Can I cut light brush with a Zero Turn?

[LazyBoy]

I just bought my first zero turn, it's a BigDog Alpha 42", exact same as a Hustler Raptor except it's red and has a much better seat!!! Anyway I have 1.5 acre of land that has lots of trees and is about half is covered with light but pretty tough brush, it's about 2ft. tall and 1/4" stem dia. max., I was just wondering if this mower was up to cutting this stuff, it does have pretty good spindles and a fabricated deck? Any thoughts?

 

[whistlepig]

I wouldn't try it with my zero turn. It may cut it but but also may greatly shorten the life of your mower.

 

[lostcreekranch]

If you can't cut 1/4" with it, take it back. Don't see any problem with doing that with any reasonably good quality mower.

You might have to go over it more than once because you will bend it over and some of the stalks won't get cut well on first pass.

I get after some really big stuff, in areas where our bigger tractors can't get to, with a JD Z820 with 60" 7 Iron Deck.

Raise your deck to max cut height for first pass, then lower it for second pass. If you have a rubber / vinyl cutting chute find a way to raise it up so cuttings will be thrown out farther to the side. I drilled a 1/4" hole in my chute to insert the S hook on rubber bunge cord that is attached back to the mower, to hold it up out of the way. I mow that way a great majority of the time, even on lawn.

Learn how to re-sharpen your blades.

GO GET IT!

Good luck

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[LD1]

I wouldn't try mowing 2' high grass.and weeds with any belt driven finish mower. Let alone a brand new ztr.

Find someone local that does bushhogging. Craigslist is a good place to start. Likely would cost only $100 or so. Let them knock it down for you and take over from there after.

 

[Ken45101]

I don't have any problem mowing two ft grass and weed with mt Kubota ZD 321 (with commercial deck) but idk if I would take on much brush

 

[radioman]

if you try - be prepared to replace the belt, mandrels,pulleys, and blades. just price out the belt and blade and then price out hiring a brushhogger.

 

[jmc]

Mine's a 2 or 3 year old Toro that probably isn't built for commercial use. Took it in for service and they told me the drive belt need to be replaced, probably from cutting tall grass, which I had been. Belt was like $150 before labor.

 

[jbooth]

It has been my experience that brush cuts easier than high grass as far as the power required. I would definitely ease into it and make the call based on the way the way the mower appears to handle it. I routinely mulch the clippings from our bush trimmings.

 

[MoKelly]

Without seeing the area you want to cut/mow, it is hard to give really accurate opinions. However, from what I have learned doing this stuff, it is always best to use the right tool for the job. Almost every time I try to take a short cut of use something not really designed for the task, it does not go well.

A finish mower is not the right tool for brush clearing. So, if it was me, I'd do what I believe was already memntioned ... hire or rent a brush hog and clear the area. Then, use the finish mower to keep the area normal. Longer term this will probably work better and be less cost and headaches.

Good luck.

MoKelly

 

[boggen]

have ran riding lawn mowers with belly decks through some pretty tall stuff before.

raised deck as high as it would go. put on "straight blades" non of them fancy mulching blades or high lift blades that have curves within the blades.
any were from 1/4th of the deck, to 1/2 the deck with the discharge side opposite side that the weeds were coming in at. with the plastic shut raised on the discharge side.

always keeping a keen ear out, for any "squaling" blades have been tangled up in weeds to a dead stop, and belt is just squeeling and burning itself up on the pullies. a good razor blade, a couple screw drivers, pair of pliers, and a pair of channel locks, to remove the build up around the blades. and off i go again, in the lowest gear i can go, and at the highest RPM's of the engine i can go.

p.s. i do take of the "shielding" on the mower deck so i can see the pulleys directly, that the blades attach to. so i can constantly take a quick glance to see if one of them have stops. there is a high risk of stepping off, or putting your foot off to the side and saying by by to your foot in doing this... or having a shoe string getting caught up in things.

but... there are some things i simply could not deal with...

you should be able to goto some local "equipment rental store" look up in your phone book "equipment rental" and you should be able to rent a walk behind self propelled, weed whacker (think miniture rotatory cutter / bush hog that would fit on back of a tractor) it will take a little bit of time, but you would atleast get things cut down to point were regular mower should be able to take over.

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put an ad on craigslist.org asking for someone, or call up some local lawn care folks / landscape folks. and get some bids, to see what it would cost them to clean it up initially.