PTO mulcher?

[ericm979]

How about something like this: BaumaLight - Brush Cutt 3 Point Hitch Models

It's still a rotary, but with four blades and made for backing into trees and cutting them down. Cat 2, 1600-1900 lbs, needs a 4-5000 lbs tractor.

If you attack your brush with the tractor with whatever implement you may want some skid plates.

Could you work with a combination of a normal HD rotary, a chain saw and a grapple? Use the rotary around the larger trees, get off and cut them with the saw, pile them with the grapple, do some more with the rotary, repeat.

 

[nybirdman]

How about something like this: BaumaLight - Brush Cutt 3 Point Hitch Models

It's still a rotary, but with four blades and made for backing into trees and cutting them down. Cat 2, 1600-1900 lbs, needs a 4-5000 lbs tractor.

If you attack your brush with the tractor with whatever implement you may want some skid plates.

Could you work with a combination of a normal HD rotary, a chain saw and a grapple? Use the rotary around the larger trees, get off and cut them with the saw, pile them with the grapple, do some more with the rotary, repeat.

Yep;did that for ten years and "then"hired the proper equipment.Tree saws are going to leave stumps and brush piles that you will have to deal with.With a mulcher they are gone.

 

[Piston]

As cool as it would be to have a mulcher come decimate that brush, you can certainly do a lot with what you have. Seeing the photo, I personally think you should throw your EA rotary cutter on and go see what you can do. By all means, back into it and don't drive over it first.

Do you have a hydraulic top link?

What "I" (remember, I'm just another random guy on the internet ) would do (or rather, have done many many times) is start backing into that brush really slowly, raise up the 3 point hitch so my cutter is off the ground, and then retract my hydraulic top link raising the rear of the cutter off the ground, fairly high (while keeping a close eye on the angle of the PTO shaft, you don't want it to steep) and slowly back into the pile, when I start hearing the brush getting chopped up by the blades, I start to extend the top link, lowering the rear of the cutter (but never lower than the front) and eventually start lowering the 3 point hitch so the cutter is back on the ground. Often I'll keep the 3point hitch down so the front of the cutter is about scraping the dirt, and keep the rear end a good foot or more off the ground. This helps bend the brush over and mulch it up.

It sounds like your pretty confident you will bend up your EA rotary cutter by backing into the brush. If that's the case, I suggest selling the cutter while it's in good shape, and buying the Brown 416 unit. The 416 is the newer version of the 472 that I have. It's quick hitch compatible. I 'believe' (but not certain) there may be a steel 'skirt' on the back of the 416 which is removable and replaceable with chains to open the back end up, on top of that, the back skirt is beefed up to 1/4" steel to take more of a beating in reverse. It doesn't really look that way in the photos on they're site, but some of the owners manual pics do appear that way, and I know the rear chains are optional. It would be very worthwhile to call Brown directly and ask them this, as well as their opinion on what they recommend. I have a feeling they would not suggest a tree cutter for this operation, and your tractor.

Regarding the Brown 416 vs. the EA rotary cutter, I looked quick at the specs and the Brown unit is certainly more heavy duty, by a substantial amount. Again, this is why I don't like their naming convention, they're "xtreme heavy duty" doesn't mean squat. The EA unit weighs a (respectable) 850lbs, and has 10 gauge (9/64") steel deck with a 75hp gear box. The Brown 416 weighs 1,100lbs and has a 7 gauge (3/16") steel deck with a 130hp gearbox. So yes, the Brown will be considerably more capable and hold up a lot better/longer than the EA unit.
(Note: I'm referring to Brown only because it's what I know, Bush Hog, Land Pride, and Woods etc. all have very heavy duty mowers as well, I'm not brand loyal)

A note about the Brown Tree Cutter: I wouldn't recommend this after seeing your pics. It seems you mostly have thick, heavy brush, vs. straight up trees. The rotary cutter is going to be better at mulching up all this material into pretty small pieces. The Tree Cutter, is more meant for just that, cutting the trees down, and of course it will mulch to some extent, but because of the open back design, it doesn't keep the material contained inside the cutter, but rather throws it out as soon as it's cut. The closed top design of the rotary cutters holds the material in longer and mulches it up to smaller pieces. This is why I like the 672 so much, it's the best of both worlds in that regard (super duty tough yet still a rotary cutter.) You could step up to Brown's Folding Deck design, but that is really way overkill for what your doing (and also typically used on 80+PTO hp.) I have only heard of one person using it behind a compact tractor, a John Deere 4720. He said it 'worked' but wasn't very ideal. I have some correspondence with him through email from some time back if your interested in details.

None of this will be as efficient and effective as a 100hp or more skidsteer with a mulching head on it, but it will be a lot cheaper, and you'll have your own equipment.
How many acres are like the photo you posted?

I can't stress enough, how important a grapple is to have. :thumbsup:

 

[Piston]

Here it is on the back of the L5240... Next to a Takeuchi TL-12 we had been leasing
View attachment 549453

TSO,
The PTO mulcher is a dream attachment of mine! Very nice setup, as I've said many times before. :thumbsup:

 

[Piston]

How about something like this: BaumaLight - Brush Cutt 3 Point Hitch Models

It's still a rotary, but with four blades and made for backing into trees and cutting them down. Cat 2, 1600-1900 lbs, needs a 4-5000 lbs tractor.

If you attack your brush with the tractor with whatever implement you may want some skid plates.

Could you work with a combination of a normal HD rotary, a chain saw and a grapple? Use the rotary around the larger trees, get off and cut them with the saw, pile them with the grapple, do some more with the rotary, repeat.

Eric,
Thanks for posting that link. I hadn't seen this before, learn something new everyday! This looks like a very promising, and heavy duty unit. Have you ever used one, or do you know how much they cost?

I second your idea of the combination of the HD rotary cutter, chainsaw, and grapple!

 

[Overtaxed]

Eric,
Thanks for posting that link. I hadn't seen this before, learn something new everyday! This looks like a very promising, and heavy duty unit. Have you ever used one, or do you know how much they cost?

I second your idea of the combination of the HD rotary cutter, chainsaw, and grapple!

I'm going to find out! That looks pretty much perfect for that I need, has a push bar setup and is obviously built to take more than what I'd be throwing at it.. In reverse, which is critical, IMHO, to both keeping my tractor in one piece and also leading to my early retirement due to chronic neck problems. I reached out to Baumalight today, I'll let you know what I hear back.

 

[ericm979]

They're too big for my tractor. I did some googling a while back and there's one dealer who has posted prices.
There's at least one other maker of rotary-like brush cutters with exposed blades at the back out there, a little smaller than the Baumalight. I don't have the links now.

The smallest Baumalight mulcher is almost small enough for my Branson. But it's like $10-12k and my land's too steep in a lot of places to run the tractor. I'll keep clearing with the chainsaw and chipper and rotary cutter. I like the exercise and I only have a few acres I want to clear.

 

[Overtaxed]

They're too big for my tractor. I did some googling a while back and there's one dealer who has posted prices.
There's at least one other maker of rotary-like brush cutters with exposed blades at the back out there, a little smaller than the Baumalight. I don't have the links now.

The smallest Baumalight mulcher is almost small enough for my Branson. But it's like $10-12k and my land's too steep in a lot of places to run the tractor. I'll keep clearing with the chainsaw and chipper and rotary cutter. I like the exercise and I only have a few acres I want to clear.

So, just a quick update, I'm in communication with Baumalight about the Brushcutt. It's not a mulcher, it's like more like a rotary cutter with all vestiges of safety removed (kidding), with blades that extend out enough to be able to cut without actually getting the deck over the material.

Here's a video of it in action:

Brush Cutt CP56 Video - YouTube

They are offering a "media discount" on the cutter, which basically means agreeing to do videos/pictures of it in action so they have material for their website/Youtube. I'm trying to get into that program (finally, a way to save money with all my camera gear instead of just spending it). It's about 1/2 the price of their PTO mulch heads, around 5K instead of 10K. But it looks pretty perfect for my use because it's built to back down trees, which is absolutely critical to keep my tractor in one piece. It'll take some time, that for sure, but if I can do it with a 5K machine, that's less than I was looking at for a rental, and WAY less than I was quoted to have it done for me, and, of course, then I own the machine to do it, always a huge positive. It's much more fun to do this stuff as you have time rather than trying to get it all done in a week/month. I also have to think that the consumables on a rotary are going to be much less expensive than a real mulcher, a few big hunks of steel are a lot less expensive than a whole load of carbide teeth.

Now, the downside, like the Brown Tree cutter, this isn't "ground level", they told me to expect around 2" as the cutoff height. That's fine for my purposes because I can then go back in with a blade and either yank or cover the remains of the trees. Also, I'm not actually looking to cut many new trails (but will be doing some), I'll spend more time with it maintaining the ~1.5 miles of trails I have already, just beating back the brush and opening them up, but not actually the place you'd walk, alongside the trail. I have my trails down to dirt now, I run the box blade over them 2-3 times a year, it's much easier than trying to deal with grass and the crap that grows up, and it makes for a really nice walking surface. Only downside, the mud can be bad when it rains, so maybe someday I'll seed them in clover and start brushhogging them. But, for now, dirt works for me.

I'll update if I decide to move forward, but, so far, really impressed with the responsiveness and discussions I've had with Baumalight, they are on top of things, and they are answering my questions quickly and honestly. They even said, the best thing for my use is their PTO mulcher, and, while I agree, it's just out of my price range (almost 2X the cost of the rotary, and 1.5X the cost of the Brown cutter).

 

[KenB2920]

Yup, pricy, BUT as TSO said, I use mine to make money. I paid 14kish and that was with an extra set of teeth which are reversible. The set is $1000.

So 13k. I’ve now had it a few years.

 

[lpigott]

It all comes down to how much time you have and how much work you are willing to do. Look at these pictures LTP Services LLC - Photos | Facebook Most of these were done with a 6' Hardee rotary cutter in reverse. The brush and saplings were 12 year growth and a couple of acres were doing in one full day. The last 4 pictures were done by hand with Stihl clearing saw and a chipper since it was in a neighborhood and no material could be left. If you want a bad *** rotary cutter/right of way cutter look at the Hardee RW60 and RW72. They are a great design for backing over and called right of way cutters and rated as extreme duty. I would stay with the RW60 for your tractor. These can be bought for under $4000 new. Hardee By EVH Mfg Co. - Agriculture Equipment
It cost nothing to get estimates from a forestry mulching/land clearing firm. Get several and ask to see some of their work, that costs you nothing and helps you figure your budget. For most that is the cheapest and best option.