Chain guards for rotary mowers

KenPauling · Mar 30, 2005

I have mowed fields for 25 years and never used chain guards. I never even knew they existed until last year. No dealer ever said anything to me. Now it seems dealers are pushing them. I am looking to buy a 10 ' mower and the dealers want an extra $380.00 just for the chain guards!! No wonder they are pushing them! My first rotary mower didn't even cost that much. I would worry that if a part of the chain guard came loose the mower blade would shoot it out like a bullet! Next they will be selling guards for the chain guards! Any comments would be appreciated. I'm just mowing grass in my fields not chopping 2 inch trees! If they are important for safety, they should be included with the mower. Just think of your reaction if the next time you bought a car the dealer tried to charge you extra for seat belts and airbags!

bdog · Mar 30, 2005

I had never seen or used them until I read about them here. I built them for my shredder. I got to talking about them with a local farmer and he said they put them on the front of their shredders but not on the back. They had an instance where they were shredding a pature and hit some barb wire and it flew forward and cut and ruined a $500 rear tire. If you are going to be shredding near anything that can be damaged or injured then I would get them front and rear. If you are only shredding on your own land and it is remote and it is clean then maybe get by without them. If you are worried about hitting stuff and it coming forward at you then get the front guards at the minimum. The cost on them seems high but trust me they take a lot of chain and time to make. For my 6' shredder it took about 60 foot of chain and most of a day to build them. The priced you were qouted for a 10' shreder is not bad in my book. You would have a hard time building them for that if you took your time into consideration.

Indydirtfarmer · Mar 31, 2005

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have mowed fields for 25 years and never used chain guards. I never even knew they existed until last year. No dealer ever said anything to me. Now it seems dealers are pushing them. I am looking to buy a 10 ' mower and the dealers want an extra $380.00 just for the chain guards!! No wonder they are pushing them! My first rotary mower didn't even cost that much. I would worry that if a part of the chain guard came loose the mower blade would shoot it out like a bullet! Next they will be selling guards for the chain guards! Any comments would be appreciated. I'm just mowing grass in my fields not chopping 2 inch trees! If they are important for safety, they should be included with the mower. Just think of your reaction if the next time you bought a car the dealer tried to charge you extra for seat belts and airbags! )</font>

I've been doing commercial bush hogging for almost 30 years myself. I do contract work for the state of Kentucky, among other things. About 15 years ago, my insurance company started requiring chian guards on all of my mowers. I've changed insurance carriers 2 times since then, and both of them require chains. It is the industry standard now apparently.

Last year, we logged over 4200 hours of mowing time. That has been typical of the last several years. Not one chain guard related problem. Mowing road-way right-of-ways, we hit EVERYTHING. Since adopting the chain guards, we have managed to keep a clean record, as far as launching things from underneath any mowers. That doesn't mean they're entirely credited with the great saftey record, but I'd give them high marks.

I just recieved a new (Alamo) 10' mower yesterday. It has the heaviest chains on any mower I've ever seen!

With a Woods BB8400 on the back of a 130 HP Deere 4440, I've shreaded 4" trees, and never had a problem.

Bottom line..... I'll take my chances with the chain guards.....

Bird · Mar 31, 2005

Yep, I've seen lots of brush hogs being used without any guards of any kind, just as we've seen lots of tractors without ROPS, cars without seat belts, etc., etc. When I first got my little B7100 and a 4' brush hog, I mowed the pasture without any guards on it the first time, and it threw a limb big as my arm out in front of me 50' or more in the air. It went under the tractor, between the wheels, and straight out in front. Made me wonder what it would have done if it had hit a tire or a hydraulic hose or something else on the bottom of the tractor, so I went and built some guards for it. I had one John Deere dealer tell me they didn't stock, and didn't want to sell, any brush hogs without chain guards.

rockyridgefarm · Mar 31, 2005

I recently bought a harrow to use in our "clean" pastures. You would be amazed at the barb wire fragments abd whatnot that it has picked up. A lot of it is partaily buried, waiting for a blade to scalp and pick it up. A tire would be cheap, compared to looking down and seeing a piece of wire sticking out of your chest...

SkyPup · Mar 31, 2005

Operating a bush hog in the presence of children or other people is hyper dangerous, with or without chainguards.

Although if you do manage to seriously injure someone and you are found in court NOT to have used chainguards, you will certainly pay out the nose...... it's much much cheaper to just purchase the chainguards if you don't already have them.

Golfgar4 · Mar 31, 2005

Ken,

Maybe you've already seen this thread Brush Hog Guards - Chains of belting - What To Use in the Build It Yourself forum. It offers some information on making your own guards.

Soundguy · Mar 31, 2005

I'd be more in favor of rubber mat style guards. The block thrown objects, and dust.. and can block smaller objects that I've seen make it thru a chail guard, they are cheaper.. and if a piece of the guard comes loose.. you might throw a chunk of rubber.. not a length of chain.

I made a set for my 5' mower for less that 20$

Soundguy

frank_f15 · Mar 31, 2005

Bird: i have a RFM rear discharge and it has a chain guard across the back. why no guards on the front? is it because the difference in the way brush hogs are made and used as compared to RFM'S just curious?

Dmax · Mar 31, 2005

If your dealer is going to sell you front and rear chains for a 10' cutter for $380 I would say buy them from him. The dealer that I Bought my 8' bush hog from wanted $425 for front and rear. He claimed that was his cost plus shipping and it could be with the price of steel. I just built the front chain guard for my cutter with 4" channel iron and about 80' of 5/16 chain cost right at $100 for material.

Unclebuck257 · Apr 1, 2005

I had used a Rhino TW-60 mower behind my tractor for a number of years to mow my 50 acres. That Rhino came from the factory with heavy duty chain guards on it, front and rear, and I never had ANYTHING shoot through those guards, or any chain break off. Let's be clear here. In mowing my pastures, I have natural rock in some, near and on the surface, I have rain washed in County Road rock on the surface in others, and there is always the piece of barbed wire, or tree limb that gets under there too.

I just bought a new Montana 5740C and with it, a larger mower. I bought a new 8 foot Dale Philips heavy duty mower that has NO chain guards of any kind!! I also have grandkids that visit, horses and cows, along with 5 dogs on my place. I will NOT operate this new mower until I install chain guards on it, because of safety!! I can't tell you the number of times I believe those chain guards on that Rhino stopped something from coming out from underneath that old mower and becoming a deadly missle!!

Do yourself a favor and spend the $380.00 on those chain guards. The peace of mind itself will be worth it. In fact, for that price please let me know where I can buy them. It will save me looking or making my own.