Bush hog for B7100?

[jmauss]

I have a B7100HST, and am looking for suggestions about what is the appropriate bush hog style mower. When I look at manufacturer's specifications, most of them say minimum horsepower is 18hp or greater. The B7100 is 17hp. My gut feel is that many of the 4' units would probably be okay, but I don't know that for sure.

Are there any units that you are aware of that work especially well with a tractor of this size? I see B7100's for sale all the time with 3pt brush mowers, so I know there must be some good ones out there. Any help you can give me is appreciated.

Joe

 

[RoyJackson]

The guy you want to ask is Bird Senter, one of the Moderators.

He had a B7100, I think. If I recall correctly, he used a 48" cutter.

 

[gino45]

I'm sure the B7100 would handle the mower. The question to me is how much could you mow without causing the engine to lug down. It depends on what you're cutting. You might need to cut a swath of new stuff much smaller than 48" if its thick.

 

[btolle]

I had a B7100HST and used a 42" bush hog with it but it would have handled a 4' OK. The only exception would be if you were cutting grass that is very tall (3' or more) in which case you could either slow your speed down or mow less than the full 4'.

While you can buy 42" bush hogs they are as expensive as a 4'.

Don't buy a Howse brand cutter. I had one and it was a pain in the neck. I sold it with the B7100 to get rid of it and replaced it with a Modern 4' (manufactured in Beaumont, TX) and I am happy with it. The blades on the Howse had too much space between the blade and the mounting plate and would get grass and weeds caught in it which caused the blades to stop swinging freely. A pain to clean out.

The B7100 is an extremely good machine and did everything I ever asked of it. I would never have sold it if I could have added power steering to it.

Bill Tolle

 

[daTeacha]

I've got an old B7100 with 16 gross hp. I use a very heavy 4' hog on it. The tractor will almost pick it up -- I can pull up on the top link from the seat and it'll lift it -- and my hydraulics are recently declared above spec by the dealership. I have a 3 speed PTO and the 3x2 manual tranny. I run the tractor in 2nd or 3rd gear, low range and the PTO in 2nd speed. The thing mows most anything I can run over but will bog down if I run it into a large groundhog dirt pile. Lifting it a bit solves the problem. Huge multiflora roses -- 8' tall plus -- are disposed of by digging them out with the FEL equipped with 2" channel steel forks about 10" long then eating them up with the hog. They don't come back.

 

[Tom_Breeden]

I have a B7100HST that I bought in 99.(Approx. 1100 hours) Took the belly mower off and replaced with a Woods RM59 ( 5' finish mower ) I have been mowing six acres with it since then. In 2003, I began pulling a 5' trail mower along with the Woods. Mowing approx. a 9' swath. It just amazes me that this tractor just keeps on going. I just re-cored the radiator which is my first major expence.---not counting normal servicing. I have put 500 hours on it since 99. Finish mowing and bush-hogging are two different tasks tho.
Tom

 

[B2400]

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I bought a King Kutter 4ft for the B7100HST that I'd had previously. Worked wonderful behind that little workhorse. The only thing I would suggest is some front weights for ballast as hills tend to give it "power steering" without actually being able to turn. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif As stated before, really tall heavy grass will bog it down a little, but backing off the hydro pedal will keep it working just fine. The manual calls for a maximum weight on the 3pt as 300lbs I believe. This is very conservative as the KK weighs more than that but has no trouble lifting it.

 

[Bird]

I had a '95 B7100HSD (16 engine and 13 PTO hp). The manual recommends a 42" rotary cutter, but I used a 48" Bush Hog Squealer and was well satisfied with it. The 3-point hitch had no problem lifting it to full height and holding it there to back it over bigger, heavy stuff. Of course it was possible to load it enough to pull the engine rpm down a bit, but as mentioned before, just going slower or cutting less than full width in heavy stuff solves that problem.

 

[crown]

btolle,
I think the biggest problem with Howse is quality control. I have heard many horror stories, however I bought a 4 foot brush hog for my B-7500. I mainly got it because of price I only use it about 8 times a year, but it has taken everything I have dished out, my property is full of rocks and thick grass it has performed flawlessly.

 

[chrisjbell]

I have a B7300, which is pretty close to yours. I use a Rhino SE4 brush hog, which has held up well over 8 years. I would recommend a 4' over a 42" - reduces the number of passes you make by quite a bit over a large area. I often mow very long stuff and I can handle 6' tall weeds just by slowing down. The HST makes that pretty easy to do.