Offset Hitch Lets Farmer Mow Ditches Safely HITCHES Hitches 24-4-27 Todd and Dwayne Dennis, Rosser, Manitoba, had a municipal ditch mowing contract but they were concerned about the rollover risk involved on steep roadsides. To solve the problem, they built an offset hitch for their rotary mower which lets the tractor stay on the road when cutting down the sides of the ditch. The mower is a 7-ft. wide, 5-blade rotary Lely 305 hitch-mounted unit. They use a Ford 6600 tractor. They first built a square tubing box frame that mounts on the tractor's original 3-pt. A caster wheel mounts at the right rear outer edge. The mower reattaches to the outer ditch side of the new frame. Nothing was changed on the original mower so it can be easily put back into its original position for the first cut. The new frame actually mounts in the middle of the original frame. The switch to side mowing takes only a couple minutes. When the new frame is in place, one original upright bracket is not used. For the switch back, the new frame is dropped, the upright goes back and the mower reconnects as original. The same pto driveshaft is used for both settings, as the original shaft and over-running clutch remain untouched. An additional pulley is added to extend the belt drive over to the new mower position. For road transport, the outer link disconnects quickly and the caster wheel lets the mower trail out behind. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Todd Dennis, Box 35, Rosser, Manitoba, Canada R0C 1E0 (ph 204 467-5091).

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