Bush Hogs for Dummies

Perhaps the greatest weakness of Demand Media's eHow.com model was that the founders fervently believed that any writer could address any topic with a little research. Well, they probably realize that was utter bull, but didn't care because their way could make them boatloads of bucks. Whatever the reason, however, the website was infamous for the failure of its writers to connect to reality. That's what happened when Glenda Taylor (also known as Glyn Sheridan) tried to explain "How Does a Tractor Work With a Bush Hog?"; now available at CareerTrend.com.¹

Like many an eHow.com contributor, Taylor's background is in journalism; so it's a fair assumption that she's never used a Ford 8N with a bush hog mounted on the back to mow a forty-acre field. Well, we have someone here who has... and he says that Glenda is full of it.

The main reason he believes Taylor is full of it is found in her second paragraph, "Power Takeoff":

"The Bush Hog mower uses hydraulic technology from the tractor to power its rotary blades. Hydraulic power is derived from fluid under pressure, which is driven by the force of the tractor's engine. On a tractor, the power takeoff (PTO) is a port at the rear of the tractor, where an accessory (such as a Bush Hog mower) attaches by way of a rotating shaft."

It appears that Glenda got confused while performing a copy-reword-paste job on something that made sense, because that certainly doesn't! A rotary mower (Bush Hog® is a brand name) is usually mounted on a three-point hitch that allows the operator to raise and lower the deck via hydraulics. The power takeoff, however is NOT hydraulic: it's a splined driveshaft connected to the tractor's engine via the transmission.

Taylor's confusion about the PTO continues throughout:

"With the engine running, hydraulic pressure will build to the PTO and the tractor operator will operate a hand lever and engage the Bush Hog."

Ummm, no: the PTO is mechanical, not hydraulic – hydraulic PTOs are pretty much limited to commercial trucks. The hitch operates via hydraulics; perhaps that's where Taylor got confused? We aren't really sure, since Taylor / Sheridan didn't publish her supposed references, but her "resources" include a Chinese lawn tractor site. Need we say more to convince you that Glenda deserves to be our Dumbass of the Day?

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how-does_5003097_tractor-work-bush-hog.html

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