Looking at buying a oliver cletrac crawler to help skid as well as bushhog around my place. Currently, I am using a 47 Farmall B with a 5ft bushhog that has 18 hp. I understand that the cletrac oliver smaller crawlers have about 20 hp. Just curious how they like to pull a 5ft bushhog on hilly terrain. I got some steeper places around that the B likes to rare up, etc. Thanks for you input.
I had a neighbor who did that along the river. He had a chance to pick up an OC-6 which is more power and has a live PTO so he used that then. Also a place I stoped at in West Virginia used one because of the hills.
If you get a tractor without a live PTO, I would highly recommend getting an overrunning clutch for the PTO.
Blake, what is an overrun clutch for the pto? My B, when I push in the clutch with the bushhog, the tractor continues in the forward direction until the mower stops. Got my heart going a bit a couple times because usually it happens when the front end is already on its way up. Is this what the overrun clutch controls? What is the difference in a live pto? I am guessing that a live pto, the shaft continues to spin even with the clutch pedal depressed?
Yes, you are correct about the live PTO. With a non-live PTO, the PTO is geared to the transmission, so when you push the clutch in, the inertia of the blades keeps the PTO shaft spinning and keeps driving the tractor forward until the blades stop (or until you can frantically pull the transmission out of gear). The overrunning clutch is simply a ratchet-type coupler that goes between the PTO on the tractor and the PTO shaft on the implement. If you output shaft is 1.125", you can buy overrunning clutches to adapt up to the standard 1.375".
Learn something everyday. Thanks Blake for info. Really enjoy the site.
Thanks!