topper for dexta

[hooger]

I was told by an old guy to never buy a topper that's wider than your rear wheels!

[Gavin]

Personally I think the exact opposite

[Jerry Coles]

You should buy a topper that can be offset to be outside you tyre track to either side by using a steady bar on your 3pt linkage. The bar also stops the topper swinging over when turning on a slope.
IMHO
Jerry

[Cvans]

Personally can't see where it makes any difference what width the topper is. More important to use one that doesn't overload the tractor and allows you to operate at a reasonable ground speed. Seems that 7 horse power per foot would be a reasonable. European ratings may be different.

[Gavin]

I find that a narrow topper means you can't get close to hedges and fences and you flatten more grass with back wheels than if the topper is wider than the tractor. Add to this the extra time taken doing the job. I far prefer to use my 8ft flail to the 6ft topper.

[john.n]

I have found it suits what I will use it for. not normally as dense as in the pictures. but if it will cut that it will cut anything.
the dexta sounded very healthy after some heavy work with the topper though.
Regards,
John

[Bensdexta]

I far prefer to use my 8ft flail.

What flail do you use?
Is the axis of rotation vertical (jungle buster?) or horizontal?
Have you a pic?

[Gavin]

Hi Ben,

It is a Twose Node Nipper and has a horizontal rotation. Will try and find a pic I know I have one somewhere but the Super Dexta would never cope with it. It weighs 750kg and is a bloody big lump of a machine and my 4610 will only run it on flat ground (manufacturer's spec is 80 to 100HP ). Still it is good for running in the 4610 engine and giving it a workout . I am looking for something a bit smaller as by next year I hope to have the worst of our land under control and it was bought specifically for this purpose.

[Kiwi Kev]

Here's a picture of my flail mower.

In the rectangle hole on the RH side, you can slide a mulch bar in, which makes it double chop the cut grass.
Kiwi Kev

[Ploughman]

I'm using a Major 6' topper on my Dexta and think this is about as big as you can reasonably go with a Dexta. The Major topper requires a 30-60hp. tractor and my Dexta handles it well provided the growth is no too thick and too long. Up to about 12" high is no problem but after that the Dexta struggles a bit and I need to change down to 2nd. low to keep the engine revs up to 1550rpm which gives 540rpm at the PTO. I get round this by setting the topper higher leaving about 5" of growth remaining and in a really bad patch only cutting about half width. Even doing this I have had a couple of shear bolts let go. The answer really is to cut regularly and then the Dexta with a 6' topper is fine. I bought the 6' topper because it is semi-offset which is much better for getting close into the edge of fields particularly where you want to cut close to a fence line. Obviously this isn't really possible with a 5' topper.

Hope my experience helps anybody who is undecided about the size of topper to buy.

Regards

Alan

[dewaltdisney]

Hi John,

I have an old and broken Votex topper under tarps that is the same as your one. If you need any spares you are welcome to strip anything you want although I appreciate it is a bit of a trip from where you are to me.

Cheers

DWD

[Cvans]

I'd say the your Dexta is doing good considering the jungle your cutting
A 6ft. topper takes a lot of power. If you cut it earlier next time it will go a lot faster.