MX5800 rotary cutter opinions

[BackRoad]

Part of the equation is understanding what you are planning to use it on. Typical field mowing would be lower end of HP requirement. Reclaiming 20 year old overgrown pasture might be on the upper end of the HP requirement.

If clearing brush and heavy undergrowth, you can run it slow and easy, but that is generally a 1x event for a home owner. Once land is cleared, maintenance mowing is easy and less demanding for HP.

If you pass on this one, I've found lots of good mowers on Facebook Marketplace. There's lots of rusted junk, but you will find some jewels also if you keep looking.

 

[turkish]

This advice is clear and helpful. Thanks.

The only other tractor I have much experience on is an L3400. We upgraded 5’ rotary cutters on it last year from an old light duty Rhino to a medium duty bush hog (I think BH215). There’s a noticeable difference, requiring a gear lower to operated the new BH. It coincidentally recommends 30hp min. The lower gear is not a problem and is actually where I preferred to operate it anyway. Nevertheless this anecdote was what got the wheels in my head turning that maybe that “min hp” figure is more significant than I would’ve guessed.

 

[jyoutz]

[all numbers from Tractor Data] Your MX5800 lists 57 to 61HP (net, gross) and PTO at 50. My MF2660 was called 81HP engine and yet in the dynamometer test it put out 90HP. I'm sure these things vary and I would not go so much by the numbers.

What means more to me is that my Deere was 48HP engine gross and only 41.5 HP PTO and it handled a 6ft MX6 hog perfectly. No issues at all. The Deere (...stick with me here even though this is Green...) current , new 6ft hog medium duty calls for "25 to 65 HP" and is said to be OK for 2" material cutting. I did read the specs on the more applicable medium duty version lighter than the Bush Hog BH416 [see my bottom line comments below; sorry for the ill-organized comments...]but the BH416 is spec for 4" material. Have you directly seen what Bush Hog calls heavy duty? They ARE heavy built as hell. That does not mean you can't cut lighter stuff with it. The mfrs are making the assumption that if you buy that heavy a hog you really mean it and may try to cut 4" saplings. UNLESS you are planning on cutting trees and thorn bushes thicker than 2" in diameter and clusters of them do not worry about that " 60 HP minimum."

Note: See

https://bushhog.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/BH-Single-Spindle-Lit-2021_6-1.pdf

Strictly talking 72" models The BH216 says min. 30 hp at the PTO (for cutting up to 2" material) and the BH316 says min. 45 hp. (for 3" material) so you can see the mfr is going mainly by material thickness being cut when they spec "minimum tractor HP."

By the way, if you have anything going slightly against you here it is that your MX5800 is an HST transmission rather than a stick. That sucks a couple of rated HP off your output but I am suspecting the HST is way more handy in your situation than a sick. Not to worry. Buy that BH416.

That BH416 is tougher than anything in your shop or mine. If you don't want it, tell me where you live and I will come buy it just to use on heavy stuff !!
I'm serious.

I have found that losing a a few pto hp to a HST transmission is negligible in the 60 hp tractor range. It’s more significant when you’re in the sub 35 hp range.

 

[EddieWalker]

You have plenty of power for an 8 foot cutter, but if it was me, I would be looking at a 10 foot batwing. The new models that are out are designed to operate with less HP. Buying used is a gamble the usually will cost more in the long run then buying new.

If I have the cash to buy used, then I also have a good down payment to finance what I really want.

For my 70 hp tractor that I bought new almost three years ago, I realized that my 6 foot cutter was just too small. I looked at used 12 foot batwings, but the ones in fair shape cost as much as brand new ones, and the ones I could afford were all trashed.

I put $3,000 down on a $13,000 12 foot batwing, and my monthly payment is $181. I pay twice that and should have it paid off pretty soon.

For me, the sooner I can finish mowing my land, the more time I have to work on other projects. A smaller cutter means more time sitting on a tractor. It might be fun the first year, but after a few years of it, the fun part is gone and it's just another chore that has to be done as quickly as possible.

 

[Brily Farms]

I have run a MX5800 HST with a Land Pride RCF2084 cutter for years. The cutter is very heavy but the MX5800 powers it nicely. Mowing fields, cleaning out underbrush along fence lines are primary tasks. Not so good along ditches as it is very heavy. Personally, I would stay away from Land Pride anything and go with Woods in the future. Woods makes a much sturdier machine for my hard earned money. Love the MX5800.

 

[4x4moses]

I am the proud new owner of an Mx5800 HST with very low hours. I spent a little more than I wanted for it (and the land I’ll use it on). I can afford it, but I’m cash flow conscious.

I need a rotary cutter in the next couple of months and have been scouring local ads for lightly used attachments. As you can imagine, not a ton out there that isn’t very beat up. I don’t want to buy light duty junk that will rust out in 2 years, if I can avoid it.

A local attachment dealer got a few used BH416 cutters. These are 1300lbs and quite heavy duty. Bush Hog literature recommends 60 PTO HP, which I’m short on. The price seems fair at around $3k and condition looks pretty good. I feel like they have a lot of life in them, but I am pretty sure it’s too much mower for my machine. Am I right? Tia.

Stay away from Titan/Ironcraft! They're cheaper than other brands for a reason. Bush Hog, Woods, and Rhino are good brands, but aren't cheap.

 

[JWR]

I have run a MX5800 HST with a Land Pride RCF2084 cutter for years. The cutter is very heavy but the MX5800 powers it nicely. Mowing fields, cleaning out underbrush along fence lines are primary tasks. Not so good along ditches as it is very heavy. Personally, I would stay away from Land Pride anything and go with Woods in the future. Woods makes a much sturdier machine for my hard earned money. Love the MX5800.

VERY good data point for the Turkish OP. When you comfortably run a 7ft hog on a MX5800 he obviously will have no trouble doing it with a 6 ft model !

I disagree about avoiding Landpride. As far as I am concerned they build good solid equipment. I had a an FDR2572 finish mower which was a heavy & solid workhorse. Only complaint was I should have gotten hard tires instead of the air filled type as I was constantly getting thorns or other punctures and having to fool with the tires. In recent years Kubota and Landpride have gotten in bed together (relations, do not know the details of, ownership, etc.?) but rather obviously Kubota had one heck of a lot of positive info about Landpride.

 

[JBOOM3720]

I ran a bh216 with Kioti dk 5310 worked really well

 

[jyoutz]

VERY good data point for the Turkish OP. When you comfortably run a 7ft hog on a MX5800 he obviously will have no trouble doing it with a 6 ft model !

I disagree about avoiding Landpride. As far as I am concerned they build good solid equipment. I had a an FDR2572 finish mower which was a heavy & solid workhorse. Only complaint was I should have gotten hard tires instead of the air filled type as I was constantly getting thorns or other punctures and having to fool with the tires. In recent years Kubota and Landpride have gotten in bed together (relations, do not know the details of, ownership, etc.?) but rather obviously Kubota had one heck of a lot of positive info about Landpride.

Kubota now owns Landpride and I agree that they produce quality implements. They do make light, medium, and heavy duty versions of most of their products, so a buyer needs to choose according to intended use.

 

[billknecht]

I run a 1971 MF135 with 38 PTO hp to a 700-lb, 6' Woods rotary cutter, mainly for things like sand plums. This talk of cutting 2-3" trees, no matter what your hp, I'd take with a handful of salt. My rig starts to bark at 1/2" brush. Anything bigger, and intuition tells me something's going to break, and it's going to be expensive. I'm sure others will argue, but that's my humble opinion.

With twice the hp, I'm sure you could go over 3/4" material, noisily, but safely. Maybe even 1". But, when it comes to stuff that size or bigger, I ditch the tractor and go with my Stihl FS 361 C-EM pro-grade brush cutter. That's what it's built for. It'll go through a 1 1/2" sand plum ZIP and it's cut clean 1" above ground level. An elm tree 3" takes a few seconds longer.

The truly pro-grade stuff for 2-6" diameter trees is, of course, a skid-steer with a carbide-blade horizontal mulcher.

The point of all this is that it's better to pick the right tool for the job, and never over-stress your equipment, than it is to jump into the abyss and end up with a $5000 dealer repair.