Mowing Finish mower vs rocks

[Boondox]

Didn't get to the meadow in time to find/remove this year's crop of stones before the grass grew up to hide them. The poor LandPride FDR2572 mower found several of them and I couldn't believe the damage! The baffles are virtually gone, and one of the beefy blade spindles is cracked clear thru.

Photo of the underside is attached. Pete

 

[Boondox]

Closeup of the spindle

This one is going to hurt the wallet. Pete

 

[MarkV]

Re: Closeup of the spindle

Ouch! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

MarkV

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Closeup of the spindle

My dad always said---"never take a knife to gunfight" good luck!

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Pete,

My first thought when I read the topic (Finish mower vs. rocks) was "Rocks win" /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The spindle looks bad. I hope you can find a way to repair it. If not, this could seriously cut into the budget for puppy treats and tennis balls. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Good luck with this. It looks like a tough one.

 

[kensfarm]

So that's what a trim mower looks like after it's been used as a rotary cutter... man... when I hit a rock.. I'm usually like "their goes my blade edge".. not.. "there goes the whole underside of my mower".. how long have you had it? Looking at your second picture.. it looks replaceable w/ those 4 bolts holding the spindle plate on.. you might be able to get just that part.. maybe a weldor can fab some new baffles.. or.. maybe it's just time for a new trim mower.. rotary cutter.. and rock rake! Those rocks are out there to get us.. cost me a rotary cutter(it was on it's last leg anyway).. sorry about the bad luck.. hope it's fixable!

 

[Chief]

The mower almost always looses this battle. I spent about 5 days walking and digging out rocks and debry in my pasture and still the rocks "grew back" . I set my mower very high as well to minimize the risk of hitting a rock and damage it causes. I am considering a Land Pride RCR 2660 or 2672. I think you might want to do the same or at least go to the Tractor Supply Center and get a King Kutter 5 ft. rotary cutter for unsure areas. They are on sale this week for $549.

 

[agcomike]

how much pto hp does it take to run a 5' bush hog?

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( how much pto hp does it take to run a 5' bush hog? )</font>

This topic has been discussed a lot, and a sorta general rule of thumb might be 5 hp per foot of width of the brush hog, or 25 PTO hp for the 5' brush hog. But it's by no means a firm requirement. If all you're cutting is grass and weeds with a light duty brush hog, you might get by with less hp. On the other hand, if you're wanting to mow down 2" saplings with a medium or heavy duty brush hog, you might need more.

 

[glennmac]

That is stupefying as well as depressing. All the baffles get torn off and a spindle shattered, yet the blades look relatively unscathed. Maybe I will rethink my idea of buying the Landpride RMM. Do you attribute any of this damage to weaknesses in the construction of the mower? I seem to recall some other problem you had with the mower and Carver.