Justifying a skid steer bush hog

[Rio_Grande]

I contract some land clearing jobs with my MTL and am concidering adding a bush hog type mower to the mix. Curriently I skim the top with a root rake and pull the underbrush up. That takes alot of grubbing and causes a mess in my opinion. A mulcher is not an option as I am low flow and dont see enough volume of work to pay for it. That leaves me looking at the mowers. Being it is a MTL I figure I can do pond dams and the like that are not easily done on a tractor. With all that weight hanging off the front it should make for some easy work in most cases.

For those of you that have them are you putting them to work enough to pay for them?
Jeff

 

[excav8ter]

I don't have a brush hog, but I would like to get one someday..... check out the new Bradco brush cutter. Its kind of hard describe, but the blades are attached to a "disc" and are on a pivot point, when turned on, they swing out to begin cutting. If they hit something too hard, the blade simply folds back out of the way with out slowing the whole machine down. It also has carbide cutters on the bottom side of the "disc" as well.

 

[cat 297c]

If I were in the market I would buy advanced forest equipments rdm king samari.

 

[Carykong]

My pal has a bobcat with brush hog that can chop down 5" diameters. Here's a video of this rig on my property at work.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxd_JezfiQs]Land Clearing with HD rotary mower(skid pro brand) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Rio_Grande]

That is about what I was expecting as far as performance. I am just trying to justify the cost with the belief I will see a profitable return. I see this as something that would get us return customers where as currently we see folks once maybee twice and we are done.
I figure pond dams and rough surfaces alone at 60.00 an hour should bring in some money. I am hoping to do more than just pay for it, looking to turn a profit or open doors to other work.

 

[jca57jd]

I own a low flow bobcat t190 with this mower - http://www.rootgrapple.com/rotarycutter.html

It has led me into getting allot of new business. I'm not sure wear you are located for pricing reasons but my normal rates are $65 dollars an hour. I charge $100 an hour with the mower due to the increased cost of wear and tear and fuel consumption due to constant hydraulic flow. Diesel cost me $4.00 a gallon last week and I used $250 worth of fuel on a 9 acre clearing job that I did. This job consisted of mostly 3"-4" sweet gum and locust trees and it took me 17 hours to complete. Be ready for a lot more fuel consumption!

 

[cat 297c]

Rio grand I would reconsider your hourly rate its low I would get it alot closer to 100 an hr your going yo burn more fuel more upkeep your going to have to clean your machine from debris daily with a brush cutter. Then blades on the cutter depending on witch one u go with.

 

[Ken45101]

Any "brush mower" will have the swing blades.

If you haven't noticed, some are designed to stay flat on the ground, with a minimum mowing height of 5-6". They will shut down if you lift the rear. Others are designed to tilt down in front so that the blade will skim down to dirt level or below. They typically have tapered skids.

They really should be used with an enclosed cab or at least a demolition door to protect the operator from flying debris.

If you are doing something like pond banks, it will be a slow process because you have to back up, shift sideways 5 feet, move forward, repeat....

Taking out the bigger (e.g. 5") trees is a slow process that has a lot of vibration with it. I have heard that most of these mowers crack the metal and have to be repaired. I would assume that taking down the bigger stuff is rough on them compared to cutting grass and weeds.

One thing I didn't notice until I bought mine was that it doesn't have a "stump jumper" shield on it. That shaft hanging down looks pretty vulnerable to me and would be expensive if it hits anything since it's the shaft directly out of the hydraulic motor.

Sorry, I can't answer your question about cost justification since I just use mine on the farm here. Perhaps you already knew everything I mentioned.

Ken

 

[Rio_Grande]

I apprciate all the replys, Knowing and experience are two diffrent things and I find more real fact in experience that comes from honest replies from places like this forum.

I agree I need to reconcider the pricing, we run the bush hog for 50 an hour and do dirt work for 50 an hour, but I see where this will burn more fuel and require more maintence.

Several of the videos I have seen dont make these things look very good. One I looked at you could see the vibration in the unit sitting there running.

I need to research the fuel useage on my machine. It is very reasonable doing dirt work but I am running at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle most time.

 

[Ken45101]

I haven't noticed any significant vibration from mine. It probably depends on how well balanced (or abused) the blades are.

I would rather do my bushhogging with a tractor but there are places that a ss goes better than the tractor. It also has the advantage that the mowing is in front of you, I really hate driving the tractor over those big 4" saplings :laughing: I also use mine on some of the steeper hills, it's easier to maneuver than backing the tractor down the hill.

It's also good for trimming branches that the tow behind can't reach up to :thumbsup:

 

[Rio_Grande]

Our advertising plan is to capatolize on the fact that the MTL can go places a tractor cant or dosent easily. We are launching some advertising directed at bush hoging and see what the response is. Might land a few more to do with the tractor even if there is little interest in the steeper stuff.

 

[cat 297c]

Best of luck to u, but I would definitely look at the advanced forest equipment cutter has quadco type felling teeth round the disc with bush hog blades with bullet type teeth on the bottom of the disc. It grinds the material up alot better than your normal cutter. The end results will lead to alot more work. Just my two cents.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

practice makes perfect.. There are a lot of bushhogging companies and mulching guys and gals out there. Get good at it and find a good machine that leaves a good product.

For fields and very light brush (don't do too much anymore), I like a brushcat. It's an awfully complicated brush mower but it follows the ground contour well and doesn't gouge the ground easily.

For heavier brush, I would look at a different style rotary. I used to own a Davco rotary for a high flow skid. While it was rated at only 4", it would do larger trees. The by-product, though, wasn't very desirable compared to a mulching head and it didn't re-chop material as well as a rotary with longer blades. Was it worth the money? 10 years ago it was $8500. It made some money for me.

I have heard good things about US mower. I can tell you that the better the mower housing is built, the happier you will be. Skid steer rotarys mow closer to the ground than a tractor bush hog. As such, you will encounter stumps, rocks, whatever.. You will have more flex opportunities in rough terrain so look for well-built deck. My bobcat brushcat is a 6' model. It weighs 1900 lbs... well built and I've still had damage (and I'm one of the more gentles operators according to my friends. )

 

[Rio_Grande]

I looked at the Advanced Forest Equiptment. No doubt that thing is awsome. I couldnt however find a price for one. I am asuming they are well outside of what I have in mind to spend. Bet that thing eats! I also do not have enough GPM and really cant afford to spring for a second skid steer.

That us mower unit looks good.

Still lots to learn.

 

[cat 297c]

Rio, Not sure on the price but I think I read some where it will run off of 17 gpm. I know I've priced the american mower before and it was round 10,500 but that has been a year or two ago, they cut good but its hard getting a good looking finished material.

 

[DIRTROAD]

I looked at the Advanced Forest Equiptment. No doubt that thing is awsome. I couldnt however find a price for one. I am asuming they are well outside of what I have in mind to spend. Bet that thing eats!

I would like to see the AFE skid steer RDM in action. I couldn't find much info on it online or any videos either. All I saw is that it is called "Samurai"

 

[Rio_Grande]

That was the one I looked at dirt road. I was disapointed today when I called the dealer I priced them at last year. They have gone up almost1000 in price. That hurts.

 

[cat 297c]

Dirtroad, try an google this 074.AVIadvancedforest

 

[DIRTROAD]

Dirtroad, try an google this 074.AVIadvancedforest

Thanks Cat, that's what I was lookin for.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

I looked at the Advanced Forest Equiptment. No doubt that thing is awsome. I couldnt however find a price for one. I am asuming they are well outside of what I have in mind to spend. Bet that thing eats! I also do not have enough GPM and really cant afford to spring for a second skid steer.

That us mower unit looks good.

Still lots to learn.

I think the AFE disc was north of $29k