Can one just build a bush hog?

[bamatoolmaker]

My neighbor builds them everyday.He had one setting in the weeds that was custom made out of 3/8 steel with stump jumper,60hp gearbox and slip clutch .He gave me a lifetime warranty for my 3130.I paid $800.00 to cover his materials and labor.I thought about repainting it but kind of like the orange and green together.

 

[Soundguy]

SOUNDGUY, if you saw the land you might shift some blame away from me...I thought I was pretty hard on myself without you using the D word!! haha.

this was my land. It was cutover and had hidden stumps, logs, slash, rocks. hindsight is 2020, rent a guy with a FECON to clear it folks, save your equipment..

When i bought my pasture it was 7' tall ragweed and dog fennel. You better believe i drove all 10 ac with my tractor before i put a brush hog to it.. Equipment is too expensive to offer up as a sacrafice.

The JD LX6 is a light duty machine. it simply was not suitable to the land. The first problem was the welds (spot welds, not a solid bead!!!! on a JD!!!!) broke. right, they broke. the break caused the gearbox to begin to rock back and forth with every revolution, and cause further damage to blades, deck, etc. .

While i prefer full weld beads.. I do own an economy 5' mower that also has much of the metal welded with 2" beads, then gaps, then more beads. It's a 5' kk.. and has never given me a moments issue... I really doubt the lack of the continous weld -caused- any problems. Another issue is observation. While I am mowing.. I periodically swing my head back to look at my implement.. again.. they are too expensive to repalce once destroyed.. and periodically looking back can catch them at 'damaged', before they progress to 'destroyed'. This method has saved both my 10' mower and my 15' mower. On my 10' mower i notice dthat i felt a little 'play' when making a turn.. turned out one of the 3pt cat 2 pins had loosened up and was holding on by 1 thread . I snugged it up to hand tight and went to the barn. If it had come out.. i think I'd have had alot of bent metal on the 3pt lift a-frame.
On my 15' batwing, i noticed a wing shifted a tad. I limped back to the barn...Turned out 2 pins backed out of the hinge, and allowed one hinge support to break. i was able to use a jack and prybar and hammer to get them back in, then weld up the stops and keepers and support that had let them loosen up and 'walk' out. I figure another couple minutes.. or if i had folded and unfolded them a few more times.. that wing might have come off.... And i surely can't afford another jd flexwing mower...

With practice, you will be able to feel things like abnormal vibration.. like that gearbox might have made when the botls loosened up.. etc.

At the time, I did not have a welder. By the time I got a welder, I was past the point of diminishing returns.....

When you needed the welder was the time to get it. Just like any other tool.... Otherwise it is like a carpenter passing up work till he gets a framing hammer.

I know tools are expensive.. but as you have seen.. the lack of tools are expensive as well. FWIW.. I had a 70a/115v small welder.. however.. when my flexwing broke.. i -had- to upgrade to a big 235a/220v welder to fix it. I didn't want to.. but spending 250$ on the welder was cheaper than 15k$ on a new mower.. and was about the same price to call a mobile welding shop to come out and buzz it up for me... i figured if I was spending 250$ on a mobile repair.. that I mightas well own the welder..

Soundguy

 

[andrewj]

I've got an old 6" Swisher pull behind thats just sittin' here goin' to rust. You are welcome to it. The stumpjumper, blades and gearbox are all ok, it's the deck that all eaten up. It needs one universal joint, and of course the shaft would have to be shortened.

if you still have it, I'll be coming through Tennessee in a month or so...

 

[Renze]

While i prefer full weld beads.. I do own an economy 5' mower that also has much of the metal welded with 2" beads, then gaps, then more beads. It's a 5' kk.. and has never given me a moments issue... I really doubt the lack of the continous weld -caused- any problems.

Full length welds arent desirable in many cases. Welding adds heat to the metal, which causes the heated metal to expand first, and after it cools down it shrinks to a smaller size than it originally was due to the change of steel structure around the weld.
If you cant weld in mirrored symmetry but only on onw side of the profiles, you'll likely arch the workpiece.

 

[Soundguy]

I'm sure the compny making the mowers was able to weld the underside as well... though i didn't flip her over to check.. just guessing.

Soundguy

 

[Dargo]

I have a 6' bush hog that weighs over 1200 pounds. I use it as a battering ram as well as chop up anything I can push over with the tractor. The "frame" or cage all the way around the mower deck is 2X2 square tubing with 3/8" thick wall. The deck itself is only 1/4" plate but has 2X3 angle that is also 3/8" thick across the deck about every 14" or so. I have a slip clutch in line and I think a 60 hp or so (I forget now) gear box. I've hit stumps, rocks, the ground and about everything in between with it. I hit something so hard that I can see where one of the 1/2" blades nearly came through the top of the deck! Heck, I've used the deck side to push a couple thousand pound rocks out of the way. My tail wheel is attached with 1" flat bar with another 1" thick flat bar welded horizontally to the vertical piece all the way out. The same with my 3 pt. hitch. It's pretty well a beast and I've not been able to tear it apart yet.

On welds, you really don't want one welded up solid. If you do, there is no place for harmonic vibrations to dissapate and you will get breaks. It's best to stagger 3" or so beads side to side. When I've broken things in the past, it's never been at one of my welds.

The problem is that if you price out the cost of the steel, a good gear box, a couple of 1/2" blades, a stump jumper, a good slip clutch and a tail wheel, you'll have well over $2000 in materials alone before you even strike your first weld. If you're only wanting to spend $500, I'd suggest to just go buy a cheap cutter and get yourself a bag full of shear bolts. A good quality 4X8 sheet of 1/4" steel will cost you nearly half your total budget and you won't have even have a good start on your total materials list. I think I burned 25 pounds of rods on my rotary cutter besides everything else I mentioned. Plus, if you don't have a good plasma cutter, chop saw, O/A setup and a good welder you'll have to keep adding to your list of things to buy.

 

[Soundguy]

That reminds me... I got a couple TSC gift cards for xmas.. hmm.. may be time for me to get a cheap flux wire welder so I can do light wire welding at home.

Does TSC sell plasma cutters?

One that would cut 1/4 and sever 3/8 would be a great project helper.. i wonder what an economy model in that range would cost????

Soundguy

 

[BTDT]

I don't know that much about plasma cutters. One of my neighbors sons bought one to go into business making the decorative wildlife cutouts, but I haven't heard any more about it. Seems like it would be more of a tool for a fab/welding shop than for a once in a while piece cutter for tractor repair. A good torch is hard to beat. With a torch all you need is a lighter, while with a plasma cutter, you need air (clean, dry), air compressor, electricity, consumables, special table (?), etc. Doesn't seem to be nearly as user friendly as an O&A setup. But, like I said, haven't used or researched them enough. If you get one, be sure to let us know what you think. If anyone else has thoughts pro or con please post.

 

[Dargo]

Oh, plasma cutters aren't as wild as they sound. To me, "plasma cutter" sounds like super high tech science fiction stuff. It's not, really. I've used an O/A setup far longer than a plasma cutter. I pride myself in being pretty darn good with an O/A, and that is why I didn't buy a plasma cutter for so long. Basically the difference can be compared to cutting something with a hatchet vs. cutting something with a scalpel. Both will do the same job, but one is just a bit more exacting than the other and, both still have their place.

You can't heat up a piece of steel with a plasma cutter; won't do it. Unless you are willing to lay out some pretty big bucks, you can't cut thick steel with a plasma cutter; won't do it. You can't put a plasma cutter in the back of your pickup and go cut something out in the field; won't do it. And, it is true you need a good air compressor with an inline dryer and some relatively decent 220 volt amperage for the plasma cutter. If you just need to cut something off, an O/A is the way to go.

Now with an O/A torch you're not going to be able to slice a piece of steel in half with a smooth, burr-less edge; won't do it. With an O/A torch you're not going to be able to cut out any remotely accurate pattern in steel; won't do it. With an O/A torch you're not going to be able to cut anything if you run out of gas in either tank; won't do it. The same goes for an O/P torch.

For the most part, you actually drag a plasma cutter tip across what you're cutting using a "stand off" tip. The cost of "consumables" is far, far over stated for a plasma cutter. I can cut hundreds and hundreds of feet, if not a thousand feet, of even thick (3/4" to 1") steel without using up any "consumable" at all. If you're only going to need to cut up to 3/8" thick steel, a plasma cutter can be had without too much of a cost. If you have an air compressor, a good inline dryer can be had for well under a hundred bucks. I have a Motor Guard M-60 dryer that I bought new on eBay for $30. They don't come much better than the Motor Guards.

Using my plasma cutter, a HyperTherm 1250, I can quickly and easily cut 1/2" steel quickly and leave an almost perfect edge. Using my 18 volt DeWalt battery powered grinder I can make a quick pass or two over the edge and you cannot tell if it was sheared off or if it is a "factory" edge or not. Even being pretty darn good with my O/A, it will still take quite a bit of grinding with a 7" grinder to make a 1/2" cut look like that. Both have their places like I said earlier. I wouldn't try to use an Exacto knife to cut down a tree, and I wouldn't use an axe to cut out a coupon from the newspaper. It's more of just using the right tool for the right job. Now, if I can just get me a 100 ton ironworker in my shop, I'll be set.

 

[PILOON]

Sort of 'in the thrend' type of question.............

Anybody know if the gearbox from a Gravely 'hog' or rotary mower could be strong enough to fab a hog in , say, about a 50" unit?

Reason being that I kinda inherited one and have been pondering a DIY 'hog project'.

Be a shame to do all that welding/fabing just to have it blow up.

Comments would be appreciated.