Rotary Cutter for newbie with a Mahindra 1533

[notacos4u]

I have a Mahindra 1533 and have an opportunity to get a pretty much brand new Woods brushbull BB72 for what I feel is a good price of $1900. Question arises if my tractor will have any issues running it. I am new to having a tractor and this would be my first rotary cutter or experience with one. My field isn稚 a manicured lawn, so I have no expectations of going fast with it. Look forward to hearing everyone痴 advice. Thanks Jim

 

[tmc_31]

The PTO Hp of your tractor is a little over 25hp. The range for the HP 72" brush bull PTO HP is 30 - 65 HP. It would probably work ok if you go slow and stay out of the tall grass. Another concern is the shredder weighs in at 800 lb. That might be a little much hanging off the back of a 3100lb tractor. Front end could get light.

The Brush Bull 60 is a little lighter, shorter and (just barely) within your HP range. It will still mow out the width of your tractor.

Best of luck,
Tim

 

[notacos4u]

That was some of my concerns as well as some of our growth is currently close to 5 tall, I plan on going slow, but do not want to risk anything happening to the tractor especially considering I have a good incline to get into our back field. I do have the front and rear wheels loaded, so my tractor is a little heavier than listed, but thought it still might be an issue. Once I have a rotary mower, I値l be better able to keep everything in check and not let it get so over grown.

The PTO Hp of your tractor is a little over 25hp. The range for the HP 72" brush bull PTO HP is 30 - 65 HP. It would probably work ok if you go slow and stay out of the tall grass. Another concern is the shredder weighs in at 800 lb. That might be a little much hanging off the back of a 3100lb tractor. Front end could get light.

The Brush Bull 60 is a little lighter, shorter and (just barely) within your HP range. It will still mow out the width of your tractor.

Best of luck,
Tim

 

[Roadworthy]

General rule of thumb is five PTO horsepower per foot of mower. My L2501 is rated at 19 PTO horsepower and I mow with a five foot King Kutter with no issues. As stated keep the grass shorter or go slow and you should have no problems. If the tractor bogs down or stalls you were moving too fast.

 

[Ricn]

L2501 here as well. This tractor cuts great with both the 60 inch flail and 60 inch brush mowers. I do go slower in tall grass and have cut up to 6ft with both. The flail weighs about 700lbs with no issues of a light front end although I do feel it in a few places. On the steep stuff I engage the 4x4 otherwise 2x4 is just fine. I have juice in the rear tires as well and often mow with loader attachment removed and in this configuration have mowed some steep stuff as we have a couple deep ditches for run off water in winter. My tractor is not optimum I know but wanted something smaller for the tight stuff around the barns and old cow pens where the bigger JD is just to long for turns and such. As suggested, the lighter mower in question might be better for your tractor and if not having tires filled you might consider doing that, it does make a difference.

Ricn

 

[bearthebruce]

I have a Mahindra 1533 and have an opportunity to get a pretty much brand new Woods brushbull BB72 for what I feel is a good price of $1900. Question arises if my tractor will have any issues running it. I am new to having a tractor and this would be my first rotary cutter or experience with one. My field isn稚 a manicured lawn, so I have no expectations of going fast with it. Look forward to hearing everyone痴 advice. Thanks Jim

Your Mahindra is very similarly equipped to the Massey Ferguson 1533 that we operate. Its a 33HP tractor with 27hp available at the PTO. Weighs 3100 lbs with the wheels unloaded. 8 manual speeds forward and reverse. No Hydrostatic tranny.

We asked about running a 72" cutter and our dealer advised it was a bit big for that tractor. We put the 60" on it and it handles it well - plenty of power.

Weight was an issue. The land to be mowed is the side of a mountain. Grades of 12% in places. With the mower on the back, there were times when the front was too light and it wanted to lift. To counterbalance, we now operate with a FEL in place to help with that. The down side is that when mowing downhill, have to stay in 4x4 or the weight becomes an issue driving one too fast down the slope. Need those front wheels engaged to help hold back.

I'm not making a recommendation. As some have said on this forum - everything depends on how you are going to use the machine. 5 foot tall brush is going to take power. When we started, the 15 acre meadow had not been cut for 4 years. There was stuff 8 -10 feet tall and nasty. We did fine with the 60" cutter and slow slow speeds. First time that meadow took over 16 hours. Now, same equip, we get it done in about 8 hours.

Some day, we may go for a finish mower instead of cutting with the brush cutter. For now, we mow twice a season and the brush cutter does a good enough job for us. In fact, I expect to be out on that meadow the end of this week - weather permitting. Speaking of which... a wet field is dangerous as I learned. The heavy implement pushes you all over the hill. Best to stay off until things dry!

 

[Keith460]

I have been searching as to what size rotary cutter I can use behind a newly acquired JD 770 with only a 23hp engine and 20hp at the rear PTO. Everything falls into place with a 4ft cutter but really want to use a 5 ft cutter since the width of the rear tires is right around 5ft. We have 16 acres to reclaim in VA and not always flat but it was kept clear by cows that roamed the acreage up until late last year. Grass is tall now at around 3-4 ft but no saplings yet and we plan on heading down to the property in October for a rotary cutting weekend.
What do you guys suggest, 4ft or 5ft for this particular tractor with a FEL and backhoe that will be coming off of course. Been looking at the Tractor Supply RBRC502 and the Bush Hog BH115

 

[bearthebruce]

I have been searching as to what size rotary cutter I can use behind a newly acquired JD 770 with only a 23hp engine and 20hp at the rear PTO. Everything falls into place with a 4ft cutter but really want to use a 5 ft cutter since the width of the rear tires is right around 5ft. We have 16 acres to reclaim in VA and not always flat but it was kept clear by cows that roamed the acreage up until late last year. Grass is tall now at around 3-4 ft but no saplings yet and we plan on heading down to the property in October for a rotary cutting weekend.
What do you guys suggest, 4ft or 5ft for this particular tractor with a FEL and backhoe that will be coming off of course. Been looking at the Tractor Supply RBRC502 and the Bush Hog BH115

As others have said in other threads, if you go slow, you probably will be fine with the 5' brush hog. If it is your first time, slow is betterer.

Having said that, the 5' bush hog weighs 516lbs on a tractor that goes 2000lbs. Hopefully the FEL will counterbalance the rear weight. Spec says you need 20HP to drive the 5' unit. Sounds like it matches up.

If on hilly terrain, be ready for the turns. You may experience some pucker power!

 

[kneedeep]

I use a medium duty 7' mower on 35hp and medium duty 10' on 85hp
Both are FWA.

 

[DieselBound]

Depends on what kind of grass you have and what the typical height is when mowing. Open fields or lots of trees/obstacles?

Initial mowing on my property saw some grass that was over 9' tall. I mowed it with a B7800 (22-23hp PTO) and a light duty 5' brush hog. To say that it was slow going is an understatement! I'm pretty determined. Sometimes you gotta do with what you have.

I've still got that tractor and a 5' rotary (though it's a slightly better one now) and it still does duty, but is now second fiddle to my NX5510. I run a 6' brush hog on the NX5510. That combo sees a lot of brush, so it's well matched/suited for that; it also is seeing more grass now, in which case I'm looking at getting a 7' flail, but that won't be used for the season's first cutting because grass height can still push up to nearly 6'. A good take-away here is that over time one can probably expect a change when it comes to what implements, sizes, one uses.

My generalized recommendation would be to not go over 5' unless you're doing something that more closely resembles finish mowing. You'll be able to run the 5' fairly confidently. Not so certain you could feel the same with a 6' one: AND, there's a lot more width sticking out from the tractor; unless you're adept at running a brush hog that might not be a good idea to go real wide- OK if everything is in the open, open fields, but if you've got obstacles (trees and such) then you're going to have to be a lot more careful.

I've purchased ALL my brush hogs used. The Bush Hog B26 I have for my NX5510 (46hp PTO) was pretty beat up and required a bit of work- paid $800 for it (put about $600 into it); I figure the weight is close to 1k lbs (it was reinforced with plate steel); it works just as well as a new one that costs around $3,500.

If I had nothing but fields and grass I'd be using a flail.