Bush Hog Dangers

[gizmo]

I often bushhog the yard just to mulch up the fallen limbs. I am always careful to make sure that the kids are not within about 100' of the machine when I am running and if they do get close I immediately shut down the machine.

Today I was out in the yard mulching limbs. I have a 4' cutter attached to a 35HP PTO (plenty of excess power). I hit a rock that weighed about 4lbs and it stayed air born for at least 100' before its first skip. It must have been going around 60MPH or better. It continued on for about another 100' before slamming squarely into a tree. I hate to think what that thing may have done to someone in its way.

From now on I'll have to be much more vigilant about people out in the yard.

 

[RoyJackson]

Do you have chain guards or something of that nature on your cutter?

 

[gizmo]

No chain guards, but that is a good idea. My cutter is REALLY old. Well, I take that back, half of it is old. The other half is stuff that I have welded on. It may tough to add chains as the blade path is almost to the front edge of the housing. I would have to fab an extension to the housing to keep the chains from swinging into the blades.

 

[hudr]

Spinning blades can do some pretty wild ballistic tricks. We noticed a draft at my parents' house one day. Pulled back the curtains and there was a grapefruit sized hole in the window in my old bedroom. Only thing we could figure was the haycutter must have hit the rock we found on the window sill and slung it through the window. And this was from a "clean" field that we cut every year.

 

[HEC]

Thanks for the reminder Michael as I will be so much more careful from now on also.
Herb,

 

[Highbeam]

I have pitched some baby head sized rocks for several hundred feet behind my cutter. Seems the big stuff is ejected aft more often. Seing one particular baby head skip along at high speed was enough to convince me to keep people and anything else of value as far away as possible.

 

[Soundguy]

Add a set of guards to it for cheap.. i used some semi truck mudflaps ( 4$ each ) and some of that thin angle iron with the hole sin it like garage door opener track frames are made of.. TSC has it.. it is also cheap. Betweent he mudflaps, a couple zip ties, the metal angle and some 1/4" nut/bolt/washer hardware, i had about 15$ into a guard for my KK 5' mower..

The heavy mudflap works real good at reducing the energy/range of thrown debri... Also keeps your back 'cleaner' if you mow on a low set open frame tractor like the old fords..

Soundguy

 

[tractorwheel]

Soundguy, will you please post a photo of the semi mud flaps you are speaking of? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[rk246]

The baby head picture is not a good one...lol /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Soundguy]

Here they are.. not the best pics.. but they work..

Soundguy

 

[NHeuro]

Yes mowers are dangerous things
I have a finish mower and even when i hit a little stone it is catapulted very fast out of the mower.
So be careful and maybe you can put something before the mower.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I see way too many people who have their rotary cutters set on too steep of an angle with the front too low and the rear too high.

The proper setting for a cutter is nearly flat with most operators manuals suggesting a rise to run slope of 0.5" to 1" of rear rise for ever 12" of cutter. So the proper setting for most brands of cutters is going to have the rear elevated only 2" to a maximum of 4" in relation to the front. Obviously the higher the rear is set, the more likely it is you will throw debris.

 

[tractorwheel]

I have a 5 ft. brush hog which may be somewhat smaller than some others. However for me it is plenty to handle. I am going to make the mudflap addition as well as put some expanded metal on the ROPS to help illiminate as much flying debris as possible. I will add pictures later.

And I wanted to say that I have learned alot from reading your posts. "keep on posting"! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[scott_vt]

Hi Soundguy,
Anything thats cheap and works good is OK in my book /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I like the way that you moved that flap foward a bit I imagine to prevent plugging of the mower. I was actually planning on doing something similar on my Woods mower but I didnt have the foresight to move the flap foward /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Thanks for a thrifty idea.

scotty

 

[Farmwithjunk]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I see way too many people who have their rotary cutters set on too steep of an angle with the front too low and the rear too high. )</font>

Give the man a cee-gar!

In some cases, they can be run even flatter than you suggested. I run mine (7'er) with but ONE inch rise front to back TOTAL. It works like a charm.

Some mowers are built with the blades up in the structure, and others run blades below the confines of the deck "housing". But when the tail-end is kicked up several inches, well, that's asking for a disaster.

 

[wallace]

We have all seen the state or a contractor cut the centers of the highway with tractors and cutters.
Here is Pa, atleast in our county they are not allowed to run rotary cutters they must use flails.

 

[Highbeam]

After seeing the rocks chucked from my own tractor I was amazed to see our WA state DOT in a fancy JD tractor brush higging the center median of a 4 lane highway. He seemed to have the hog setting low and flat. We are seeing a lot more mowing of the medians, shoulders, and ramp areas to minimize fire danger. It sure looks sharp when they're done.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I like the way that you moved that flap foward a bit )</font>

Also.. the front deck on the KK and the blade tips are darn close. in heavy brush, I was worried about contact with blade tip and flap contact. With it moved forwad, it is still out of the tires, and works nice. Due to the angle, I get 90% less 'dusty' debri pushed out the front.. and havn't had any hard chips fly out and hit my back since.

For 15$ or so.. it was a great deal.

Soundguy

 

[flusher]

Here's one way to add an expanded metal debris shield to a ROPS, in this case on my B7510HST. It's held on with hose clamps (no welding or drilling on the ROPS).

 

[shepherd]

not to steal the forum but every time we spread manure i ALWAYS get hit with tiny chunks but that looks like a really good idea to solve it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif