Rotary Cutter Howse Brush Cutter

mowingcorey · Mar 31, 2004

My neighbor has a 4 foot Howse brush cutter for sale. He is asking $275. He says it's about 4-6 years old and it looks in fair condition. Is this a good deal? Are replacement parts (blades) easy to find and get? Any information would be helpful. Thanks.

AndyMA · Mar 31, 2004

Northern Tool has the Howse 4' Rough Cut Mower for $549.99 plus $109.99 for the optional Chain Guard. the 4' is recommended for PTO hp of 15 to 30. I would think parts are available. The price seems fair. Blades are $17.99 each from Northern.

Andy

mowingcorey · Mar 31, 2004

Thanks for the info. I have a Northern Tool catalog at home somewhere. I will have to look more closely at it. The one I am looking at doesn't have the chain guard.

RonC · Mar 31, 2004

I use a Howse Brush Cutter and it does a decent job. I have cut some small trees up to 1.5 inches with no problem.It is not one of your most expensive cutters, but you can't beat the price you are paying for it. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

KiotiJohn · Apr 1, 2004

That's not a bad price. Make sure you keep clean 90wt gear oil in the gearbox and keep the blades sharp, clean the surfaces occasionally, and it should last a lot more years. John

mowingcorey · Apr 1, 2004

Thanks for the help. I drove the 1.5 miles down the road last night and brought it home. I can't wait to use it. I will plan to sharpen the blades and put in clean 90wt oil before use.

BB_TX · Apr 1, 2004

Make sure your blades swivel freely on the stump jumper also. Every spring, I turn mine up on edge so I can safely work on it and free up the blades and sharpen them. Grass, twine, etc. get wound up around the bolts and with a little rust thrown in, the blades try to "freeze" to the stump jumper. They need to swing freely to absorb the shock of hitting heavy objects. Otherwise, the shock is transferred to the gear box, PTO shaft, and ultimately to the tractor. Once I get them freely rotating, I oil them well with some heavy oil or gear lube.

KiotiJohn · Apr 3, 2004

BB, glad you added that good information. That's something I've had happen, wire, vines, etc. winding around the stump jumper and in the blades. Thanks, John