Heard a old timer at the diner say he runs his cutterhead at 40% less RPM than spec

I always thought you had to follow the manual exactly, but he said he gets way less wear on his bearings and still pulls the same yardage. Makes me wonder if I'm overworking my machine for no reason. Anyone else play around with running slower?

3 comments

3 Comments

hernandez.gavin12d ago

Yeah but running it that slow can mess with your cut quality if you're doing anything thicker than light brush. I tried dropping my RPMs about 20% once to save fuel and the chips came out all stringy and ragged. Had to bump it back up. The old timer might be getting away with it if he's just doing grass and small saplings, but for bigger material you need that tip speed to get clean cuts. Bearings are cheap compared to replacing a whole drum because you burnt up the belts or snapped a shaft from lugging it too hard.

craig.olivia12d ago

Exactly what I was thinking. Nothing like making a bunch of ropy, stringy chips that look like a confused barber shop floor to save a couple cents on diesel. Plus that lugging the machine down just hammers the pto shaft splines and the gearbox hard enough to make a grown man cry. I'd rather swap bearings every other season than explain to the wife why the whole cutter needs a trip to the welder.

logan27112d ago

You used to think bearings were the least of your worries, @hernandez.gavin, but that old timer's logic actually makes sense.