Brush Hog - Tractor Supply

[Scrambler82]

I bought a County Line 5-foot rotary mower from Tractor Supply yesterday for $1200. This is what I would consider a middle of the road mower. It is a step above the Chinese units that are imported and a step below the major names like Land Pride or Bush Hog. The mower itself is manufactured by Tarter of Kentucky. The gearbox is made by OmniGear which is a US owned and managed company in Houston but the manufacturing is done in China. The driveshaft is 100% Chinese. The metal deck and side skirts are a little thinner than what you'd see from Land Pride or Bush Hog, but still adequate. The rear wheel is laminated and will last a very long time assuming it is not roaded. There is a grease fitting on both the rear wheel swivel and rear wheel hub. The blades are on a stump jumper dish and are the lift / grass design. There is a tool caddy mounted on the deck with the owner's manual inside - I will remove this and put two cheap box end wrenches and spare shear bolts inside. For the money, this is a decent quality mower. If you needed a mower for everyday, commercial use I'd probably get something heavier duty. But so long as you use this mower within it's rated limits, I think it will last a very long time, even with a lot of use.

I found that King Cutter made the TS Brush Hogs... !?!
Interesting, no matter either way because so far this Brush Hog has more than I ever expected it to, cut brush backwards and forward; cut my banking easier than I thought too.

That Tool Holder... mine is empty, no manual, no tools... no nothin !
Not sure if it needs to be removed.

Good Luck with your new tool.

 

[Scrambler82]

Set your top link loose so that it lets the mower undulate over the terrain.

Thanks I will loosen it, it is tight now, I also need to lower the rear of the cutter, I started high because I didn't know what I was getting into. Now I can see, I can lower the rear of the cutter.

 

[SARG]

Here's a lesson I learned the hard way .......... I started with a Tractor Supply 48" cutter behind my small T1030 New Holland. The back of their cutters have 30 degree angles and will bend easily if you back into anything .... like a dirt bank. The noise the blade makes when the deck skirt is bent into it will definitely wake you up. After two years I upgraded to a bigger tractor (T1530 - 45 hp) and a 72" Woods with a round skirt at the rear.
And as was mentioned earlier .... make sure it has a functioning vent or pressure release plug. Mine did not and the seals did not last through the first year ...which meant I had to fill the gearbox every time I used it.

 

[Zebrafive]

Have any of you ever witnessed a rear cutter that was cutting 3" material. The Highway Dept has a Brown 684 mounted on a New Holland 150hp tractor. The 3" trees were birch or aspen or quaken asp. Whatever.

The SOUND. I was about 200 feet away and very glad of it. It sounded like something - either the tractor or the rear cutter - was being torn apart.

There is no question - the Brown 684 is rated for 3" trees. If it were me - I'd be out there with my chain saw.

I would think that a forrest mulcher would be more in order.

Our county does the trees along our road about every five years. They did it this year. This time they had a cutter that had a big saw blade on an arm and they could cut limbs off about 12' - 15' high. They also use brush cutters on arms to cut the lighter limbs (more like beat/mangle them)

 

[Zebrafive]

I need that capacity cause in certain locations thats how thick it is.

Then you need an extra heavy duty cutter. Several brands make them. Brown, Bush Hog, Woods to name a few.

 

[troverman]

Here's a photo of mine, assembled and attached to a mine. I made a couple of passes through some 4-foot tall brush which it effortlessly cut. That's a good point about the square, non-reinforced rear end. If you back into something, you could bend the housing enough to cause the blades to make contact. I think some easy welding could solve this problem though. This thing is pretty smooth to start up and it is so smooth operating that at first I thought engaging the PTO broke the shear bolt...but it actually is just really smooth.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Have any of you ever witnessed a rear cutter that was cutting 3" material. The Highway Dept has a Brown 684 mounted on a New Holland 150hp tractor. The 3" trees were birch or aspen or quaken asp. Whatever.

The SOUND. I was about 200 feet away and very glad of it. It sounded like something - either the tractor or the rear cutter - was being torn apart.

There is no question - the Brown 684 is rated for 3" trees. If it were me - I'd be out there with my chain saw.

I would think that a forrest mulcher would be more in order.

I had a Brown 472 that was rated for 2" material. I would take down 2" pines that I had to run over with the tractor to lay down before chopping. Sounded like a mulcher. Noting but toothpicks left. It would handle 2" hardwoods but liked the pines better. Nice heavy cutters that are well made. My biggest concern with heavy duty cutters is tire management. Anybody that has punctured as many tires as I have would understand.

 

[Scrambler82]

I don't mine the height, I do mind the diameter of the stock... the brush I have been cutting with my 60" CountryLine/Tractor Supply Cutter is in the area of 1"... I really don't want to cut larger because I am not sure of the actual spec on this Cutter.

When I come on something thicker, I use the Bow saw and then pull the roots, after taking off the Cutter and mounting the BH, usually not the same day.

I also found, and not sure it is a good idea, that backing over somethings makes cutting a lot easier, when a bush is higher than the rest of the brush, I raise the cutter back over it and then lower the cutter and drive forward. Backing over things seems right when cutting on uneven ground, that you don't know is uneven... yes, I have property that I have not walked and wanted cut !

Still have a few areas that need more attention and the weather isn't helping... too wet, but I will be getting back to the cutting soon.