Help Size My Bush Hog For My Kioti

[boomer613]

Just bought a Kioti DK40SE w/ FEL. My pasture is overgrown with 4-5 ft small sapling trees and chest high sage grass. Looking at a new Rhino or Woods bush hog. Can the 34 HP PTO Kioti handle a 72" bush hog on my property? I understand that the math = 1 ft for every 5 hp of PTO. I have also heard that Kioti under specs it true HP. Is this true?

 

[Highbeam]

I don't have a DK40 but I have beat the snot out of a 5 foot hog with my CK30 and I have often considered a 6 footer for regular mowing. On a 40, which is 30% more HP than my 30, I would get a 6 foot deck.

 

[Canada_CT230]

I don't have a DK40 but I have beat the snot out of a 5 foot hog with my CK30 and I have often considered a 6 footer for regular mowing. On a 40, which is 30% more HP than my 30, I would get a 6 foot deck.

I would NOT recommend the 6' rotary cutter but a 72" instead....
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LOL

 

[LD1]

Just bought a Kioti DK40SE w/ FEL. My pasture is overgrown with 4-5 ft small sapling trees and chest high sage grass. Looking at a new Rhino or Woods bush hog. Can the 34 HP PTO Kioti handle a 72" bush hog on my property? I understand that the math = 1 ft for every 5 hp of PTO. I have also heard that Kioti under specs it true HP. Is this true?

You should be able to handle the 6' cutter.

And a heavy duty 6' cutter to boot given the size/weight of the tractor.

If the conditions are REALLY tough, dropping to a 5' cutter may allow you to maintain a little faster ground speed, but you are cutting less with each pass. In-other-words: you will have to slow down more with a 6', but you are cutting more with each pass, so its a wash. bushhogging speed isnt about the size of the cutter, but about your HP. IE: slower and wider, or faster and narrower. It all comes out the same in the end. But a good heavy 6' cutter (~1000-1200lbs) is a perfect counter weight to maximize your loader usage:thumbsup: (if you have one). A 5' ~700lb cutter....not as good.

 

[boomer613]

You should be able to handle the 6' cutter.

And a heavy duty 6' cutter to boot given the size/weight of the tractor.

If the conditions are REALLY tough, dropping to a 5' cutter may allow you to maintain a little faster ground speed, but you are cutting less with each pass. In-other-words: you will have to slow down more with a 6', but you are cutting more with each pass, so its a wash. bushhogging speed isnt about the size of the cutter, but about your HP. IE: slower and wider, or faster and narrower. It all comes out the same in the end. But a good heavy 6' cutter (~1000-1200lbs) is a perfect counter weight to maximize your loader usage:thumbsup: (if you have one). A 5' ~700lb cutter....not as good.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Makes sense, "slower and wider, or faster and narrower". I was already leaning towards the 6' as the DK40SE has a wheel base of 74". Just wanted to make sure it had enough PTO power to cut down the small trees. I think I'll go with the Rhino or the Woods heavy duty.

 

[IslandTractor]

I have a DK40se that does a lot of brush removal. I use a 75" flail and a medium duty 60" Woods 600 bush hog. The only reason I got the 60" instead of 72" is that I bought used on CL and the deal on the 60" came along first and was too good to turn down. The DK loafs even in pretty thick brush with the bush hog. I use it only in thick brush or very rocky areas as the flail does all the pasture mowing and lighter bush hog work.

The 72" bush hog would be no problem at all for the DK.

 

[J_J]

5 HP per ft of bush hog is the general rule. Use PTO HP

A 6 ft should work quite well.

 

[ritcheyvs]

Based on my experience, I'd recommend:

If you are going to mainly cut grass and small stuff, get a light duty cutter as big as you can easily store.

If you are going to be cutting saplings (even 1 in dia) get a smaller medium- to heavy-duty cutter. It will be easier to maneuver and you won't bite off more than it can chew.

I have a 72 in light-duty Howse cutter for my DK45; it's a little big for some maneuvering (generally in reverse) and it chokes on dense saplings. Horsepower isn't an issue, I can easily shear the pin (actually a #5 1/2 inch bolt) if I put it into dirt.

 

[Highbeam]

For quality of cut, I would think that bigger and slower (so long as you can keep RPMs up) would be better than smaller and faster. Plus it really stinks to mow with a deck narrower than your tires. This means you would be running down the grass at least four times before the mower deck sees it. Seems like a recipe for a bunch of missed grass that will pop up a week later.

 

[boomer613]

Still deciding on the brand, size, type of a rotary cutter. I am looking at both a heavy duty and a medium duty bush hog. How big of a difference is the rotary cutter gearbox's HP play into the factor. For example, if I buy a rotary cutter with a 80 HP gearbox, does it benefit me in any way as I will never use 1/2 the max gearbox HP? Also how much of a factor does the weight of the rotary cutter makes in performance? Do you prefer a slip disk or shear pin? Does chains make a big difference? If so, how much of a difference does it make?

Here are some the brands on top of my list: Rhino, Woods, Bush Hog, King Kutter, and Landpride.