Looking to buy a heavy duty brush cutter

[Camofurever1]

I have been contemplating selling off my John Deere tractor and implements and buying a track loader with high flow hydraulics. I have a few acres of pasture land, but the majority of my farm is mature woods. A maintenance nightmare. This past weekend, I got ahold of a Cat 289D3 with a 60 inch forestry drum mulcher on it. I cleaned up my service road around the perimeter of the woods, cleaned up some trails and blazed a few new ones. I also cleaned up about 2 acres of forest floor of the thick underbrush and dead standing timber that is next to my home. I would have never been able to do that with a tractor and bush hog. (trust me, I have tried) A rotary drum forestry mulcher that goes on a track loader is very nice, but I don't do forestry mulching for a living and once I get my woods whipped into shape, it would end up just sitting in the equipment shed. Seeing rotary drum mulchers run $25k and up in price, that is a very large investment for a implement that would basically sit and rust once the initial cleanup is done.

So, I have been looking at buying a heavy duty brush cutter: One that can do standard bush hogging of field grass, keep fence rows cleaned up, cut trees up to 6-8 inches and primarily, keeping the mature forest floor cleaned up of underbrush. After doing a bunch of reading, I kind of like the Quick Attach Mega Mower X. I may be going about this backwards, but I plan on buying the brush cutter first, before I buy a (used) trackloader to run it. Reason is, I currently have access to a Cat 289D3 track loader any weekend I want to use it. (for the cost of refueling it and sending it back on the truck full and clean. Son-in-law works for Cat)

So, do any of you own a Quick Attach Mega Mower X brush cutter? If you do, how do you like the performance of it, any quirky issues, maintenance costs, price, dealer support? Any other heavy duty brush cutter you could recommend that mounts to a trackloader with high flow hydraulics?

Skid Steer Brush Cutter | The Mega Mower X

Clear and mulch the heaviest brush, grass, and trees with the Mega Mower X Industrial Open Front Brush Cutter. This design levels forests and overgrowth, allowing you to reclaim what once was. The industrial deck is reinforced for maximum cutting potential and long-term durability. Open deck...

quickattach.com

 

[jeff9366]

Consider a Brown (brand) Tree Cutter for one of your current tractors.

LINK: Categories - Brown Manufacturing Corp | 800.633.8909

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I have an MTL XCT-7 with the hi-flow piston motor and it has been flawless for the past 2 years and I have used it pretty hard, I have a thread over in the Owning/Operating thread titled Pictures from a skidsteer mowing contractor that shows some of the work that I do, it will give you an idea of what the MTL forestry mower can do.

 

[Camofurever1]

I have an MTL XCT-7 with the hi-flow piston motor and it has been flawless for the past 2 years and I have used it pretty hard, I have a thread over in the Owning/Operating thread titled Pictures from a skidsteer mowing contractor that shows some of the work that I do, it will give you an idea of what the MTL forestry mower can do.

OK, now you have piqued my interest in the MTL's. How is your blade life been? I know that is highly dependent on what type of soils and materials you are cutting. I live in middle Tennessee. Most of the area is covered up in eastern cedar (juniper), with a mix of some Osage orange, a scattering of Honey Locust, a bunch of Hackberry, Shag Bark Hickory and a even distribution of red and white Oak. Most of the cedars all grew up at the same time 50 to 75 years ago in a dense glade, so they are very tall and straight as an arrow, but there was a under canopy of cedars that got choked out and died. Many of these 3" dead standing cedars are still standing. When a cedar dies, the white wood will rot, but the red wood just petrifies. That is one of the main things I want to clear out of my forest, along with all of the underbrush and lower hanging branches. We also have many out croppings of Murfreesboro soft limestone that seem to jump up from nowhere and wanna get hit by swinging metal blades. How do the blades and drive train fare on hitting hard objects? Does MTL give you a price break on parts if you give a referral that leads to a cutter sale? They should.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

OK, now you have piqued my interest in the MTL's. How is your blade life been? I know that is highly dependent on what type of soils and materials you are cutting. I live in middle Tennessee. Most of the area is covered up in eastern cedar (juniper), with a mix of some Osage orange, a scattering of Honey Locust, a bunch of Hackberry, Shag Bark Hickory and a even distribution of red and white Oak. Most of the cedars all grew up at the same time 50 to 75 years ago in a dense glade, so they are very tall and straight as an arrow, but there was a under canopy of cedars that got choked out and died. Many of these 3" dead standing cedars are still standing. When a cedar dies, the white wood will rot, but the red wood just petrifies. That is one of the main things I want to clear out of my forest, along with all of the underbrush and lower hanging branches. We also have many out croppings of Murfreesboro soft limestone that seem to jump up from nowhere and wanna get hit by swinging metal blades. How do the blades and drive train fare on hitting hard objects? Does MTL give you a price break on parts if you give a referral that leads to a cutter sale? They should.

After 2 years I just changed out my original set of blades and I have beat on flint rock, steel, fence wire etc and they were still usable but I figured while I was changing the bolts and bushings that I might as well put on some new blades. The blades are sandwiched between 2 pieces of 1/2" steel and if you hit anything they will swing back between the blade carriers, I don't receive anything from MTL , I wish I did LOL, I have just been really impressed with the mower and the price was hard to beat, I'm sure that there are other brands that are just as tough but most of them start at about $10k, I think with the hi-flow piston motor I gave a little over $7k shipped to my driveway here at the farm. Charlie. PS while you are looking you might want to check out Rut Manufacturing Terminator, I have heard nothing but good stuff about them and their brush cutter.

 

[Camofurever1]

Just an update, this week I went and hooked my peepers on a 2021 Cat 289D3XPS with 900 hours on it. I ended up buying it. I also, went ahead and ordered the Mega Mower X brush cutter. I have been researching brush cutters since September of last year. I looked at the MTL's, and they looked well made with some good reviews, but I also read quite a few comments about the Manufacturers lack of customer service, not answering phone calls or e-mails and the lack of availability of parts that kind of made me shy away from that manufacturer.

Should have the Cat by the end of next week. Getting all of the debris kits installed before I bring it home. Brush cutter will be about 5 weeks out on delivery.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Nice looking machine, I'm sure the mega mower should get anything done that you want to do. I heard and read about MTL customer service before I bought mine but they have been nothing but helpful to me, although I have only called once with a question and once to order replacement blades. Keep the thread updated when you get your mower and test it out, looking forward to the updates, good luck.
Charlie.

 

[2manyrocks]

Nice looking machine, I'm sure the mega mower should get anything done that you want to do. I heard and read about MTL customer service before I bought mine but they have been nothing but helpful to me, although I have only called once with a question and once to order replacement blades. Keep the thread updated when you get your mower and test it out, looking forward to the updates, good luck.
Charlie.

About how many hours did you get on your original blades before you changed them?

I bought a MTL grapple without having any customer service issues.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I had over 300 hours of use on them and they were still pretty good but where the bolts go through the blades was starting to get wallowed out and I wanted to change the bushings and figured I would go ahead and swap out the blades while I was doing it, I also bought a grapple from them as well and have had nothing but good luck with it.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

About how many hours did you get on your original blades before you changed them?

I bought a MTL grapple without having any customer service issues.

I should have quoted you on my response above.