Best medium dutyBatwing Mower

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/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #1  

chevy454

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I have about 120 acres of hilly pasture in southeast ohio I mow with my Kubota M8540. Using my 6' woods brushbull 720 takes too long! I want to get a 15' batwing. Which one is best? My woods 720 is tough so I was thinking of woods BW180 but I have seen negative reviews about woods batwings from a few years ago.

Are negative comments about brands simply brand-based like Chevy versus Ford or are there real differences? When I look at specs for various brands they all seem to be the same based on light, medium, heavy duty.

Looking for advice on brands, chain guards versus rubber, laminated versus ac tires, and number of wheels.

Thanks in advance for any help
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #2  
I have about 120 acres of hilly pasture in southeast ohio I mow with my Kubota M8540. Using my 6' woods brushbull 720 takes too long! I want to get a 15' batwing. Which one is best? My woods 720 is tough so I was thinking of woods BW180 but I have seen negative reviews about woods batwings from a few years ago.

Are negative comments about brands simply brand-based like Chevy versus Ford or are there real differences? When I look at specs for various brands they all seem to be the same based on light, medium, heavy duty.

Looking for advice on brands, chain guards versus rubber, laminated versus ac tires, and number of wheels.

Thanks in advance for any help


I'm partial to Bush Hog products. IMHO, the best bang for the buck (buckS....Lots of bucks) is the 2615L. I've got 2 of them and 3 2715L's that are used to mow highway right-of-ways.


My experience with Woods batwings is ALL negative. Gearbox/driveline failures, deck hinge failures, and an over-all failure of Woods to step up to the plate when dealing with warranty issues. I've heard the same old story from several others who TRIED Woods batwings.


Bush Hog is now owned by Alamo Group. That's the same folks who market Rhino, Shulte, and Alamo commercial grade batwings. They have a splendid rep in the industry. I've been assured that Bush Hog's operation will remain essentially the same for the forseeable future. The name is too valuable to let it venture very far from home.

Chains are best. To get the MOST out of a mower, you need good air flow along with high lift blades. Chains allow that air movement. Rubber gaurds inhibit the air flow somewhat. Chains also allow flying object a way to exit from under the mower, in a CONTROLLED manner, so the blades done continue to beat the object into submission.

I like laminated wheels personally, but the nature of my business dictates pneumatic tires. (actually FOAM FILLED tires) I move my mowers on-road quite a bit. Laminated tires just don't lend themselves to that chore.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #3  
We had a Woods offset for a few years, got it at a auction, both gear boxes had been rebuilt. When looking for a mower it seems that all the gear boxes had been rebuilt at one time or another and if the guy who set them up did it wrong they were not going to last. I guess the lash has to be set just right and run them and then recheck the lash. Mine worked great but I would not buy another one.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #4  
Kodiak makes a nice 15' batwing cutter - all of their models are built well and compare favorably to others...with a nice fit and finish to boot. And they are affordable.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #5  
I think Bush Hog is a solid brand. I致e been happy with my 297 but with 130 acres in CRP and limited time I upgraded to a batwing. I had narrowed my search to the 2615 or 2715 until my Kubota dealer said he could do zero % for 42 months if I purchased a Land Pride with my M9540. After further research, I went with the RC 5515 and have been extremely pleased.

My neighbor has a 2615L that is almost 10 years old and still going strong. But even he says my 5515 cuts better and without windrows than his 2615 ever did.

I have lots of holes, swells and a creek I mow a path across but the standard tire set up has worked just fine for me. I did not get the dual rears or tandem wheel option. I like the laminated tires after 2 flats on my tractor this summer, kinda wish they were laminated too J. If you have to transport your batwing very far though, the laminated won稚 hold up on the roads as well as other options.

I like the smooth & curved Land Pride top for easy cleaning/water runoff. I suggest the CV driveline and slip clutch as well great turning radius and no shear bolts to replace.

I spent a bit more and am very glad I went with the heavy-duty cutter. I致e hit some stuff in the tall grass (tire, old fence post, etc) that I知 not sure a light duty cutter would have survived. It痴 amazing how the extra weigh and inertia of the HD cutter just slices through thick stuff. My 297 would either start slipping the clutch or bog down my tractor, but the HD batwing just powers on through like it has it痴 own engine.

I don稚 know anything about Woods other than what I致e read here. Good luck!
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #6  
I certainly understand your feelings about 6' cutters, LOL. I got tired of that slow process too and just upgraded to a 2515 Bushhog batwing. So far, it's been wonderful, but I only have 13 hours on it. I had to upgrade tractors too, went with a M9540.

Ken
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #7  
I'm partial to Bush Hog products. IMHO, the best bang for the buck (buckS....Lots of bucks) is the 2615L. I've got 2 of them and 3 2715L's that are used to mow highway right-of-ways.
Me too, i think Bush hog made the best mowers around (see below)

Bush Hog is now owned by Alamo Group. That's the same folks who market Rhino, Shulte, and Alamo commercial grade batwings. They have a splendid rep in the industry. I've been assured that Bush Hog's operation will remain essentially the same for the forseeable future. The name is too valuable to let it venture very far from home.

Not anymore.
Rhino is junk, they wouldn't stand behind their product (at all, for even simple things) and I won't touch 'em.
Now, I guess bush hog is no more for me.

I will admit I've beat the living tar out of my landpride mower and it's still going and going. Probably where I"ll go for a heavy duty one since BushHog is no more.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #8  
Me too, i think Bush hog made the best mowers around (see below)



Not anymore.
Rhino is junk, they wouldn't stand behind their product (at all, for even simple things) and I won't touch 'em.
Now, I guess bush hog is no more for me.

I will admit I've beat the living tar out of my landpride mower and it's still going and going. Probably where I"ll go for a heavy duty one since BushHog is no more.

OK....You brought this up, so here goes.....You know me....I don't pull punches.


You took light duty, low end, economy grade Rhino single spindle mowers and tried to use it for continuous commercial use. I'd EXPECT it to fall apart, and would have been amazed at any results otherwise. I'm absolutely certain any Alamo/Rhino rep that you'd ask would have told you the same thing going in. Then your DEALER wasn't strong enough to get results with what you perceive as warranty issues. That's not Rhino's fault. Blame your dealer on that one too. That dealer drastically undersold the mowers you ended up with, then failed to stand behind what he sold. The local dealer where I buy my mowers stood up and helped me get a tailwheel assembly replaced on a mower just last week. It was heavily damaged when one of my operators backed hard it into a tree. A GOOD dealer will go to bat for you and get results.

None of the major brands light duty mowers will stand up to full time hard commercial use on a sustained basis. Using one for duty far beyond their designed purpose surely constitutes abuse. Damage resulting from abuse isn't something normally covered under anyones warranty.

I can't count the number of mowing contractors I know of with Rhino/Shulte/Alamo commercial duty mowers who have nothing but praise for them. My #1 source of competition uses Rhino batwings and I've seen first hand how they'll wear out tractors before the mowers give out. They're ANYTHING BUT JUNK.

And long story short, there is absolutely no relationship between light duty single spindle consumer grade mowers and commercial duty batwings.

Bush Hog is still Bush Hog until such a time as they change their products and/or way of doing business, regardless of who owns 'em.

I understand you're upset, but you're upset with the wrong folks.
 
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/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #9  
I've just got a 55HP tractor and a light one(at least compared to my previous 59HP Mahindra). Any options for me to go wider? I'm running a 3pt, single spindle, 7ft right now and it's seems to be a pretty good load. Was curious about the new 12 Bush hog pull batwing? I'm only cutting about 25 ac at this time but would like to clear more.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #10  
I've just got a 55HP tractor and a light one(at least compared to my previous 59HP Mahindra). Any options for me to go wider? I'm running a 3pt, single spindle, 7ft right now and it's seems to be a pretty good load. Was curious about the new 12 Bush hog pull batwing? I'm only cutting about 25 ac at this time but would like to clear more.

I think that that 12' Bush Hog is about 12K. :eek: How fast did you want to mow? :rolleyes:
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #11  
I think that that 12' Bush Hog is about 12K. :eek: How fast did you want to mow? :rolleyes:

That's what I was afraid of, but it would still cut some significant time on my cutting. I also think it would save me some time around trees having the offset. I'm just not sure my tractor or I would be comfortable on my rolling terrain/terraces with that thing back there - if it was table top smooth, that'd be different.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #12  
I did a search and found some 2008 2212's for $9,950. The 2009's are going for $10,500 and higher.

The wing/offset makes it easy to get closer to and/or under trees. It saves me lots of time when cutting the perimeter of my place - rarely need reverse. Not that I'm looking to decrease seat time, but helps keeps my neck from getting sore :D
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #13  
I considered the 2212, but the price here was almost the same as the 2515. Since I needed to upgrade the tractor anyway, I went with the 2515.

Unless you are going to keep things mowed so that you don't get into any heavy cutting, I suspect that a 12 foot might be too much for a 55 hp tractor (especially if that's gross hp, not pto) although you can always gear down when the going gets thick. As one fellow told me, you can always cut less than the full width if you need to, but you can't cut more.

And I agree about the tractor weight. I'm in hilly terrain. The 2212 is 3000#+. I went with a heavily loaded Kubota M9540, over 8000# and it handles the 2515 just fine. I have the tires set wide and I'm mowing across hillsides that I used to have to back down to mow. Now that is a real time saver!

One thing I love about the batwing is that I can run it along the edge or along the trails with the wing up 30 degrees and mow the hanging over weeds. That gets them better than with the mower on the ground.

I wanted a bigger mower because I wasn't able to keep up with the 6' cutter I had. So far, I'm very happy. One pasture that used to take most of a day, I did in under two hours.

One thing to remember, a batwing will require at least two remotes (I went with 3 so that I could control the wings independently). I also highly recommend the CV driveline, it allows much sharper turns.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #14  
OK....You brought this up, so here goes.....You know me....I don't pull punches.


You took light duty, low end, economy grade Rhino single spindle mowers and tried to use it for continuous commercial use. I'd EXPECT it to fall apart, and would have been amazed at any results otherwise. I'm absolutely certain any Alamo/Rhino rep that you'd ask would have told you the same thing going in. Then your DEALER wasn't strong enough to get results with what you perceive as warranty issues. That's not Rhino's fault. Blame your dealer on that one too. That dealer drastically undersold the mowers you ended up with, then failed to stand behind what he sold. The local dealer where I buy my mowers stood up and helped me get a tailwheel assembly replaced on a mower just last week. It was heavily damaged when one of my operators backed hard it into a tree. A GOOD dealer will go to bat for you and get results.

None of the major brands light duty mowers will stand up to full time hard commercial use on a sustained basis. Using one for duty far beyond their designed purpose surely constitutes abuse. Damage resulting from abuse isn't something normally covered under anyones warranty.

I can't count the number of mowing contractors I know of with Rhino/Shulte/Alamo commercial duty mowers who have nothing but praise for them. My #1 source of competition uses Rhino batwings and I've seen first hand how they'll wear out tractors before the mowers give out. They're ANYTHING BUT JUNK.

And long story short, there is absolutely no relationship between light duty single spindle consumer grade mowers and commercial duty batwings.

Bush Hog is still Bush Hog until such a time as they change their products and/or way of doing business, regardless of who owns 'em.

I understand you're upset, but you're upset with the wrong folks.

I told the salesguy what I wanted to do. (same thing I told the bushhog dealer) and he sold me these.
both are medium duty (and we don't really get big thick stuff out here, it's weeds and grass typically) not the light duty homeowner.
and it doesn't matter, the heavy duty models are just thicker metal and bigger gearboxes, the assemblies are still the same. And, BTW, they cost almost the same as the heavy duty bush hog

All of the tail wheel assemblies bent on the shaft within less than 100 hours of use. Not the side pieces (the fork part) which you expect as a normal part of duty. The shaft. And if it's continuous, 100 hours of use is less than 2 weeks of work. Because the piece holding the shaft up isn't long enough. (compare side by side with any other brand).

They wouldn't even look at it, much less actually warranty it.

BTW, another dealer has dropped rhino because guess what? ALL the tail wheel assemblies came back in the first year and rhino honored exactly NONE. (the dealer started putting aftermarket tailwheels in and they all stopped coming back).

This is clearly a manufacturing/design defect.

If they want to charge top dollar, they should have a top dollar product and they don't. IF they want to charge top dollar they should back their product and they don't. Might as well buy a king cutter and save your money.

Wouldn't touch that crap with your money.

They made their bed, let them lie in it. Was happy to take the beating, sell the things used and watch them go away.

buy rhino at your own risk, you've been warned.

Pull your punches all you want, but you're wrong on this one. Rhino == Junk.

read this quick before the PTB delete it for saying bad things about a brand.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #15  
Bush Hog is still Bush Hog until such a time as they change their products and/or way of doing business, regardless of who owns 'em.
.

Bush Hog is dead now, buy at your own risk.
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #16  
I told the salesguy what I wanted to do. (same thing I told the bushhog dealer) and he sold me these.
both are medium duty (and we don't really get big thick stuff out here, it's weeds and grass typically) not the light duty homeowner.
and it doesn't matter, the heavy duty models are just thicker metal and bigger gearboxes, the assemblies are still the same. And, BTW, they cost almost the same as the heavy duty bush hog

All of the tail wheel assemblies bent on the shaft. Not the side pieces (the fork part) which you expect as a normal part of duty. The shaft. Because the piece holding the shaft up isn't long enough. (compare side by side with any other brand).

They wouldn't even look at it, much less actually warranty it.

BTW, another dealer has dropped rhino because guess what? ALL the tail wheel assemblies came back in the first year and rhino honored exactly NONE. (the dealer started putting aftermarket tailwheels in and they all stopped coming back).

This is clearly a manufacturing/design defect.

If they want to charge top dollar, they should have a top dollar product and they don't. IF they want to charge top dollar they should back their product and they don't. Might as well buy a king cutter and save your money.

Wouldn't touch that crap with your money.

They made their bed, let them lie in it. Was happy to take the beating, sell the things used and watch them go away.

buy rhino at your own risk, you've been warned.

read this quick before the PTB delete it for saying bad things about a brand.


So, we're right back to what I stated. The DEALER misrepresented the mowers as worthy of being used as continous duty commercial use rated equipment. Your beef is with the DEALER. If he managed to get you to fork over almost the same amount of cash as a heavy duty Bush Hog mower for the models of Rhino mowers that you ended up with, he saw you coming from 10 miles away. The HD Bush Hog line will cost almost double what the suggested retail is on a Rhino medium duty mower of the same size. You get what you pay for. Or in this case, you DIDN'T get what you DIDN'T pay for.

There is a dealer in my area that sells Rhino. He's after me to buy from him. He's not the sort to tell tales. He's tells me he has handled ONE claim against warranties in the past 6 years since he picked up Rhino. And that was for a defective slip clutch. Not even a Rhino product, (Comer) but sold as part of a Rhino mower package. As the story was related to me, it was replaced by Rhino, no questions asked. Again, a decent dealer will got to bat and get results. Alamo isn't in still in business in this harsh economic environment by giving away parts to replace those that aren't defective. When the customer damages a piece of equipment by using it in a manner exceeding it's intended use, that doesn't indicate a defective part or design. As I said, that's abuse. Just like when my operator smashed the tailwheel on my BH 406 (Extreme duty 6' mower) I didn't for one second expect Bush Hog to volunteer a new part. But my DEALER took charge and got me the parts. You've just got a weak dealer. (and by the way, it was the spindle/fork/"wheelholder")

And that also raises another point.....parts break on even the heaviest of equipment. It's called "the high cost of doing business". If I was to cry "JUNK" at every part that breaks, by this point I'd be out of options on mowers, tractors, trucks, my work boots, my computer, even a few of my own bones....


What you're mowing has very little to do with why commercial equipment needs to be heavier. It's the number of hours it is exposed to potential damage. Mow 10 hours a summer and you can probably get away with light duty equipment. Mow several thousand hours and the odds of damage resulting go up considerably. We cut grass along roadsides. In most cases, it's less than 10" tall. Not exactly difficult cutting. But due to the fact that 7 tractors have logged over 10,000 hours total already this year, we've had parts to wear out or break. It goes with the territory. I've got a $66,000 John Deere with just over 2000 hours in the shop with tranny troubles. Am I plastering the internet with claims that Deere is "junk"?

Nope!

As I've said, I've seen Rhino mowers wear out tractors and still be in excellent condition. The difference between this case and yours? These folks don't try to use light duty mowers in commercial applications.

I'll continue my relationship with Bush Hog. Plain and simple, I like their equipment. Their "blood relationship" with Alamo/Rhino/Shulte will do nothing but cement my opinion.
 
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/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #18  
As I've said, I've seen Rhino mowers wear out tractors and still be in excellent condition. The difference between this case and yours? These folks don't try to use light duty mowers in commercial applications.

They were using light duty tractors?

I see the state highway dept. still using Ford tractors with their batwing mowers.

Ken
 
/ Best medium dutyBatwing Mower #20  
well, ok Farm with Junk,

I see only your opinion and experiences matter here.

And you can lose the condescending tone. Of course stuff breaks. stuff breaks all the time, it's a cost of doing business.

But when the same stuff breaks multiple times in the same place in areas that it really shouldn't break and in time way before it should break under conditions when it really shouldn't break then yes, it's a defect.

Rhino 6' medium duty mower, purchased spring of 2006: $2400

Bush Hog 6' 296 mower purchased July of 2008: $2800
 
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