Anybody use a rear-end shredder?

TXZane · Apr 25, 2015

The topic of truck rear-end shredders came up in another thread and there is a lot of interest in the subject because a lot of people have never seen them. My boss gave me two to use for a while. I have 1 regular mower and 1 lead mower which has 1 hitch on each side so that it can pull 2 more. Most of these mowers I have seen have the non-directional military tires and everybody I have talked to about them pretty much said they are made out of WWII surplus trucks. Mine have a lever so that the gears can be put in neutral for transport and also have a high and low range. The low range seems to turn at about the same speed as a PTO mower when going a reasonable speed. The high gear is too high for grass. The tires just slide along the ground, which probably could be corrected with better tires and more weight. Each of my mowers has a 7' cut. It's too wet right now for me to find out how wide the cut is when I hook 2 or 3 together. I was hoping I could use the third mower but I'm not sure if my 400 can pull it. My boss doesn't think so but I sure want to try it.

carl reitnauer · Apr 25, 2015

How were they put in neutral? Was the 2 speed simply put between gears? Here in SW Fl still run into ones built with half ton pickup rears,always in gear,generally just left in one field.

CenTex Farmall · Apr 25, 2015

These are such a great idea. A 38" tire and 3rd gear on the 400 should give around 340 rpm, assuming about an 8:1 ratio for the axle. That should work out about right considering a 7 foot cut over a typical 5 foot cut.

It's up-cycling before up-cycling was cool. (Sounds kinda like a country song)

BarryfromIA · Apr 25, 2015

OSHA approved!

TXZane · Apr 26, 2015

There is a lever that moves the gears back and forth. It really only locks in high or low. It is held in between with a piece of metal so that it stays in neutral.

rankrank1 · Apr 26, 2015

Those are very neat mowers. Never even seen anything like that until your original post in the Farmall forum.

I bet they work well in hot arid climates like Texas and Florida, That said I bet they would struggle in tall, lush, dense grass or dense weeds in climates of high humidity where things simply do not dry out well. In these conditions having high blade speed in conjunction with a slow ground speed (or even the ability to stop the ground speed if you have live PTO) is a huge advantage that a PTO powered mower does provide.

I love the ingeniuity though and I bet 3 of those things hooked side to side together will be quite the site when you try it.

Dbpmitch · Aug 19, 2016

(quoted from post at 15:47:44 04/25/15) The topic of truck rear-end shredders came up in another thread and there is a lot of interest in the subject because a lot of people have never seen them. My boss gave me two to use for a while. I have 1 regular mower and 1 lead mower which has 1 hitch on each side so that it can pull 2 more. Most of these mowers I have seen have the non-directional military tires and everybody I have talked to about them pretty much said they are made out of WWII surplus trucks. Mine have a lever so that the gears can be put in neutral for transport and also have a high and low range. The low range seems to turn at about the same speed as a PTO mower when going a reasonable speed. The high gear is too high for grass. The tires just slide along the ground, which probably could be corrected with better tires and more weight. Each of my mowers has a 7' cut. It's too wet right now for me to find out how wide the cut is when I hook 2 or 3 together. I was hoping I could use the third mower but I'm not sure if my 400 can pull it. My boss doesn't think so but I sure want to try it.

b:cb3ea1f4c3][/b:cb3ea1f4c3]

Yes!!! I'm 61. When I was a boy (about 10 all the way to college) one older man (Kelton Willoughby, a great man who mentored me) and I mowed 1000 acres twice a year and did all the yard work on a big ranch, just the two of us. How? We each had a set of truck rear-end shredders behind our Ford tractors. We pulled them in random, one behind the tractor, then another on the left side, and another on the right side behind the original truck rear-end. They pulled great even through tall weeds (in Texas, so pretty dry), and we could line them up in single file to go through gates or gaps. Nothing like it, we would follow each other and be done before you know it. Don't fall asleep and fall off though!

Anybody use a rear-end shredder?

TXZane

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carl reitnauer

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CenTex Farmall

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BarryfromIA

Well-known Member

TXZane

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rankrank1

Well-known Member

Dbpmitch

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