DR Field & Brush mower

[Ledgemere Farm]

Anyone have one of these? DR Field mower

 

[JackIL]

I have the 17 hp version and like it a lot.

JackIL

 

[EastTexFrank]

There's been quite a bit of discussion on the DR and other field mowers. Do a "SEARCH" and it should turn up the information you need.

I've had one for years, one of the older versions without pneumatic tires and a reverse gear. It still works very well for cutting around the lake at the farm but they are a lot harder work to use than the advertising would have you believe. That shows them mowing down 1" saplings and that it WILL do. What it doesn't show is that you have to wade and stumble through all the trash it leaves behind while tripping over the 2" high stobs it leaves sticking up. That's where the hard work comes in. For grass and weeds in small, hard to get to areas, it works as well as anything else and better than most but if the area is larger and overgrown with saplings be prepared for a workout.

It's no substitute for a CUT and a bush hog.

 

[OHB]

I bought a DR F&B Mower in March 2001. I also bought the 46" grass attachment. The grass attachment worked for one year then gave nothing but trouble. I ditched it last summer for my Troy-Bilt lawn tractor. The F&B mower has worked as advertised. I use it to cut around the back of my property when it gets too thick for the T-B. The DR (8hp) will cut waist high thick grass with no problem. The going is a little slow but not too much so. I'd buy the F&B mower again but not the grass attachment. In all fairness I must say the grass attachment has been completely redesigned since I bought mine and may be a better add-on now. DR's are a little pricey but the F&B mower is worth it if you have a relatively small lot as I do (5 acres) that occasionally gets overgrown in spots. Hope this helps.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

I only need to clean an area maybe 100' x 200' once/season. I have to haul my lawn mower there anyway, so loading a DR into the trailer isn't a problem. Buying a BIGGER truck and trailer AND a bush-hog to bring my CUT over there doesn't seem feasible. I think the DR is the only viable option. Thanks.

 

[fractal]

Have you thought of a walk behind string trimmer? Sounds like it has already been cleared so all you are doing is cutting weeds and grass.. I bought mine from sears, it has a 4hp motor and it does a durned good job at plowing through weeds too high to run the lawn mower without having to worry about rough terain and rocks. It is a lot less expensive than a DR field and brush mower.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

That may not be a bad idea! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Alan L.]

I'll second fractal. If there is no brush in there, the wheel trimmer will do a great job.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

There is definitely brush, but the DR trimmer has a Beaver Blade option.

 

[Bird]

I had the Beaver Blade for my DR trimmer/mower and it really does take down some good sized saplings in a hurry. The regular string is .130 and I also tried their heavier .150; either works on some pretty tough stuff and I couldn't tell enough difference to amount to anything. Of course that was on the biggest (6 hp) machine they had when I bought mine.

 

[shvl73]

Have you thought of a self propelled sickle mower? I've got one on Ebay. I cut an 1-3/4" pine yesterday with it, no problem. They can be bought pretty cheap. For something portable, but to be used only a couple times a year, $2000.00 seems like a lot to invest. $200.00 seems more reasonable, but then, I'm kinda cheap.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

Nothing wrong with being thrifty. I have seen a bunch of Troy-Bilt sickle mowers for sale lately. I am just wondering how the parts availability on them is...

 

[Kelvin]

A friend of mine has a 17hp DR mower that I tried out. The mowing head swivels so that it stays horizontal when mowing. For me, that was a disadvantage when trying to mow sideways along an steep bank, as the mower deck kept trying to dig into the upper part of the bank. I called and talked to the DR folks last year and they thought the 2004 model would have an option to pin the deck so that it remains fixed.

As mentioned in another post, I have a walk-behind string mower, and it does a good job of pretending to be a rotary mower in tall grass. My string mower is a 6hp Swisher brand from TSC. The big plastic rear wheels have a tendancy to bend a little when trying to mow sideways on a bank.

Another option is the Billy Goat brand rough cut mower (a competitor to the DR Field and Brush mower). Engine options are 11 hp & 13 hp Honda or 10.5 hp & ?? hp Briggs & Stratton. There are two local rental company rent these out (about $40 per day), and I plan to rent one so that I can try it out one day. Here is their web site billygoat.com. There are two companies that locally sell and service the Billy Goat. Renting may be an option for you if your local rental company rents these out.

Kelvin

 

[shvl73]

I think the parts are certainly out there to be had. If not from MTD, who bought Troy-Bilt when Garden Way went out in 2001, then E-bay seems to always have stuff for them. The teeth seem to be the thing that need replacing most often & they are easy to obtain. I just couldn't let myself spend high $ on a mower that I would use so infrequently. My Wood's BrushBull is something I don't use often, but I couldn't use a walk-behind to do the job it does. I don't have to travel anywhere to mow, if I did, I would keep the sicklemower, it does work well.

 

[Stefaniesdad]

Let me start by saying I had my doubts about this DR Premier 26. Especially after reading some of the unbiased reviews others had written. But the warranty was ironclad (I am a legal type guy)
After doing the research we decided to buy one (and an extended warranty - $199.00).

I have had it for a few weeks now and will break the experience down into several categories for the reader:

1) Ordering and Price - Ordering was pretty straight forward, web site was clear and accurate and the unit I bought was on sale for $1399.00 - Happy with this category.

2) Shipping - Shipping is a bit .. lets say.. "creative"! The unit get shipped to a "depot" where you can go pick it up.. keep in mind these are very heavy and one person cannot pick it up and put it in a truck. It has to be driven into your pickup but you have to assemble it first because it comes in a couple of pieces on a pallet.. no one tells you that part. I wanted mine delivered to my ranch (They did this for free, but I need my forklift to get it off of the truck..) Delivery service was by contract carrier who did call me before delivery but arrived late (after 8pm) due to a break down en-route. In any case I got it off the truck and into my equipment building with my fork lift.

3) Assembly - Straight forward, easy and completed in a few minutes with standard skills and tools. Instructions were very good. Un-crating actually took longer as another reviewer reported.

4) Fuel, oil and start up - easy and no issues. Started right up on the second pull.

5) Operation/Brush cutting Day 1 - First day out and within the first hour the belt came off of the drive wheels.. this is not 'user-friendly so I took it into a local authorized DR repair shop - belt had been "put on wrong" according to the mechanic who proceeded to tell me that the machine was "junk" since Generac bought the company.. (I don't agree and frankly the kid was obnoxious anyway..). DR covered the repair under the warranty and I brought the machine home to continue working the following weekend.

Operation/Brush cutting Day 2: Fired right up and off I marched into the brush. The machine cut through 3 feet tall Chamise and Buck Brush and mowed down four feet tall grasses like a hot knife thru butter! Incredibly powerful it ran all day and I cleared two acres of land that hasn't seen the brush cut down in years. Someone described the experience as "wrestling a bear.." I agree -more like a big monster of a bear.. (I am a big guy but it wore me out after about six hours of up and down hill work through some of the toughest brush California has to offer.

Operation/Brush cutting Day 3: Manzanita, small hardwood saplings and rattlesnakes in the poison oak! I really pressed the DR into heavy labor through manzanita brush (very hard wood!), some oak and wild plum saplings and four foot high poison oak..(I don;t recommend this for the person who is effected by this plant.. it doesn't bother me.) I ran over two rattlesnakes while mowing the brush and grass down and the machine simply vaporized them! I am very pleased with the operational ability of the machine so far.

Operation - HILLS - Be careful.. the recommended 20 degree max is true - the machine is heavy and can get the better of you. The lubrication system is such that you cannot mow on inclines for very long over 20 degrees without risking oil issues.. the machine will also roll backwards if you're not careful when in neutral ("N").. I found that letting the machine work, works better than trying to manhandle it.

Fuel consumption - Use good fresh gasoline - It burns up the entire tank in about four hours.. it's about what one would expect from a 10.3 HP 'no name' engine. (It's actually a RADO 10.3 engine.. Google it.. as I said, "No Name".)
Air filters - A two part or dual air filter system will suck dirt like there's no tomorrow. Order extra filters and change often - follow instructions in the included operators manual.

Customer Service - Many thanks to the excellent customer service (especially the tech guys). Main complaint is that they get either a lot of call for service and tech advice or they don't have enough of them working the phones as it takes forever to get one on the phone - once on the phone they rock!

In conclusion - If you read this whole thing you have too much time on your hands - but thank you! This machine is WELL WORTH the money (especially at $1,399.00) - It will provide many years of hard labor for me and I suspect it will last beyond me to my heirs.

 

[RalphVa]

Your link would not come up. I had a DR string trimmer on wheels. Greatly needed self propulsion. They have it now.

Sold mine.

Ralph