Author Topic: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail  (Read 50384 times)

Offline awemawson

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #100 on: August 01, 2014, 01:10:35 PM »
OK Steve - you asked for it  :lol:
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline Manxmodder

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #101 on: August 08, 2014, 12:40:46 AM »
Uckfield is 22 miles from us Matthew - drop by any time you are there visiting

Thanks, I will although I can't see it happening in the too near future! It would be nice to have a face and a place to relate to.

Regards, Matthew

It's the only place in East Sussex where the Leylandii have been skillfully sculpted to look like topiary amputees,you can't miss it  :lol: :lol:...OZ. 
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Offline awemawson

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #102 on: August 08, 2014, 03:16:54 AM »
Oz, I'd dearly like to fell the lot of them and replace with an indigenous species hedge, but there are masses of them.

Trouble is we need the shade in summer and windbreak in winter that they give and any replacement would take at least 5 years to grow. The previous owners ran a greyhound training establishment here, and planted them to hide their activities from a public footpath that runs one field across.
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Online Spurry

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #103 on: August 08, 2014, 07:13:46 AM »
You seem to have a few more than the 50 odd 40ft leylandii we chopped down along one of our borders. Heaving the roots out (and their disposal) was a bigger problem than the trees. :-)
Still, our neighbours are now happy having endured the darkness since they moved in.
Pete

Offline awemawson

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #104 on: August 08, 2014, 08:51:34 AM »
We grubbed out about 200 when we were ditching a few years back. The problem is once they get above a certain height they are the devil of a job to contain. I understand that there is no known upper height limit for them, since the hybrid was created no one has yet let them go full height over a sufficiently long period.

When we came here I put a advert in the local paper for 'pick you own leylandii - free' - quite a few were dug up this way but people found it quite a job to extract them with a root ball despite the fact they were probably only 3 years old at the time. I wish I'd had the time (and cash) to pull them all out and as previously said, plant an indigenous species hedge.

We have planted 100 metres of mixed Blackthorn, Whitethorn, Alder, Willow, Crab Apple and Rambling Rose and I have another 100 metres to do at the back end of the year of a similar make up
« Last Edit: August 08, 2014, 09:45:36 AM by awemawson »
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline Pete W.

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #105 on: August 08, 2014, 09:19:52 AM »
When I moved into my previous house, there were 45 Leylandii, up one side of the 40-foot back garden, across the bottom and back down the other side. 
They'd been topped at about 10 feet high but had fought back by growing outwards!  The foliage from the two sides almost met in the middle. 

I asked the neighbours if they were happy for me to remove them.

The folks one side (keen gardeners) said 'Yes please, then we might be able to get stuff to grow nearer than 7 feet from the fence.'   :bang:   :bang:   :bang:   

The folks the other side (who had a rather nice German Shepherd) said 'well, yes, but you do realise that it's the Leylandii that are holding up the fence, don't you?!?!'.

I removed as much foliage and small branches as I could and cut the main trunks down to about 4 feet high.  A friend lent me a Tirfor winch (is that how I should spell it?).  A wonderful device - front cable to the top of the trunk, back cable to the foot of the clothes-line post(steel scaffold pipe, concreted in) and out they came, the trunk pulled over and then the roots just rolled out.
Mind you, after half an hour with a Tirfor winch, you know you've done some aerobic exercise!   :doh:   :Doh:   :doh:   :Doh: 

It took eleven journeys in my Ford escort estate car to take the foliage to the local tip (oops, sorry, 'Household Waste Recycling Centre'!!).   :lol:   :lol:   :lol: 
Best regards,

Pete W.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you haven't seen the latest design change-note!

Offline Bluechip

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #106 on: August 08, 2014, 01:54:48 PM »

I removed as much foliage and small branches as I could and cut the main trunks down to about 4 feet high.  A friend lent me a Tirfor winch (is that how I should spell it?).

 

Turfer Pete  :thumbup:

Used them in ancient times for heaving oil-cooled armoured cable about ... and yup, I do seem to remember they were character building ... IIRC you heaved the lever through about a 3 foot arc to gain about an inch or so of travel ... which was a bit of a bu99er if you had 50 yards of cable ...

Dave

I have a few modest talents. Knowing what I'm doing isn't one of them.

Offline awemawson

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #107 on: August 08, 2014, 03:01:43 PM »
Sorry to disagree, but mine says TIRFOR on the side of it

http://www.tractel.com/en/series.php?id_serie=47

As you say you know when you've used one for a period. The father of a friend of mine got my 17 foot Ifor Williams trailer stuck at the bottom of a hill in a field when it was full of logs. I winched it 45 foot up a hill before the wire rope would reach my Land Rover on firm ground and I could pull it. The Tirfor gives about 1/2" of progress for each pull - 45 x 12 x 2 = 1080 backwards and forwards pumps, I was totally knackered for two days  :bang:
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline Pete W.

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #108 on: August 08, 2014, 03:52:47 PM »
Dave and Andrew,

Thanks for that - I'm so glad it wasn't just me getting old!!   :ddb:   :ddb:   :ddb: 

On the subject of anno domini, my lovely but shy assistant got an email from a relative of hers and forwarded it to me.  It's a link to a YouTube performance of a song that goes 'I don't look good naked anymore!'. 
I'd post the link but there's a rude bit in the middle!!   :lol:   :lol:   :lol: 
Best regards,

Pete W.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you haven't seen the latest design change-note!

Offline Bluechip

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #109 on: August 08, 2014, 04:30:27 PM »
Andrew ..

Tirfor must be a trade mark then. I remember the thing we used had something like  ' The Samson Turfer' made in  ' Smethwick' cast on the side of it.

Damn thing weighed about a hundredweight in it's own right. Little wonder it never got swiped 'cos other stuff did ...  :ddb:

http://www.htsdirect.co.uk/products/lifting-gear/cable-pullers-turfers/

Described here as a 'Turfer' so we're both right and Pete owes us a pint each I reckon ...

Dave
I have a few modest talents. Knowing what I'm doing isn't one of them.

Offline awemawson

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #110 on: August 08, 2014, 04:52:08 PM »
I suspect that the answer is that the patent has expired, but the registered name hasn't. Tirfor seems to be the original. Mine is ex War Department and as you say they weigh an absolute ton. They'll do things in a very controlled manner that you can't by other means. But you need the biceps of Superman  :ddb:
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline awemawson

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #111 on: November 08, 2020, 06:59:15 AM »
I had a nasty experience with the hedge flail a few weeks ago :bugeye:

I had done two 'passes' down the north hedge in the ten acre field, and was two thirds of the way on the third pass 'facing up' the hedge ie with the axis of the flail drum vertical when there was the most almighty bang and I was covered in cubic safety glass crystals. All a bit traumatic! Shaking somewhat I climbed down to inspect what I'd hit and hence what had hit me.

One of the chestnut  spiles  in the fence that fronts the hedge must have been tilted forward at an angle - I was trimming back an overgrowth of blackberry that had erupted over the fence and into the field and had successfully missed all the others  :med: The top 18" of chestnut had totally disintegrated into missiles that the flail chucked in my direction. The top wire in this fence is barbed wire which was broken but fortunately none detached or hit me.



So - what to do? Well the 4 mm safety glass is available for this tractor for about £150 plus probably needs new rubbers, but that only gets me back to the vulnerable position that I was in before. I know - I'll fit 6 mm Polycarbonate - if it's good enough for police riot shields which are only 5 mm then it's good enough for me.

Two suitable sheets ordered up (Part On Tools King's Norton via eBay) for £127 and some Dow Corning 799 special glazing squirty stuff certified for polycarbonate also ordered.

Polycarbonate sheet arrived two weeks late (so I missed the dry weather :bang:) and badly scratched UNDER the various packing layers which were undamaged. Seller swears blind that he has pictures of sheets before dispatch but never produced them ! After MANY shenanigans I eventually get a refund from eBay and re-order sheets from Trent Plastics that arrive next day in perfect condition and by the very same courier!

Where's the glue? "Oh sorry we meant to message you - can't get it any more so we cancelled your order"  :bang: Some more ordered from another seller that arrived the very next day  :clap:

OK we have glue, we have polycarbonate so set too. Fixing the uncut sheets against the cab and the door with bungee cords spaced off with a rolled towel I was able to trace round the window frames with a sharpie and cut with a jig saw - a few iterations and I got a perfectly respectable fit.

Now the temperatures have plunged. Minus 3 C in the tractor shed - glue needs minimum of 5 degrees C apparently. As the sun came round and eventually shone into the shed the temperature came up to about 4 degrees - what to do. Well I started the tractor engine and once warmed left it on a fast idle while I had breakfast.

Weetabix finished the temperature was now 6 degrees in the shed and climbing so I was good to go when the exhaust fumes cleared (!) Glue squirted on, cut panels again held in place by bungee cords and rolled towels and leave it for a few days to cure.

That takes me to this morning - now I've always wanted to fix mesh grills on this side of the cab to stop this sort of incident. Poking around in the welding shop I came across the mesh side panels that I removed from the furnace chiller unit that failed - they looked about the right size!

Sure enough the cab window is perfectly covered by one and the door window is very largely covered just leaving a small triangle exposed. I've bent up 'hangers' that are pop riveted to the top of the door and above the cab window, and the heavy mesh engages with them so at the moment only gravity is keeping them in place.

Next job is to devise a hold down method that is easy to release to clear debris from behind them yet stout enough to survive the odd blow from a flying fence post!



Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline hermetic

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #112 on: November 08, 2020, 08:53:41 AM »
Like the safety grilles Andrew! there is a product line there somewhere! I know its a bit of a faf, but you could tig a bit of extra mesh over that corner, and with a dab of galvafroid, no one would ever know!
PS I am well "on the spectrum"
Phil
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Offline vtsteam

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #113 on: November 08, 2020, 10:43:54 AM »
Good idea, Andrew.  :beer: 

That scratched polycarbonate was ridiculous! Reminds me of the "bevel gears" I got recently!  :doh:
I love it when a Plan B comes together!
Steve
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Offline awemawson

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #114 on: November 14, 2020, 10:18:14 AM »
I've been awaiting for some 'over centre' latches to fix the lower edge of mesh on the cab, and they arrived today. I'd intended to remove the D shaped end, and replace it with a hook that would catch the mesh and hold it in place. In the event it turned out that the geometry was such that I'd have to make 'stand off' brackets for the catches, and I thought if I'm going to have to do that I might as well use a standard 6 mm Lynch Pin - a far more agricultural solution  :ddb:

So I needed to form some channel shaped brackets - 37 mm between cheeks. Now it's not possible to bend this shape on the box and pan folder as the second bend is interfered with by the bending fingers. I have the 60 ton press, but no tooling, and it seemed an awful fag to make tooling for only four brackets - so what have I that I can press into  service?

I picked my old shaping vice - I'd replaced the jaws years back when I had a shaper and they are in nice square edged condition - could I press a square bar between them and form a channel section - a few rough and ready experiments said yes I could - so I did  :lol:

Came out alright considering the crude method of manufacture. I clipped the corners off the upper part of the brackets to allow a standard Lynch Pin to be used and they have fitted on relatively easily.

At least now I can use the tractor when things dry up a bit.

Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline vtsteam

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #115 on: November 14, 2020, 04:32:31 PM »
Cool bending idea!  :dremel:
I love it when a Plan B comes together!
Steve
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Offline tom osselton

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Re: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail
« Reply #116 on: November 14, 2020, 04:42:29 PM »
 :beer: Nice fix I wouldn’t have thought of that.