Rotary Cutter Can i brush hog it?

[dbaer78]

I have a Rhino 172 that i bought new two years ago and use pretty hard. It's been a darn good tool. My second choice would probably be a woods BB72x. They have a nice blade bolt system and have the heavy bumper built in the rear of the deck. Looked at both when I shopped and I don't think you can go wrong either way.

 

[Beauly]

Hi, I have a Kubota B3350 and just bought an old International brush cutter, that has a Comer gearbox. Do I need a slip clutch attached to the shaft? Or can I run as is?

 

[Degolyerent]

This is some heavy brush I cut with a Landpride RCR2672, as you can see I had stopped to clean out screen.It was a 10 acre property, I give that cutter a hard time and it has done very well.

 

[LD1]

Hi, I have a Kubota B3350 and just bought an old International brush cutter, that has a Comer gearbox. Do I need a slip clutch attached to the shaft? Or can I run as is?

Dont know how it is now? If it dont have a slip clutch, it may have a shear pin.

My cutter has neither. After ~500+ acres and hitting some nasty things, never had an issue

 

[EddieWalker]

No problem mowing that stuff down, just be sure the ground is dry and you know what's in front of you. I've found that the biggest challenge is just being patient and going slow enough to let the mower do a good job of getting all of it. If you go too fast, you will have to go back and cut it again.

As for brand of mowers, they are all pretty much priced the same when comparing the same quality of mower. Heavy duty ones costing more because you are getting more. I have a light duty Landpride six foot rotary cutter that I pull behind a 35hp 4x4 Century tractor. It will cut anything I can run over with the tractor and it's proven to be a good mower. I have abused it pretty badly and I'm on my third gearbox, second stump jumper, six or seventh set of blades, second set of bolts for the blades, second tail wheel and my third driveshaft in the last dozen years that I've owned it. If I had gone for the heavy duty model, I probably wouldn't have spent as much time wrenching on it, but I tend to go with bad judgement while out there and put myself into situations that I know I shouldn't. Sometimes I get away with it, other times I'm walking back to the house to get the backhoe to pull myself out and drag the tractor back to the shop.

What I like about the Landpride brand is that I can go to any Kubota dealer and get the parts from them, or go online to Messicks.com and order them from them. I think that I would destroy any brand cutter, and what's important to me is being able to fix it quickly.

Eddie

 

[Creamer]

No problem cutting this mess down. I used my 1710 with a 5' bush hog and just took it slow. Ran the loader low - 10-12" to push over the trees and protect the tractor. Between the scoop, the arms and the crossmember the tractor is pretty well protected. I cut everything bigger over 3" diameter with a chain saw first and then just ran over them with the mower. After the mower I picked up the big pieces. (These were all hardwoods.) I had to put in in 4WD to get a lot of the trees pushed over and took it slow as I do not have a live PTO. If I can do this with my outfit yours will be no issue. Some of my trees were over 15' tall.

 

[bumperm]

Hi, I have a Kubota B3350 and just bought an old International brush cutter, that has a Comer gearbox. Do I need a slip clutch attached to the shaft? Or can I run as is?

Sure, BUT, if it doesn't have a slip clutch, make sure it has a shear bolt (typically no grade or grade 5 max) and that there is a retainer clip so that when the bolt shears the shaft end cannot come off and free. It has to spin in place and so often has a zerk grease fitting too. Mine has the shear bolt on the cutter gearbox end of the PTO shaft.

 

[geneP]

To the original poster, I think a 72" cutter of any type it too big for a 29 PTO HP tractor. A 6' cutter is wider, longer, and heavier than a comparable duty 5' model. A 5' is all you will be able to utilize in all but the thinnest grass. Save yourself some money and grief and consider a heavy 5' model.

 

[TO_Bud]

Be aware of the local wildlife while cutting if you can. I had the unfortunate experience of backing over a fawn that was hiding in place as they do. I had seen her moving earlier while cutting and spent about a half hour tying to flush her out, even using my dog to help. Brush was so thick I couldn't hardly move through it on foot. When I couldn't find her I was sure she had moved off. Was wrong though and 10 minutes later while backing into the brush I heard the scream, got off to find her badly wounded, finished her with a shovel blow and buried her. I couldn't believe she didn't move with all the noise being made by the machinery. Felt bad that day.

 

[coss]

Be aware of the local wildlife while cutting if you can. I had the unfortunate experience of backing over a fawn that was hiding in place as they do. I had seen her moving earlier while cutting and spent about a half hour tying to flush her out, even using my dog to help. Brush was so thick I couldn't hardly move through it on foot. When I couldn't find her I was sure she had moved off. Was wrong though and 10 minutes later while backing into the brush I heard the scream, got off to find her badly wounded, finished her with a shovel blow and buried her. I couldn't believe she didn't move with all the noise being made by the machinery. Felt bad that day.

If I have a choice, I usually wait until after July 4 or so before I make the first bush hog pass for the year. The delay gives the wildlife a chance to grow up and leave the holding areas before I mow them.