brush hog cutting question

[kubota4me]

I'm a little embarrassed asking this, but my I've got a stand of nasty sumac and dogwood that I plan on cutting with a brush/bush hog. So I don't mess up my tractor: (1) is the blade on a bush hog sharpened on both sides? If it isn't sharpened on both sides, with the power take off turning in reverse if you back into the brush, it wouldn't be cutting it with the sharp edge of the blade, correct? I just don't want to mess up my tractor by having to drive through the sumac in a forward gear to cut it with a rear mounted rotary mower. It would be nice if somebody made a smaller front mounted hydraulic rotary mower to exchange with your bucket on a FEL similar to what bobcat and other skidsteers have but then it would probably run about half the price of the tractor alone.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Kubota4me,
Your PTO only turns in one direction, no matter if going forward or reverse. Your bushog blades are only sharpened on one side. Hope this helps!

 

[thatguy]

The bushhog blades are only sharpened on one side (an actually not sharp, but blunted to pulverize the stuff instead of cuttign smoothly)..

If you dont want to drive into the brush, you can lift the mower - back into the stuff.. lower the mower and then pull forward.. Rinse, Lather, and repeat (LOL).... It will take longer but that way you wont take risk of abusing the tractor.. BUT you do fun the risk of hitting something hidden with the mower..

Some pple will lower the FEL to almost ground height so it pushes the brush down and that way the tractor doesnt take the brunt of the brush.. This way also allows the FEL to locate hidden object instead of the mower..

good luck

Brian

 

[lopezian]

I'm a little embarrassed asking this, ...

Don't be. I have learned so much from questions like this.

is the blade on a bush hog sharpened on both sides?

No, not on my bush hog, it is not. Both blades are sharperned, or course, but each is only sharp on one edge.

If it isn't sharpened on both sides, with the power take off turning in reverse if you back into the brush, it wouldn't be cutting it with the sharp edge of the blade, correct?

PTO turns in reverse when you back up the tractor? My tractor doesn't do that, does yours? My PTO turns the same way whether I am going forward or backward. It would be a heckuva PTO that could stop those blades and start turning them in the opposite direction that quickly.

I back in to brush or uncut grass all the time. Just make SURE there are no unseen obstructionsin there (rocks, fence posts, old barbed wire) before you do that.

It would be nice if somebody made a smaller front mounted hydraulic rotary mower to exchange with your bucket on a FEL similar to what bobcat and other skidsteers have but then it would probably run about half the price of the tractor alone.

There is a guy on here who posted pictures of exactly such a project. As I recall it involved powering a seperate hydraulic pump with the PTO and running lines all the way up to the FEL where a rotary cutter was mounted. Looked very cool and very destructive.

 

[RoyJackson]

I normally try to drive over that kind of stuff first. This is a good 1st gear, low range, real slow job.
If I cannot drive over it, I'll back into it...slowly...let the cutter work it's way through.
Slow means you can change direction with no or minimal damage if you hit something the cutter can't digest.
Personally, I do not recommend raising that cutter when those blades are turning. To me, that's not safe...

Don't be in a rush when you're brush cutting...not that thick nasty stuff anyway.

 

[Bird]

is the blade on a bush hog sharpened on both sides? If it isn't sharpened on both sides, with the power take off turning in reverse if you back into the brush, it wouldn't be cutting it with the sharp edge of the blade, correct?

Don't give it a second thought. The blades are only sharpened on one side and your PTO always turns the same direction regardless of the gear you are in or the direction you're traveling. And I too have backed into brush, sometimes even raised the brush hog (be especially careful if you do that) backed over brush, then slowly lowered the brush hog into the brush.

 

[J_J]

The blades turn in the same direction all the time. You are slicing or cutting material in the front side of the blade. Yes, there are some bush hog blades that are sharpen on both sides. That is so you can just unbolt and turn the blade over for a sharper edge. I back into stuff all the time when it is not practical to just drive over it. Extra sharp is not required on a bush hog blade. Some people carry an extra set and carry a big socket and wrench to change out in the field.

Perhaps the hydraulic bush hogs can turn in reverse. I see no reason to, except if you have a double edge sharpened blade. With the correct hydraulic valve, you could cut in either direction.

 

[Erik Graham]

I've bush hogged a fair amount of small cedars and other small bushes and found that raising the hog,backing in and lowering the mower to work fairly well. Check a few things first though. Is your pto shaft free and clear when your mower is raised? Make sure it is well clear of any tensioner/lift chains. Do a careful check (on foot) of the area you want to hog. The one and only time I didn't do this I bush hogged a sizable length of fencing that the previous owner had tossed aside. Took me a couple of aggravating hours to unwind it from the main shaft of the hog.

Be Smart and Be Safe,

Cheers, Erik

 

[btolle]

Bush hog blades are not supposed to be "sharp". They are tapered to a "cutting" edge that is about 1/8" wide. They "cut" by shredding rather than actually shearing like a mower does.

Unless you are using a bush hog several hours a week all year long I doubt you will ever have to replace the blades. They are about 1/2 or 3/4" thick and should last for more years than you will use them.

There should be a bolt in the gear box shaft on the hog that acts as a shear pin in case you hit something solid. I have a 4' bush hog and have hit concrete with it and not broken the shear pin. The shear pin is just a standard grade 5 bolt so you can use any grade 5 bolt of the same size if you break it. Some more expensive bush hogs have a built in slip clutch instead of the shear pin.

There are a couple of safety rules I obey religiously: I never get off the tractor until the PTO shaft has stopped turning. I never work on the bush hog while the engine is running. I never allow anyone to be within 100 feet of me, rocks can come flying out of a bush hog at about 150 MPH and can be deadly.

In case you don't think the rules above apply to you spend some time on the safety forum and you will see enough blood and guts to change your mind.

Happy hogging!

Bill Tolle

 

[hill]

If you have your loader mounted you can drive into the stuff with the loader raised and squish it down. Then drive right over it in forward and let the brushhog pulverize it once. If needed then back over it and let the cutter at it again. By the time your done with all that it should be disintegrated into submission. Attack, Attack, Attack!!

edit for Bill, above: Bill, a slipclutch can be added to most any pto driven device. they're sold fairly reasonably in agriSupply outlets. Besides adding a margin of safety a slipclutch can fix the problem of a little bit too short supplied driveline with an implement. They add 2-3 inches.

 

[kubota4me]

Thank you all for some very informative and helpful answers. Now I have to decide whether to spend more money for a Woods brush hog or somewhat less for a TSC mower. Thanks again!

 

[jbrumberg]

kubota4me:

There are quite a few competitive RC's in the marketplace. IMHO the Woods and the TSC RC's reflect the continuum of RC's. If you compare brands make sure you are looking at the same service ranges- light, medium, and/or heavy duty mowers. There are differences in plating thickness, side plate protection, weight, and gear box ratings. Jay

 

[MarkV]

It has been mentioned but is worth repeating. When you are raising the bush hog and lowering it into brush do not let anyone, including pets, in the area you are working. Things will go flying and can do some major damage.

Also bush hog blades are by design not sharp. They are made to shatter what they hit rather than cut. If you sharpen your blades you will leave little spears in the ground that are looking for tires to eat.

For what it is worth I find the King Kutter mowers from TSC a good deal. They have lousy paint, not so pretty of welds and sometimes need some adjustments to the mounting points for smaller tractors but mine is still cutting well after 5 years of hard work.

MarkV

 

[acohen100]

Noob brush hog question. I didn't realize that a brush hog was stout enough to rip down trees (dogwood and sumac as stated in the original post). Exactly how big of a plant will these things take down? I have a acres of brushy land clearing to do and hadn't considered this an appropriate tool to do that job. Mostly its honeysuckle and dogwood but they can get up to 3-4 inches around per trunk.

 

[Bird]

Exactly how big of a plant will these things take down?

Most, if not all, the manufacturers make at least 3 grades of rotary cutters; light, medium, and heavy duty, so you just need to be sure you're getting the right one for what you want to do. Naturally, as you got up from light to medium to heavy duty, the price goes up also. Just as one example: the Bush Hog Squealer series is light duty, rated to cut material up to 1", while the Bush Hog Model 406 is their heavy duty model, rated to cut material up to 4". Now for "occasional" use, you can probably get away with cutting more than the machine is rated for. As one example: when the dealer delivered my cousin's Bush Hog squealer, he promptly drove right through a grove of saplings that were 2" to 3" thick with a machine rated for only 1". Frankly I thought he might damage it, but after he left, I inspected the bottom side of that machine and found no damage. I still would not recommend over doing it that much.

 

[ihookem]

I bought a 4' Howse for 585 dollars. I could have gotten a King Kutter at Fleet Farm for 500 on sale. I got the Howse cause 4 mi. away I have a Farmtrac dealer and bought it there.he is a darn good guy to have around. He already rewelded the wheel spline cause he weld broke and he fixed it right there. Howse MIGHT be better but who knows. Don't buy an expensive one cause if you relly need a cutter you will beat the crap out of it anyhow and in 10 hrs. of running time it will look five years old. I think mine has a 45horse gear box so 7510 Kubota (17 horse pto is plenty) If you ever wear out even a cheap one you will have so much use out of it you'll be glad to get two cheap ones for the price of an expensive one.

 

[ihookem]

Also, I sharpened my blades to try to cut two foot high alfalfa and hope it helps cut it easier. I never thought of keeping them dull for brush so you don't have sharp points all over and flat tires. P.S. did anyone ever sharpen blades for this purpose? P.S.S, My blades are on a pivot so it gives away when it hits something.

 

[kubota4me]

Most, if not all, the manufacturers make at least 3 grades of rotary cutters; light, medium, and heavy duty, so you just need to be sure you're getting the right one for what you want to do. Naturally, as you got up from light to medium to heavy duty, the price goes up also. Just as one example: the Bush Hog Squealer series is light duty, rated to cut material up to 1", while the Bush Hog Model 406 is their heavy duty model, rated to cut material up to 4". Now for "occasional" use, you can probably get away with cutting more than the machine is rated for. As one example: when the dealer delivered my cousin's Bush Hog squealer, he promptly drove right through a grove of saplings that were 2" to 3" thick with a machine rated for only 1". Frankly I thought he might damage it, but after he left, I inspected the bottom side of that machine and found no damage. I still would not recommend over doing it that much.

Bird, I think the limiting factor for me will be the weight that my three point can safely lift. In my example, I will be using a L4400 with a FEL on it. I'm not sure exactly what the specs are on the 4400 on the three point, but I'll probably go with the heaviest RC that I can safely lift.

 

[MarkV]

Also, I sharpened my blades to try to cut two foot high alfalfa and hope it helps cut it easier. I never thought of keeping them dull for brush so you don't have sharp points all over and flat tires. P.S. did anyone ever sharpen blades for this purpose? P.S.S, My blades are on a pivot so it gives away when it hits something.

Yes some people have put more of an edge on RC blades to give more of a finish cut on field grass. For cutting heavy brush the sharpened blades will leave tire getters and will chip the blades metal easier. All rotary mowers have the pivoting blades and depend on the momentum created by the stump jumpers weight to shred woody brush.

Also thick grass fields can be much harder to cut than brush many times. That thick grass can eat up the horse power and many times require taking less of a cut with each pass or cutting more often.

MarkV

 

[riptides]

Bird, I think the limiting factor for me will be the weight that my three point can safely lift. In my example, I will be using a L4400 with a FEL on it. I'm not sure exactly what the specs are on the 4400 on the three point, but I'll probably go with the heaviest RC that I can safely lift.

It's not how big your blade is, but how big your b**** are when your cutting.

Man, you hit some stuff and it e x p l o d e s. I am in an open station, and I don't like that feeling.

When clearing fields, I use to walk 'rm first with a hand cutter.

-Mike Z.