MX-5

Red Horse · May 3, 2014

I had someone tell me that the MX-5 brush hog has a bad rep in terms of gear box life. Anyone have any experience?

arlen4720 · May 4, 2014

The ones built after around 2011 are fine. They changed gearbox manufacturers, and now have a 5 year warranty. The old ones had a high rate of shaft breakage. Seemed to be just the MX-5 and MX-6's.
I have an MX-6 which I've only mowed about 20 hours with it, but they have been hard hours...mainly brush between 1 and 2 inches, hit a couple of steel fence posts laying in the grass, hit a couple large stumps, and lots of scalping. So far so good.

sunnyside360 · May 4, 2014

A few years ago some of the John Deere MX rotary cutters were failing with broken shafts. There was a fair amount of posting on the topic here on TBN at the time. Pretty sure John Deere has fixed the problem on newer cutters. For more info, you might try searching here on TBN.

Red Horse · May 4, 2014

sunnyside360 said:
A few years ago some of the John Deere MX rotary cutters were failing with broken shafts. There was a fair amount of posting on the topic here on TBN at the time. Pretty sure John Deere has fixed the problem on newer cutters. For more info, you might try searching here on TBN.

Sunnyside, Arlen-Thx guys- mine is at least 5 years old-not much use. I don't use it that much and was thinking I might sell it-sounds like that makes sense.

yooper68 · May 9, 2014

I have had an MX5 for 4 or 5 years. Bought it used so don't know exact age. I've used it quite a bit; no problems at all. Mostly mow fields, trails, and some 1 to 3 inch brush. I do cringe when I hit the occasional field stone - it's not the preferred way to make gravel. I've been very impressed with it. Run it with 3520

Red Horse · May 9, 2014

yooper68 said:
I have had an MX5 for 4 or 5 years. Bought it used so don't know exact age. I've used it quite a bit; no problems at all. Mostly mow fields, trails, and some 1 to 3 inch brush. I do cringe when I hit the occasional field stone - it's not the preferred way to make gravel. I've been very impressed with it. Run it with 3520

Sounds like about same vintage as mine. Its been covered for the winter-I have to piull cover to see if country of origin is cast into it.