have a latter version with the wrong side ( discharge ) closed in ( OH&S strikes again ) .
The belt keepers on the engine will need to be repositioned as they will be on the wrong side of the pulley as the pto belt now goes foreward not back.
An electric PTO clutch is highly recommended . On the original the deck is raised which allows the belt to go slack enough ( just ) to start the motor.
A blade disc with swing back blades is essential as if the blades hit something hard with the deck that far ahead of the tractor it could easily toss the whole mower if they can not swing back.
The heavy disc also stores a lot of energy which is handy for thick tussocks the saplings up to about 2" dia..

I use it here mostly for doing the fence lines, It is set so that when skidding on the ground the blades are at about a 2" cut height which make the mower low enough to cut under the bottom fence wire.
I have a cutting on the side of the road so after mowint the top, I come along with this to knock off the grasses growing in the cutting to the top embankment height so we can see the traffic when leaving the property.
Also it gets brought out for ferral tussocks in the pasture. These are so thick the real slasher on the real tractor can not cut them it rither rides over them or the pto safety clutch kicks in which makes it a very long slow job.
We have a flail mower which will in time get get pressed ito service but at present it is rusted up solid so it is a long term project.

Pumper54 said:

Bertsmobile1

Thank you very much for the pictures. I had been thinking along those lines for building a heavy duty grass mower for when the fields get out of control. Gives me lots of information as the pictures show me ways to solve problems I found. Those heavy "fly wheel" type blade work real well in the heavy grass/brush. Have heard of people installing two regular blades stacked on each other to increase mass and cutting blade numbers.
Thanks again

Tom

Click to expand...

Tom.
Murry & Norma both did mower decks like this ( don't know of any others ).
Both have available very heavy blades which should do the job just make sure they are not fluted as you do not want to waste any energy pumping wind.
Doubling up blades will require some sort of hard spacers on the bolts as swing back bolts are all shouldered to allow just enough clearence forthem to swing when necessary.
What is really important is to keep them sharp. I have a 1/2 dozen sets in use at any time and as soon as I feel the mower labouring too much I swap them over which is a breeze as you have clean access to both side of the blade bolts
The biggest problem I have with this set up is steering, you have to lift the slasher off the ground to turn corners and your turnng circle becomes really big.
And grass fouling on the dive belt.
I tried a couple of shrouds but they make it hard to go under the bottom fence wire and it's most useful purpose is clearing the fences, particularly now as we are in peak fire season and even a grass fire can do thousands of $ damage to the fence and that is before the cattle get out onto the road and start playing chicken with the cars.
A customer suggested mounting a leaf blower on the side and I am thinking of giving that a go.

Also remember you will end up with a lot of long grass stems which will need either raking ( burning/composting ) or remowing ( mulching ) if you are using the fields as pasture.

Thank you very much for the picture as that gives me a very clear idea of how the slasher is made. Now to learn how to weld and find the parts. LOL
Tom

No need for welding.
If you use 1" x 1" angle or bigger then all you need to do is drill a hole then file it square and bolt it together with coach bolts.
Heck you could even use old blade mounting bolts just file out the holes to fit the ends so the bolt is captive & can not turn

Pumper54 said:

Hey all, before anyone says it Yes I know it is dangerous but I am the only one around when it gets used and I know I am not getting in front of it while it is running. Got the mower for $20s and found out that it ran. :smile: Then I cut the front up a bit so that the blade could meet the heavy weeds and brush first before the deck pushed them over. So far I have used it to trim down a bunch of over grown weeds and heavy grass on my farm. The area I used it is too rough and step for the rider to get into so I built this. Added the extra paint as additional warning incase someone else was near by but I keep a sharp eye out when I am using it. It has cut down 1 to 1 1/2 inch diameter saplings and thick stalked bull nettles. Needs a bit more work on the carb but I am happy with it.
View attachment 23142 View attachment 23143

Tom

Click to expand...

That is so cool! You just solved a problem for me. :thumbsup:

That is so cool! You just solved a problem for me. :thumbsup:[/QUOTE]

Glad it helped you, was using it yesterday at the farm to clear out some over grown areas. Will cut Chinese Tallow trees up to about 2 inches if I go slow.Will try to post more pictures.
Tom

bertsmobile1 said:

No need for welding.
If you use 1" x 1" angle or bigger then all you need to do is drill a hole then file it square and bolt it together with coach bolts.
Heck you could even use old blade mounting bolts just file out the holes to fit the ends so the bolt is captive & can not turn

Click to expand...

I found an old steel bed frame on the side of the road and recovered the angle iron from it. I was thinking along the same lines: drill holes and bolt it together as it looks like most of the slasher was bolted together.
Tom

Bed frame angle will be perfect.
A man after my own heart.
Save the planet as well as your pocket, reuse old materials

Fwiw had something similar to this I customized a craftsman field trimmer with a b&s 6.0 when it was given to me the mounts for the trimmer line had been worn off (many many hours) so I removed the trimmer head, purchased a mower blade I found suitable, marked and drilled 2 mounting holes and mounted it with 2 grade 8 bolts and some loctite.the front is left open to tackle up to 2.5 in. Sapplings.As you said it is dangerous but if you're the only one around it doesn't really matter

MajorMerjil said:

Fwiw had something similar to this I customized a craftsman field trimmer with a b&s 6.0 when it was given to me the mounts for the trimmer line had been worn off (many many hours) so I removed the trimmer head, purchased a mower blade I found suitable, marked and drilled 2 mounting holes and mounted it with 2 grade 8 bolts and some loctite.the front is left open to tackle up to 2.5 in. Sapplings.As you said it is dangerous but if you're the only one around it doesn't really matter

Click to expand...

As long as you wear proper safety stuff I recommend chaps and a face mask at a min

Up date on my "brush mower" used it much of the fall and in the past month have done a bit of clearing around the farm. Mostly tall weeds and a few saplings. I hung a piece of heavy carpet from the handle bar as a debris shield and it is working but I plan to add additional bracing to it as it flies up at times. I need to replace the blade as the tips are worn down so that I only have a little bit forward of the housing left. Oh well blades are cheap. So far I am very happy with the way it has worked out for me. BTW I wear safety gear when ever I operate it: eyes and ears, long pants and boots.
Tom

Very cool Tom and yes exotion lots and lots of safety gear it also helps if they run off a belt from the motor to the spindle that holds the blade. That way if you hit something metal, wood, etc. The blade stops,Belt slips and you don't turn a blade into a frag grenade...nice setup tho Tom

I have in mind a few ideas I have gathered from here and other sites on a couple of attachments I would like to build. First thing I need to de is learn how to weld. If nothing more then tack the parts together and carry them to a real welder for final welding. Would love to build a three blade gang mower to tow behind my riding mower that would have its own engine, that way I could rough cut with it and then finish cut with the rider. I have seen a rough cut pusher mower that mounts to the front of the rider and operates off the riders motor. Would like to fab up a collector system for the rider to collect some of the grass from the field. Last year we thought about offering it up for haying by our neighbors if they wanted the hay. Too much time and not enough talent or money.
Tom

You need to go over to the tin man https://www.tinmantech.com if you really want to learn to weld.
Hire some gas gear, find some scrap and have a play.
Electric welding is actually easier to do but gas welding is a lot more forgiving to the novice and will help you understand the whole weld pool / puddle thing.. The worst thing you can do with gas is melt a hole or wack in too much heat and end up with a very soft weld.
I weld about 80 decks a year, oft repairing some one elses repair of some one elses repair & I do them all with gas so I know there is nice deep penetration and the weld is a bit soft so it will not crack again.
For the novice electric welding just happens way too quick for you to understand what is going on and gain control over the process.
Gas welding is nice and slow, you get to see the metal melting and the way the filler stick chills the puddle and how fast or slow to go as you watch the melt wet the surrounding metal and become one.
Once you have got the feel and learned to own the weld pool then you are ready to graduate to arc.
While I have both a stick welder & two sets of torches I usually do most repairs with the Dillon torch ( now called Cobra ).
If you really hae a lot of time then troll around Tin mans site & buy a couple of his DVD's.
He flogs some really good gear and it is not that expensive, not Harbour Freight prices but then it is a lot better than Harbour Freight as well.

In no time flat you will be convering all those busted mowers into obj'd'art and flogging them off left right & centre.
Office workers seem facinated with any htng that relates to manual work ( some thing they can not relate to ) and seem to like filling their houses with reminders of what manual work was all about, tastefully modified.

I can burn metal pretty good (using a gas ax) but can't join it. Spent almost 20 years fighting fires till I got hurt to many times and had to give it up. Not afraid to get my hands dirty and really do respect a craftsman's work. I have done a bit of construction and remodeling of mine and other houses. Have worked on my own motorcycles for the past 40+ years and have figured out a few things in my time so I think I can learn to weld. May not be MilSpec or NASA quality but good enough for me or to drag it to someone else. Thanks for the suggestion of learning gas first. I did try years ago with a friend but could never get the puddle right. Practice is what I need.
Tom

100% Tom,
it is all hand eye co-ordination and muscle memory.
So that means lots & lots of practice.
I used to run a courier company with a fleet of motorcycles equipped with a combined top box-pannier rplacing the rear 1/2 of the seat.
This required me to make a custom frame for it to sit on.
I very quickly learned to start withthe welds on the underside that no one could see & finish with the ones on the outside top.'
Despite having made about 30 of them over 5 years every time the first few welds all looked horrid while the latter ones looked like they were done by a pro.
At tech they stressed things like torch angles & rod angles & dipping/ dropping heights & positions.
In use all of it becomes some what irrelevant.
Initial heat up torch square on to job.
Once pool starts to form angle the torch & start dropping in filler.
the low pressure torches such as my Dillion seem to work better forehand while the full pressure torches work better back hand.

I nailed this find after cleaning out a building. A little work to get the mower running and it is a beast. I am more of a Deere guy.

Roesy65
How that looks like it could be fun to run around my farm on, I know lots of brush that I would go after. Any chance of getting a full side view of the mower from front to rear?
Tom

Pumper54 said:

Roesy65
How that looks like it could be fun to run around my farm on, I know lots of brush that I would go after. Any chance of getting a full side view of the mower from front to rear?
Tom

Click to expand...

Yeah. I will take one in the morning. It is for sale. Or going to be.

You selling the whole rig or just the brush cutter part? Long ways from Texas to Illinois but might be worth a drive if the price is right.
Tom

Added a "snorkel" to the intake on the brush mower to try to keep the filter clean. Used it the past few days cutting very tall grass and weeds at the farm and I must say it worked like a charm.



Tom

bertsmobile1 said:

The deck in the photo is of course a side discharge unit but it is a really old design where the height adjustment is on the deck via a pair of jockey wheels like a push mower.
So the boys have cut the front off & welded up the side discharge hole then run some 1' angle back to mount it to the mower.

Some popped an electric PTO on the end of the engine shaft.
Most use it for a roughing mower. We get a lot of tussock grass around here and if it gets better than 6" tall only a full commercial or flail mower will touch it as most decks will simply ride over the tussocks.
I would imagine the USA is somewhat the same here where blokes see deck size like like a phalis ( Mine is bigger than yours ) so the small mowers with small decks end up as toys for the grandkids or tossed out onto clean up. Back in the 60's & 70's the mower companies came upon the perfect mower for blocks up to 1 acre, the 8/30 and if you though you needed more power the 10/30.
For some strange reason the average Joe with a 1/4 acre block now seems to think they need a 20/42 plus a 21" self propelled for places the 42" deck can not fit and then a 16" push for the places the 21" wont fit & finally a line trimmer.

I have the parts listing for that particular slasher if you would like me to post it

Click to expand...

Sounds like me!

For years we used a '79 Snapper high vac with a 12hp 32" deck. It seemed to do the job. Even the grass catcher worked well. Then one day Mom ran the engine out of oil. Bottom seal leaked so I just added used oil to it before mowing. Well she did not know this and the engine locked up.

I was too cheap to buy a B&S so I opted for an 8 hp Tecumseh engine. This engine "worked" but did not have the balls to mow grass more than 4". Otherwise I would have to overlap what I had mowed and what I was trying to mow to prevent the engine from stalling which took twice as long. I used it at my house but constantly had to tinker with it to get it to mow. The rear wheel bearings were shot. Eventually the chain in the rear axle broke and the rear end locked up. It's been sitting at my scrap metal pile for about 7 years now.

The last Snapper I bought came with a B&S 14 hp engine. That engine threw a rod after about 4 years. It appeared the connecting rod nuts vibrated loose. Or they did not install Lock-Tite at the factory. I replaced with a Kohler 14hp engine until I sold it a couple of years ago.

So where is this going? I decided to buy a new mower about 6 years ago. I ended up buying a Husqvarna built riding mower from Sears (Craftsman). This mower has a 48" cut and a 21 hp engine. I really wanted a 42" cut because the doors on my yard barn are 48" and I have almost ripped the walls off the floor getting this thing in and out. But they marked the mower down a few hundred bucks so I got a good deal on it.

But by going from a 32" deck to a 48" deck, I have knocked about 1 hours off my mowing time. I mow about 3 acres of land.

Like you mention, now I have a mower with a larger deck but cannot get it in places where I could get my Snapper. Plus the Husqvarna has terrible traction on hills. So I have to use my self propelled push mower to mow on some banks and tight places.

I have Zoysia grass in my yard my grandfather plugged about 40 years ago. I always thought it was a week like Kudzu because it chokes out any other type of grass. It even seems to choke out Bermuda grass.

I just looked it up and it says its found in Asia and Australia. That explains allot. People wonder why I don't start mowing until late April. Well this stuff turns brown through the winter and does not green up until it hits 85 F for several weeks. No matter how much rain we get, it grows much slower than other grasses. Which is good because I only have to mow my yard about every 2 weeks where other people have to mow twice a week.

Nice simulated flame paint job on the front end! Not being sarcastic or anything.

turbofiat124

LMAO I never thought about doing a flame job, I was just using up some rattle cans I had laying around. Color scheme is based on the color of fire hoses used in the fire department I was with, Green at the truck to white to yellow to red at the nozzle end, that way you could tell about where you were by the color of the hose. Red being the really dangerous part. But now that you say that it does look a bit like a flame job.
Tom

You may have read where I welded the axle to the deck on my yardman to save $70 from buying that plastic support piece. I did not have any green paint and was too cheap to pay $4.00 for a can of it at Wal-Mart. So I used some black spray paint to keep it from rusting. I think I'm going to do a red, orange and yellow flame job on the front of my Yardman for kicks.

That would be cool, how about a "shark mouth" paint job.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61VeZeNsV9L._SX522_.jpg

Tom

While working on some of my other mowers I decided to paint some flames on my old Yardman mower. I used some red, yellow and orange spray paint. The front end flames did not turn out as well as I had hoped but the only other thing I have ever painted flames on was the factory air cleaner box on my Fiat 124 Spider before I turbocharged it.

Just like anything it takes practice.





I think the side flames I think turned out better:



I've seen some "flame jobs" where the tips are red and some are yellow. So I guess it doesn't really matter.

I suppose if I used my hobby air brush instead of cans of spray paint would produce a better result.

Not a bad job for using rattle cans. Far better then anything I could do.
Tom

Nice job on the flames! Reminds me of a Craftsman mower I painted: http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/showthread.php/34954-Mower-Restoration

Had to do an engine swap on my brush mower due to an oil leak under the engine. I screwed up when making the video when I reset the camera and it did not record the actual work to remove and replace the engine(s). That operation went remarkably well, undo 4 bolts on the old mower, 3 bolts on the new engine, swap engine and run up 3 bolts. And it runs! LOL Hope you can enjoy the video.


Tom

Pumper54 said:

Hey all, before anyone says it Yes I know it is dangerous but I am the only one around when it gets used and I know I am not getting in front of it while it is running. Got the mower for $20s and found out that it ran. :smile: Then I cut the front up a bit so that the blade could meet the heavy weeds and brush first before the deck pushed them over. So far I have used it to trim down a bunch of over grown weeds and heavy grass on my farm. The area I used it is too rough and step for the rider to get into so I built this. Added the extra paint as additional warning incase someone else was near by but I keep a sharp eye out when I am using it. It has cut down 1 to 1 1/2 inch diameter saplings and thick stalked bull nettles. Needs a bit more work on the carb but I am happy with it.
View attachment 23142 View attachment 23143

Tom

Click to expand...

Well, that's impressive. I am surprised by your quality work.

RjMaan said:

Well, that's impressive. I am surprised by your quality work.

Click to expand...

Thanks, and it is fun tearing up stuff with it. 5-7 foot tall weeds and grasses that are out of control and have not been mowed in years.
Tom

I guess that is ok for a small area but I prefer my Landpride (Great Plains 86" rear mount 3 point rear mount chopper. It eats 3" diameter trees no problem. Of course it takes about 85 horse to run it too. Not lawnmower sized.