Bush Hog 306 or Brown Tree Cutter

[Hay Dude]

Buddy of mine is an arborist and has one. He never uses it anymore. I might have to see if he would sell it to me.

Those Brown tree cutters seem like a legacy tool that everyone who does clearing work should own.

 

[oosik]

I could find almost unlimited use for a five foot Brown tree cutter - here on my property. What keeps me from ordering one - the price and the weight of the unit.

I don't think I would put a five foot cutter on anything less than 90 hp or so. I fear that continual use on my M6040 might reduce the tractor to a pile of scrap. Plus - my M6040 is open station. Not the best choice when using anything like a tree cutter.

The Brown web page has a few excellent videos of the tree cutter being used. You can see - the cutters are all being used on larger tractors.

So........ I'll just boogie along with my chain saws and Wally chipper. It gets the job done.

 

[nch77]

I was looking at a Brown Tree Cutter for clearing some severely overgrown areas but I ended up with a skid steer mower. I bought a Bobcat T870 for storm cleanup and ended up getting a Spartan Attachments brush cutter. It's an 84" model, 3 blades with mulching teeth bolted to the stump jumper, cuts a 10" tree like its not there. Built as heavy as the tree cutter, and easy to maneuver in tight areas. I'll post pictures of it, its a monster.

 

[Smokeydog]

Used Bushhog 286 cutter for much of the small trees. It can take 2” out. Danuser Intimdator and backhoe ripper helps with bigger stuff. Tree encroachment big problem on our farm.

Bought a well used and abused 6’ Brown or pre-brown cutter for $300. 50# of weld bead added. Needed slip clutch, blades and bolts >$1,200 just for parts. Kept for a year before selling didn’t need a another project. Agree 6’ too big for a 60hp tractor.

Yesterday found a 5’ Brown for $1,150. Good shape, no bends or repairs. Blades have not been flipped yet. More in range of my 45hp pto / 60hp tractor. Will use an overriding clutch like I use with the other cutters. With a heavy disk these have tremendous inertia.

 

[two_bit_score]

I could find almost unlimited use for a five foot Brown tree cutter - here on my property. What keeps me from ordering one - the price and the weight of the unit.

I don't think I would put a five foot cutter on anything less than 90 hp or so. I fear that continual use on my M6040 might reduce the tractor to a pile of scrap. Plus - my M6040 is open station. Not the best choice when using anything like a tree cutter.

The Brown web page has a few excellent videos of the tree cutter being used. You can see - the cutters are all being used on larger tractors.

So........ I'll just boogie along with my chain saws and Wally chipper. It gets the job done.

GENERAL SPECIFICATION: (SEE BROCHURE FOR COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS) GEAR BOX RATING: 130 HP 130 HP 130 HP 130 HP BLADE TIP SPEED: 12,717 FPM 15,260 FPM 17,803 FPM 16,324 FPM 144.3 MPH 173.4 MPH 202.3 MPH 185.5 MPH HORSE POWER REQ.: 30 HP 40 HP 50 HP 80 HP SLIP CLUTCH: 2- DISC FULLY SHIELDED - 4 DISC on 417 and 418 DECK CONSTRUCTION: ALL WELDED "7" GAUGE STEEL (3/16") STUMP JUMPER: 3/16" STUMP JUMPER with 1" X 5" SOLID BAR ** LIMITED 5 YEAR GEAR BOX WARRANTY **

Go to the Price List: Brown Manufacturing Corporation - Brown Manufacturing Corp | 800.633.8909

 

[nch77]

Not sure if its as heavily built as a Brown Tree Cutter but its still a beast

 

[Smokeydog]

Tried out the used 5’ brown cutter. Grunts the tractor (Kubota M59) to start. Smooth running. Fallow pasture with tall weeds and this year trees no sweat. 2-4” trees or bigger limbs a little more chewing. Mulches better than two blade 286 bushhog. Easily sheds privet, multiflora rose or Russian olive. Doesn’t cut the low grass as much. Leaves no thick cut grass mats. Thinking thatch from bush hogging can kill grass and promote weeds? Need to experiment with summer mowing. Usually time cutting before weeds seed to have fall to spring grass for deer and turkey.

Wouldn’t want a smaller or lighter tractor with the brown tree cutter. At the low end of the power requirement. HST at its best. Providing more Hp than gear tractors;-)

Blades need sharpening and attention to deck rust. Slip clutch slipping about right. Going to be a valuable tool. For perimeter and trail maintenance.

Black walnut stump after cutting. Size 13 shoe. Really too big for this size cutter and tractor combo. Cut 3/4 way thru, pushed into woods with FEL and then finish cutting. Chips really fly. Safety glasses needed. Be much better with sharp blades.

Tree cutter or rotary cutter both have their pro and cons. Need both!

 

[Smokeydog]

Sharpened the blades. Easy enough on the machine from the back thru the open push bar. The blades have two bevels, on side and end. Blades are flip-able to have a fresh edges. Cutting of brush now much easier. Even took another 1.5” off the black walnut stump.

Gearbox full of grease. Tried to add some OO grease but didn’t take much at the top plug. Don’t see a vent plug. Might get a vented plug. Gearbox warm to touch after a couple of hours. There’s a rubber dampened torque plate in addition to gearbox bolts thru the deck. The torque plate four bolts thru the deck are double nutted and a little loose. Don’t know if buy design or rust? Have yet to find a manual to describe this feature. Haven’t found a manual for this particular model.

Cutting around wooded perimeters there are always fallen limbs. With a rotary cutter have to usually push them back into the woods. The tree cutter mulches them up better than rotary cutter. Also takes out small trees trying to encroach.

Cuts over grown fallow pasture ok. 5’ width going take more time mowing. Also with open rear deck you and tractor get covered with more debris. Have many small acre meadows and clearings to maintain on a heavily wooded farm. Angus use to do a wonderful job. Horses and goats in another paddock. If I didn’t mow or let neighbor crop hay it would quickly over grow as some already has.

The Brown tree cutter is definitely an awesome tool to cut larger trees and brush. Perfect tool clearing in the woods. Glad I have four post ROPS with top. Got donked a few times cutting small trees. Not going to get rid of my HD 286 rotary cutter. Together they are a fine pair.

 

[Smokeydog]

Got into a little field fence with the tree cutter but quickly stopped. Found quite a bit of electric and high tensile barb wire wrapped around spindle from previous owner. Due diligence I didn’t check after I bought it. Many hours spent using vice grip, small chain and tractor pulling to clear the wire. Made a long handle cold chisel and forged a long hook tool to help pull the wire out. Gear box has grease but will need a new output seal. Winter project.

Brown manufacturing emailed an user and parts manual. Model pre 1998. Axe like blades hit at 173mph, 54 times per second.

 

[two_bit_score]

Axe like blades hit at 173mph,

Looks like you can swap ends with those blades.

 

[ArlyA]

Looks like you can swap ends with those blades.

Seems like the cutting edge would be facing the wrong direction if flipped over?

 

[two_bit_score]

Seems like the cutting edge would be facing the wrong direction if flipped over?

Possibly but looks like two have been swapped over already.

 

[Smokeydog]

Looks like you can swap ends with those blades.

Yes. They no longer make this style. Blades cut, two high, two low like an axe to take out chunks. These have never been flipped. Has more weathering wear than use. New style is still flipable but with one hole. Ultra tuff space age steel. Set of blades and bolts about $800.

Get a lot of new growth at the tree line. Some so thick can’t walk thru. This eats it like a snack.

 

[two_bit_score]

Get a lot of new growth at the tree line. Some so thick can’t walk thru. This eats it like a snack.

It looks like it would! Sure would be something to see in action.

 

[Smokeydog]

Mowed the pastures off with the brown tree cutter. No real power or speed advantage from a 5’ brown vs 6’ Bushhog.
I can grow black walnuts like weeds. 6-8’ first year, 15-20’ second.

Backing over small trees, clumps of privet, sumac, rose, olive is the biggest difference. Lot of thumping, jumping and noise with bushhog. Brown tree cutter cut’s smoothly without much effort till you hit big stuff you could not even touch with a Bushhog.

 

[60Ford861]

For those on this thread who asked for an update. My apologies for not seeing this sooner. The brown tree cutter/RX7320 did an awesome job of cutting thousands of small tulip poplars. It was hours and hours of very slowly reversing into thousands of trees and cutting them down. I ended up selling it over the winter and recouped what I paid for it. This year I have an old beater 7ft bush hog that does a great job of taking down anything that I left and is keeping everything in control. There are a lot of old rotten hardwood stumps that pop out when I hit them with the tractor or bush hog. As soon as they get removed I am looking to upgrade to a 12 ft flex wing. I would cry if I tore up a 15k mower the first use. The next step is time/mowing. Im going to let everything rot for a year or two then get a heavy offset disc to till everything up and start fresh.