Gravely Brush Hog converted to saw blade

[jimdereynier]

My neighbor, Rich Agostinucci, owns 4 walk behind Gravelys. He remembers reading that gravely had a chain saw attachment and saw blade attachment which he used to clear brush. Land I need to clear has brush 1-2" thick. I think I can convert the brush hog and installed a 28" saw blade. The only negative is that I would have to cut back the deck maybe 5" to allow approaching the brush.

Any thoughts? Jim

 

[Renze]

Bad idea, saw blades this big wobble at saw RPM, sawmill blades are specially treated to shrink the center, so that the centrifugal force will give equal tension. A standard brush hog should be able to cut 2" thick vegetation without any safety hazards.

 

[jimdereynier]

So Renze you think the blade might come apart. Here is Gravely Model L-8 with 26" carbide tipped circular saw cutting down brush - YouTube
I agree it looks dangerous. But I think I can reduce the risk by only exposing say 5" out of 28" diameter. The balance of the blade would be enclosed in the existing 30" brush hog housing.
Jim

 

[lgranch]

Just use your brush hog. A brush hog will cut through the stuff in the video like it wasn't even there. Much easier on the operator too.

lgranch

 

[tractchores]

Just use your brush hog. A brush hog will cut through the stuff in the video like it wasn't even there. Much easier on the operator too.

lgranch

x2 - There's a lot of very bad things that can go wrong with that setup in the video, neat yes, would I use it, not a chance. If its just 2" brush use a brush hog, which will be quicker, safer and easier.

 

[Ken45101]

So Renze you think the blade might come apart. Here is Gravely Model L-8 with 26" carbide tipped circular saw cutting down brush - YouTube
I agree it looks dangerous. But I think I can reduce the risk by only exposing say 5" out of 28" diameter. The balance of the blade would be enclosed in the existing 30" brush hog housing.
Jim

That guy is an idiot! Carbide tips come loose or break. Hit a rock with that unshielded blade and he could have a piece going through his leg, or it might get deflected and hit him in the face or eye.

 

[relaqbr]

x2 - There's a lot of very bad things that can go wrong with that setup in the video, neat yes, would I use it, not a chance. If its just 2" brush use a brush hog, which will be quicker, safer and easier.

Just my 2 cents worth. A flail mower would do a nice job as well. The only saving grace with that setup in the video is how low it is to the ground. If the blade does fail the pieces are likely to be caught up by the ground. Also there doesn't seem to be any bits of brush flying around.

 

[mx842]

Gravely had those as an accessory item but they were for cutting larger material, the stuff that their 30" brush cutter wouldn't handle. Those old brush cutters would chop up that stuff in the video like it was cotton candy but once the brush gets to 3 or 4 inches in size it too much for them to handle. I mean they would chop up 3 inch stuff with no problem but when the stuff gets that big it doesn't bend over as easy and the machine can't push it over but it will chop up what it can run over. Those saw blade attachments were for cutting the larger stuff off at the stump so you can remove the larger wood and run over the rest with the mower. If you take your time with those old gravely tractors you can get a lot of work done I wouldn't trade mine for anything. It's amazing what they will do and keep going mine is over 50 years old and still as powerful as it was the day it was built. They are dangerous though, everything about them is but if you take your time they will get the job done.

 

[jimdereynier]

Besides adding the saw blade to my gravely brush hog, I also added a stump grinder-Shawn Kohlbus, 717-246-5015, 2125 Craley rd, Windsor, PA 17366-- $450-500- includes blade-1/2" thick with 4 carbide replaceable bits and safety cover- worked great in grinding up maybe 15-20 oak stumps.

With all this work for the brush hog attachment, I had to first replace the seals in the brush hog, My neighbor, Rich Agostinucci, besides owning 4 gravelys is the senior mechanic at large New England crane company ( nice neighbor to have) The seal can be removed by drilling two small holes 180 degrees apart into the steel. insert a wood screw and gently pull the seal out-evenly. I used Timken seal # 6241S. This is not an exact match. The seal I removed had rubber portion slanting in both directions. Timken 6241S only has it going in one direction. ( but it works great). To seat the seal, you need a tool with a ID of around 1.3" and OD of not more than 2.56" I used a PVC hose fitting maybe 1" but had to grind off parts of the wrench surface. Get two seals so you can learn on one- the seal has to go in straight and you will see when it goes in at angle.

 

[franklin2]

It's amazing what they will do and keep going mine is over 50 years old and still as powerful as it was the day it was built. They are dangerous though, everything about them is but if you take your time they will get the job done.

I agree with that, I have a 1962 model L still going strong. Anyone that has used one though, probably has had it try to get away from them, mine has done it a couple of times. There is a saying I remember someone quoting, the general theme was when using a gravely and it gets away from you in the bramble briers, you had better be getting out of the way because sooner or later it's going to make it's way back out and you don't want to be there when that happens.

 

[frogpond]

Perhaps it's not necessary to use a tractor at all (heresy!). Although if you do, a brush hog will be sufficient. And the guy in the video using the Gravely with the big blade, aside from courting serious injury, looks like he's working pretty hard. I would get out my Stihl FS 130 brushcutter for a job like this. It would be much faster than the Gravely, and easier to use on uneven or hilly terrain. The shoulder harness and "bike handles" dramatically reduce the effort required. And...I would use ear and eye protection!

 

[podieroe]

no they don't, i use the saw blade all the time for cutting fire wood, run great, but over time the torque, tends to imbalance the pto shaft. we're talking twenty ya
ers here.

 

[leveled]

that video scares the crap out of me i would never run that thing.

 

[mx842]

I agree with that, I have a 1962 model L still going strong. Anyone that has used one though, probably has had it try to get away from them, mine has done it a couple of times. There is a saying I remember someone quoting, the general theme was when using a gravely and it gets away from you in the bramble briers, you had better be getting out of the way because sooner or later it's going to make it's way back out and you don't want to be there when that happens.

Amen brother...........Going forward is not too bad unless you get one of those nasty briers with 1" long thorns wrapped around your shoulder and your hand gets ripped off the control lever where you cant stop the dang thing and it drags you through the briers and relieves you of a 1/2 pound of flesh and a pint or so of blood before you can get loose from either the brier or the machine. What scares me the most is when backing up. I try to never drop it all the way in reverse.....I try to just feather the control enough to get it to go backwards. There are times though that it does pop all the way in reverse and you better be in the clear. If you lose your footing or trip up on a stick or get one of those big ol briers wrapped around your leg and happen to fall you are in deep do do cause that thing don't care if it's a leg, a root or a 2" round piece of wood, it's going to chop it up.

I've been pinned in-between a big ol pine tree and the handle bars of mine a time or two and it will make you think and also say thank you Lord for helping me get my hand back on that control before it ran me over.LOL

 

[rjmack]

Perhaps it's not necessary to use a tractor at all (heresy!). Although if you do, a brush hog will be sufficient. And the guy in the video using the Gravely with the big blade, aside from courting serious injury, looks like he's working pretty hard. I would get out my Stihl FS 130 brushcutter for a job like this. It would be much faster than the Gravely, and easier to use on uneven or hilly terrain. The shoulder harness and "bike handles" dramatically reduce the effort required. And...I would use ear and eye protection!

I agree, you could get through that stuff quicker with a decent brush saw, stihl or husqvarna.

 

[franklin2]

Amen brother...........Going forward is not too bad unless you get one of those nasty briers with 1" long thorns wrapped around your shoulder and your hand gets ripped off the control lever where you cant stop the dang thing and it drags you through the briers and relieves you of a 1/2 pound of flesh and a pint or so of blood before you can get loose from either the brier or the machine. What scares me the most is when backing up. I try to never drop it all the way in reverse.....I try to just feather the control enough to get it to go backwards. There are times though that it does pop all the way in reverse and you better be in the clear. If you lose your footing or trip up on a stick or get one of those big ol briers wrapped around your leg and happen to fall you are in deep do do cause that thing don't care if it's a leg, a root or a 2" round piece of wood, it's going to chop it up.

I've been pinned in-between a big ol pine tree and the handle bars of mine a time or two and it will make you think and also say thank you Lord for helping me get my hand back on that control before it ran me over.LOL

You can adjust the lever so it won't lock in in reverse. That's the way I have mine. But as you probably already know, you always have to set yourself to start walking backwards when hitting the reverse lever. If you are not, it will back over you, since if you don't move yourself the lever goes into reverse more and more as the tractor moves.

 

[mx842]

You can adjust the lever so it won't lock in in reverse. That's the way I have mine. But as you probably already know, you always have to set yourself to start walking backwards when hitting the reverse lever. If you are not, it will back over you, since if you don't move yourself the lever goes into reverse more and more as the tractor moves.

You got that right.......sort of like those chinese hand cuffs the more you struggle to get free the tighter they get. I keep my controls set light to the reverse position and when I am in real nasty stuff I try to go forward about 8 or 10 feet then back up. Move over a little and repeat. It's slow but you can keep better control of what is around you that way and backing up over what you cut going forward really mulches the stuff up well. It's those hidden old rotted out stump holes that will get you as one of the wheels drops in and about jerks your arm off then your forward motion pushes the lever to the reverse position and before you know it the machine is trying to back over you.

I really would like to get the wheel spacers and add a second set of tires. That really helps the way the machine acts. I know it was like day and night when I took those regular tires off and put tractor type tires on it. I hardly ever get stuck now in those low places and spend more time chopping brush rather than trying to lift that heavy thing out of a stump hole and fighting to keep it going.

Mine is out of action right now. one of my gas tank straps broke and before I realized it, it rubbed a hole in my tank so while I had it off I decided to fix my muffler that has been loose since I bought it. I know now why the other guy didn't mess with it cause as soon as I put a little pressure on the nut to tighten it up the stud broke off. Someone had fixed it before and put small studs in the manifold rather than bolts and now I have to drill them both out and retap the holes. Right when I was in the middle of my yearly cleanup but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to keep up with these woods. If I miss a year I have to start all over again and it takes three time longer.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Just my two cents worth. I had a pro 12, which I believe was actually a machine that had evolved to a size that made it very awkward for many of the front attachments except the finishing mower that had it's own wheels.

Anyway, I had the brush mower. It doesn't take much brains to figure out that although the device might cut 2" material, it can't possibly do so it you can't get it under the deck! So I cut out the front of the deck with a plasma cutter. I know, the safety nuts must be beside themselves! Worked just great for maybe half an hour til I hit a stone, shattering the horizontal shaft in the brush mower, and that was the end of that project. I mean, it could have hit, one of the billion stones around here anyway.

I got rid of my whole Gravely inventory and went to a Steiner, but if I had to do it again, I might try to make some kind of "stump jumper" arrangement you see on bush hogs. A large plate with two blades attached to the circumference, so they can swing out of the way, if they hit something.

 

[Ghive]

I used to work for Gravely, lot of years ago, only lived 10 miles from factory. They did make a saw blade attachment, still have mine, probably a 16-18 inch blade with a guard. Could cut flat or rotate the housing & lock in position to block wood with. Still have 3, 2 8horse & 10 horse commercial. FINE equipment.

 

[wadeschields]

Besides adding the saw blade to my gravely brush hog, I also added a stump grinder-Shawn Kohlbus, 717-246-5015, 2125 Craley rd, Windsor, PA 17366-- $450-500- includes blade-1/2" thick with 4 carbide replaceable bits and safety cover- worked great in grinding up maybe 15-20 oak stumps.

With all this work for the brush hog attachment, I had to first replace the seals in the brush hog, My neighbor, Rich Agostinucci, besides owning 4 gravelys is the senior mechanic at large New England crane company ( nice neighbor to have) The seal can be removed by drilling two small holes 180 degrees apart into the steel. insert a wood screw and gently pull the seal out-evenly. I used Timken seal # 6241S. This is not an exact match. The seal I removed had rubber portion slanting in both directions. Timken 6241S only has it going in one direction. ( but it works great). To seat the seal, you need a tool with a ID of around 1.3" and OD of not more than 2.56" I used a PVC hose fitting maybe 1" but had to grind off parts of the wrench surface. Get two seals so you can learn on one- the seal has to go in straight and you will see when it goes in at angle.

Windsor you say.... Thats not far from me. This guy makes Stump grinders for 450 bucks? Would it work on my Ford 9N?