Rotary Cutter Discussion

[big bubba]

could be, probably on the heavy duty models designed for utility corridors, etc. still...can't imagine tackling something that size, regards

 

[Darth_DMack]

Outside edge to outside edge of my rear tractor tires is 72".

So, a 6' would be a good fit, but what about pulling a 5' instead? I don't have any large open areas, mostly would be mowing undergrowth in tight areas... I'm working this weekend finally cleaning up the larger downed trees / branches, getting ready for mowing. The small saplings are just that, small... 1-2" max.

I really appreciate all of the input so far. Great advice! Will be making a purchase soon!

 

[aesanders]

It will be fine to handle a 5’ footer. You will be a little further away from the fence line and if you are backing into clear area you may drive over uncut portions though.

I am using a 4 footer on my 6’ wide machine for brush clearing only.

I’d recommend getting a 6 footer if possible though.

 

[Darth_DMack]

It will be fine to handle a 5’ footer. You will be a little further away from the fence line and if you are backing into clear area you may drive over uncut portions though.

I am using a 4 footer on my 6’ wide machine for brush clearing only.

I’d recommend getting a 6 footer if possible though.

Great input Aesanders... I didn't think about the stand off using a 5' behind a 6' wide tractor.

So, yes... I will go 6'.

 

[EddieWalker]

I went from a 6 foot cutter with 37hp to a 12 batwing with 70hp.

I wouldn't want anything less then 6 foot. Mowing is fun for the first hour, then it becomes work, and then it doesn't take long for it to turn into torture. The longer you mow, the more it will hurt. Maybe not this year, or even next year, but it will happen. The bigger the mower, the more you can get done, the better!!!

If I had a 55hp tractor, I would seriously look at a ten foot batwing. Price is going to be a lot more, but in my opinion, that extra width is worth it.

Tractor Time with Tim has a few YouTube videos where he's cutting with a 10 foot batwing and a smaller tractor then what you have. Here's the first one that showed up on my search.

 

[Darth_DMack]

I went from a 6 foot cutter with 37hp to a 12 batwing with 70hp.

I wouldn't want anything less then 6 foot. Mowing is fun for the first hour, then it becomes work, and then it doesn't take long for it to turn into torture. The longer you mow, the more it will hurt. Maybe not this year, or even next year, but it will happen. The bigger the mower, the more you can get done, the better!!!

If I had a 55hp tractor, I would seriously look at a ten foot batwing. Price is going to be a lot more, but in my opinion, that extra width is worth it.

Tractor Time with Tim has a few YouTube videos where he's cutting with a 10 foot batwing and a smaller tractor then what you have. Here's the first one that showed up on my search.

If I had open areas to mow, I'd definitely look into a bat-wing. However, my areas are tight, and have lots of trees. I'm keeping the outer edges of my property natural, I have a spring and a stream that run on my one edge of the property.

Thank you for the input though, definitely gives me things to think about as I move forward.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Eric: nice vid & rig...though didn't see those 4" caliper growth
robust mower, have basically the same in 8', but still don't attack growth more than 2", plus larger stubs pose risk to tire puncture.
regards

You offer a good point I didn't discuss on my cutter.

Two things I do:

I have my cutter set up so that the sides of the rear end drags on the surface (the part closest to the tractor) so that the cutter cuts things as close to the ground as it can (about a 2" lawn-mower cut, so to speak) while also preventing material from getting flung back at my tractor.

I also don't sharpen my blades so the cutter basically shreds what is cuts making things less sharp and too small to stand up to an industrial tire running it over. Also the ground I'm using the cutter on is all sphagnum, so really soft "dirt."

In the first video that I linked to I mowed the top of a birch tree windfall that was around 4" but all this to say if you look at the back of my mower, the metal reinforcement guard thingy that holds the chain on is bent up from my using the cutter to lean over smaller trees and mow them.

Around 15 or 16 minutes in I start mowing bigger stuff (that is growing way, way too close together to really get it done right).

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Outside edge to outside edge of my rear tractor tires is 72".

So, a 6' would be a good fit, but what about pulling a 5' instead? I don't have any large open areas, mostly would be mowing undergrowth in tight areas... I'm working this weekend finally cleaning up the larger downed trees / branches, getting ready for mowing. The small saplings are just that, small... 1-2" max.

I really appreciate all of the input so far. Great advice! Will be making a purchase soon!

Get a 6' as the smaller size will not allow you to mow in any further than the length of the cutter itself. Also, build a plate to guard the underside of your tractor.

Watch this video and read the comments below the video to see why you want to armor up the underside of your tractor. Also, the underside armor I made that can be seen in this video has been replaced with a larger aluminum metal plate that is tougher than my original version 1 stuff (that I made after ripping a fuel line and nipple off of the fuel tank because the fuel line runs axially on my tractor as if it was meant to get ripped off from the underside) and covers the wiring into my transmission as well as the main hydro trans drain plug. For their part, I understand that Kioti has redesigned the soft parts.

 

[big bubba]

You offer a good point I didn't discuss on my cutter.

Two things I do:

I have my cutter set up so that the sides of the rear end drags on the surface (the part closest to the tractor) so that the cutter cuts things as close to the ground as it can (about a 2" lawn-mower cut, so to speak) while also preventing material from getting flung back at my tractor.

I also don't sharpen my blades so the cutter basically shreds what is cuts making things less sharp and too small to stand up to an industrial tire running it over. Also the ground I'm using the cutter on is all sphagnum, so really soft "dirt."

In the first video that I linked to I mowed the top of a birch tree windfall that was around 4" but all this to say if you look at the back of my mower, the metal reinforcement guard thingy that holds the chain on is bent up from my using the cutter to lean over smaller trees and mow them.

Around 15 or 16 minutes in I start mowing bigger stuff (that is growing way, way too close together to really get it done right).

sounds like you've got the equip & technique hooked up, good job

 

[Darth_DMack]

UPDATE:

So, it went like this. My Team Mate from work, brought over his 6' County Line (Tractor Supply) shear pin style rotary cutter over the weekend. I used it on some of my cutting work, and it worked flawlessly for me. He's had it about three years, and gave me some input.

For what I am going to use it for, this one seemed to work just fine. The tip speed on the blades made short work to what I needed... and my CFO (my lovely wife) said that the TSC County Line would fit my needs UNTIL I needed something more heavy duty... so, I purchased a brand new 6' County Line Rotary Cutter from TSC this morning. In SC, we have a SCATE (South Carolina Agriculture Tax Exemption) so I didn't have to pay taxes, plus I had a 10% off coupon, so I got the cutter for $1800 ish.

No, it's not a Land Pride, or a Bush Hog / Rhino... I know this. But, I can't beat the savings. I'm doing some welding / bracing on my standard duty box blade today, and will have my CL Rotary Cutter put together this evening.

Let me get some time on this and I will update my thoughts.

I really appreciate the input from you all. Way more experience than I have, for sure. I think it will serve me well, until it doesn't.

Cheers!

 

[str8six]

You will never regret buying a good cutter. I have a family member with the County Line 6' with the shear bolt shaft and it does alright. He seems to go through shear bolts quite regular and he only mows grass. He installed a grade 5 bolt and ended up twisting a yoke pretty bad on it.

I have a mowing business and after many years of every brand of cutter I found the absolute best cutter brand for me about 5 years ago. I got rid of them all and replaced them with Bush-Whacker cutters. These are by far the heaviest duty cutters I have ever seen. They offer medium duty and heavy duty stuff and I found their medium duty is comparable to everyone else's heavy duty. I believe their biggest customers are states and county road departments so you don't see a lot of advertising from them. They use a lot of standard parts so they are easily sourced but in 5 years I have never had to buy a single thing for any of my cutters except blades and they are standard and sourced locally. They make a nice medium duty 6', HD-72 that would go great behind a 50ish HP tractor. I have a couple of their heavy duty 6' cutters, ST-7210 along with some of their batwing cutters and it will blow your mind at the weight and size. It is way overkill for the average person but they are great on pricing.

The best part was the pricing. They are or were priced well below the competition. We ran Woods cutters for a few years but that was a huge mistake for us. These Bush-Whacker cutters with 5 times the specs of a Woods and cost the same as the Woods.

Products Archive - Bush-Whacker

HD-72 - Bush-Whacker

 

[Hay Dude]

Caution: Field mowing/cutting can be addictive. I started doing it 25 years ago. Started with a John Deere MX-8 and a 60HP tractor with 2 or 3 customers and now pulling in an extra 40K a year with ~20 customers running a 15’ batwing and a 135HP tractor. I’m still amazed at how much opportunity is out there if you want to pursue this as a way to make
Would like to get a 20 footer. lol

 

[EddieWalker]

I think you made a good decision. Be sure to have several grade 5 bolts in your tractors tool box, and two wrenches to tighten them, along with a hammer to knock out the broken bolts when they snap.

For me, I started out with bolts and they rarely broke, but then for whatever reason, they started braking on my all the time. It might be that I got more comfortable with the tractor and I started pushing it harder. But it got to the point that I would break two sheer bolts in an afternoon of mowing.

Eventually I damaged the driveshaft, so I replaced it with one that had a slip clutch. I had read how much better a slip clutch was, but until having one, I didn't understand. Whatever the cost, having a slip clutch is worth the money!!!!

 

[Darth_DMack]

Well, I got the County Line (TSC) 6' Rotary Cutter all hooked up and made my first mow this weekend.

This is the first time I've used the PTO on my tractor, and it worked like a champ. The County Line cutter was perfectly balanced and ran super smoothly. I could not believe how "quiet" it was when I engaged the blades.

I was able to start slow, mowed my ditches / roadside frontage, then oved into some interior stuff. Forwards and Backwards, it worked well.

I kept my RPM's around 2000 to 2100, and it worked flawelessly.

I did break the sheer pin, when I hit a dirt clump that I did not see. Changed it out, and back at it I went.

I have the front / rear chain guards on order from Tarter Parts, once I get them installed, I will show pics.

So far, so good! I'm gonna get a lot of use out of this thing!

Front and Rear chain guards are ordered. This is the 200 series from Tarter, sold to TSC as County Line.

I found that 1800 to 2000 rpm on the tach, is almost perfect for the CL Rotary Cutter on my tractor. I have a Mahindra 5155 with 47 PTO HP at 2300 rpm... the gear box on the CL Rotary Cutter is a 45 hp gear box, so I figure 1800-2000 is about the sweet spot.

Gives a very nice, even cut... So far, I like it. My next add is a Hydraulic Top Link... that is coming SOON!

 

[EddieWalker]

I would buy five bolts and nuts at a time and keep them in my tractor tool box for my 6 foot rotary cutter. Sometimes I would go months without snapping them, other times, it was almost daily.

I waited until I damaged my driveshaft by getting into a situation that resulted in bending it. Once bent, it has to be replaced. I bought one with a slip clutch, and realized how much better that is.

 

[Darth_DMack]

I would buy five bolts and nuts at a time and keep them in my tractor tool box for my 6 foot rotary cutter. Sometimes I would go months without snapping them, other times, it was almost daily.

I waited until I damaged my driveshaft by getting into a situation that resulted in bending it. Once bent, it has to be replaced. I bought one with a slip clutch, and realized how much better that is.

Yes Sir!

TSC has the driveshaft / slip clutch for this unit on the rack at my local store... it's $400ish for it, but worth it. I will make this upgrade one day soon.

 

[big bubba]

nice set up. do take caution mowing on your highway corridor, esp given the nature of multi tasking, poorly skilled drivers these days.
plus, always good to check the factory fill gearbox, often they are just minimally filled, regards

 

[Darth_DMack]

nice set up. do take caution mowing on your highway corridor, esp given the nature of multi tasking, poorly skilled drivers these days.
plus, always good to check the factory fill gearbox, often they are just minimally filled, regards

Mine came completely empty... but there were stickers on it, saying...
"You MUST fill gear box before use"... I used Lucas gear oil, took a full quart to get it all topped off. I will change out the gear oil after about five hours of use, just to get the break in oil out. Cheap insurance. I was amazed how quiet it ran, and how smooth.. the blades were balanced very well.

 

[big bubba]

6' heavy duty hog is ideal for your setup.

 

[deserteagle71]

I found that 1800 to 2000 rpm on the tach, is almost perfect for the CL Rotary Cutter on my tractor. I have a Mahindra 5155 with 47 PTO HP at 2300 rpm... the gear box on the CL Rotary Cutter is a 45 hp gear box, so I figure 1800-2000 is about the sweet spot.

The real question is...at what engine RPM is your PTO turning 540 rpm?