Medium duty 5 ft bush hog?

[paulsharvey]

guess my questions would be ...

1. Why do you want a 2" rated brush hog?
A. Cutting 1" - 2" brush?
Mostly less than 1", but some stuff upto 2" such as braches after cut off trees; live oak saplings. ect
B. Heavier duty so it will last longer while cutting 1" or less?
C. Other?

2. What are you cutting?
A. How often?
B. What tractor will it be hooked to?
How often is really an as needed; it might be as often as a few acres per week for a period of time, eventually becoming less. Basically, cleaning the light stuff under/around trees, over about 8 acres. and eventually being used to keep that stuff down, and then mow pasture/lighter stuff

What tractor, im currently running a Ck2610; still at stock HP, but in next couple years either A-i will turn it up to 35hp; or B-ill get something a bit larger and more HP

3. How quickly do you want to aquire it?
A. How far are you willing to go to get a "deal"?
B. Tractor House has a few used ones, but most are over $2K can you go that high?
Its not a rush, I have casually watched a few auctions, but nothing that I aggressive bid on; just the kinda stuff you throw a "retainer" bid on, incase it goes Cheap. More than willing to waiting for a while. Im also watching the local market. On how far, well, that depends on the deal, but im not driving 8 hours to save $500.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

About 7 years ago, I picked up a used 48" cutter (I think it's a Woods, but I'm out of town and can't go check) for a grand. I put a day of welding and about 20 bucks worth of steel into fixing a bend suspension for for the trailing wheel, but it serves me quite well.

 

[350c]

So, for years and years, ive made due with a Ford 917L 54" flail mower, that I have always kind of hated, or maybe just never liked? Last year, I got a 7 ft APP/chisel, and the guy threw in a rusted pile that is allegedly a 48" New Holland bush hog. So, its been in his swamp for a decade and in my woods for a year, but I "rigged" it up last weekend, and despite having 40% of a deck, only 1 side, a broke 3 point frame, and a structural ratchet straps, oh, and no tail wheel, or frankly back end of the "hog" it runs very smooth, cuts good, and is quite. Which is odd, any ive used in the past vibrated a ton, were very noisy, ect.

So, I dont need/want a "heavy duty", but an actual medium duty, 60 inch, that is also well balanced, smooth, and quite. I think this one might be beyond rebuilding. So, which models would you call medium duty, that are also smooth and well balanced? And if coarse affordable, if not "cheap". New or not, im more asking models, and then I'll figure out the shopping.

If some manufacturer would produce a tow behind, which would eliminate most of the vibration on the tractor itself, medium duty rotary mower in something smaller than 8', I think there would be a good market for them. King Kutter makes a heavier duty mower much like their finish mowers but with a stump jumper, but the local Rural Kind expects full non-refundable payment before they will even order one--in other words, pay sight unseen, kind of like a "pig in a poke". May be a great machine (probably not a match for a Bush Hog brand, but it is on a compact tractor) but not my preferred way of purchasing something so expensive.

 

[Rctex]

When I hooked this up, I really expected to immediately turn it off, and throw it away. Only reason I was/am considering doing any repairs is, it actually cuts well, and is smooth for a bush hog (maybe others ive used through the years where worse than most on vibration?).View attachment 4117185View attachment 4117186View attachment 4117187

Scab here scab there
Presto good as new
Working that good I’d put the metal on
May not look the best but you’ll enjoy using it

 

[EdGooding]

I went through a similar dilemma a number of years back when my old Covington Cutter needed replacing. I could not afford a Woods, which is what I wanted, but settled on a Land Pride 72" rotary cutter. This was when they were painted light yellow - I see they are orange now and don't seem as beefy as mine. I would buy another like mine in a heartbeat.

 

[paulsharvey]

Up above, the question on how far to travel; with anything, my issue isn't traveling to pick up; my issue is, if I drive 4 hours, it's to Buy an item, not to look at, bargin, and find out what was pictured/discussed, isn't really accurate. Even 4 hours, thats an entire day, 8 hours of driving, fuel, snacks, and honestly, my time does have an hourly value.

With that, I would say, I would drive 1 hour per $200 saved; one direction, so 4 hours=$800 saved; 2 hours distance=$400 saved; anything less than that, isn't really worth it.

And with impliments, more so than most thing; its often "old tractor attachement" or maybe "bushhog". If your lucky, "Older 5 ft bushhog". Almost never does someone list a make/model,

 

[dstriplett]

Our RhinoAg T25 cutter is billed as medium duty but it's tough as nails, runs good, and takes a ton of abuse. The deck and sides are a bit thicker than most mowers in it's class.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

I am leaning 75% towards the right used one. Used market was a fair number of nearly new, priced at almost new, and then an other segment of cheap, and really Rough.

You are right about that! Some mowers are from commercial guys who wear them out and then sell them to buy again new. Nothing wrong with that.

Then there's Joe Homeowner, who uses his mower a few times a year and is selling because he is changing the way he does things.

If you have time, it's worth waiting around to find that second seller.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

On October 10th Rebel Auction is hosting an absolute government surplus utility auction and there is a BH-215 Bush hog brand 5' mower that looks like new, I have no idea if that model is medium duty but it looks like a stud, might get it reasonable.

 

[paulsharvey]

On October 10th Rebel Auction is hosting an absolute government surplus utility auction and there is a BH-215 Bush hog brand 5' mower that looks like new, I have no idea if that model is medium duty but it looks like a stud, might get it reasonable.

I actually was poking around on there today, made it thought Line 1, mostly heavy earth moving equipment and skid steers; but i will check out the other lines.

 

[Travis_R]

Woods rates THAT cutter 25 to 50 hp, that's not medium duty, it might be plenty for a little tractor but it's not med. duty...

After Bush Hog had those chinese gearboxes blowing up left and right and then my last BH cutter had the paint coming off in sheets, exposing cracks in the deck, I no longer buy BH cutters!

SR

The BrushBull BB60.30 is a Medium Duty rotary cutter. It’s the Woods model that’s compared apples to apples to the 200 Series Bush Hog BH215.

 

[Travis_R]

The local tractor dealer in town quit selling Woods because they were having a lot of problems with gear boxes and they couldn’t make any money because Woods is way overpriced. Their words, not mine.
With that said, there are no gearboxes made here in the USA anymore and haven’t been for many years. They all come from overseas. Mainly China, but some from India too.

When I buy a rotary cutter I look at how it’s built, the thickness of the metal, the side bands, if it has skids or not, shear bolt or slip clutch, and if parts will be available down the road.

Have you looked at what your local tractor dealer(s) sell?
You’re going to need replacement parts down the road like blades, blade bolt kits, tail wheel parts, PTO driveline parts, etc…
Just something to think about and keep in mind.

 

[paulsharvey]

We do have virtually all dealers within 1h30m;

I did see this one; unknown brand, unknown model; unknown quality, for $200 about 10 miles away. As another thought, I could just beat the he'll out if a $200 cutter and throw it away when done. Or alternatively, use the 4ft NH one on the nasty crap, until it explodes and use a 5 ft cheap one afterwards. I think im going to try to go check this one out Saturday.

 

[paulsharvey]

There is also this one, which looks in whose shape, but heavier built, like 5 miles the opposite direction

 

[paulsharvey]

This one is about 1h30m away, and more money, but im considering it. because its a know brand, that is honestly, pretty good; or atleast used to be. Ford/New Holland did use to make pretty good stuff.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

The local tractor dealer in town quit selling Woods because they were having a lot of problems with gear boxes and they couldn’t make any money because Woods is way overpriced. Their words, not mine.

What did you expect them to say, when/after they stopped selling Woods rotary cutters? lol

This is what Woods calls their medium duty cutter, (their words not mine) it has a 115hp gearbox, and yes, they do make a heavier duty cutter too,

Here it is, just about to take out a 3+ inch tree,

That is how I got all the extra trees out of this field,

I have three Woods cutters, I do this for a living, do you really think I'd keep a rotary cutter around that was always having gearbox problems??

The OP isn't looking for a "medium duty" cutter, he's looking for a higher quality lighter duty cutter...

SR

 

[paulsharvey]

So, yeah, maybe a high quality, light duty is a good way to say it? Ive seen what happens with the low quality light duty ones, even just cutting small brush and some of them are Trash, but not cheap trash. Im not 100% against spending some money, but I am dead set against spending good money on crap.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I currently own 2 Bush hog brand mowers, one is a 7' mower that is over 40 years old and the other one is a 6' mower that is almost 20 years old and zero troubles from either one, no gear box troubles here, but if they quit tomorrow they don't owe me a thing for as hard as they have been used.

 

[Travis_R]

The local tractor dealer in town quit selling Woods because they were having a lot of problems with gear boxes and they couldn’t make any money because Woods is way overpriced. Their words, not mine.

What did you expect them to say, when/after they stopped selling Woods rotary cutters? lol

This is what Woods calls their medium duty cutter, (their words not mine) it has a 115hp gearbox, and yes, they do make a heavier duty cutter too,

Here it is, just about to take out a 3+ inch tree,

That is how I got all the extra trees out of this field,

I have three Woods cutters, I do this for a living, do you really think I'd keep a rotary cutter around that was always having gearbox problems??

The OP isn't looking for a "medium duty" cutter, he's looking for a higher quality lighter duty cutter...

SR

I’m not here to argue.

That model Woods you have is no longer in production. It looks to be a BB720X (the old BrushBull “Extreme” duty series). The new BrushBull series are made a lot heavier and better.

Regardless, all I’m saying is the BrushBull BB60.30 is a comparable model to Bush Hog’s BH215. Woods will be much more expensive.

The OP can choose whatever he wants, just like the rest of us. I’m not saying Woods isn’t any good, but when it comes to Woods or Bush Hog for myself, I choose Bush Hog and that’s what I’ve always recommended.

 

[howardjohn]

I have a landprice 60" bought used. I like it it is medium to light duty with a cutting capacity of 2". I have had it for about 10 years and has always worked well for me