Rotary Cutter Rotary cutter PTO hp

Ronster · Aug 17, 2006

Is there a rule of thumb to apply to required PTO hp for a rotary cutter? I used to have a 60" King Kutter that I used with a 20 PTO hp Cub Cadet (gear drive). It seemed to work fine. Now I have a JD 2520 with 20.5 PTO hp but it's Hydro drive , and I'm wondering if I could still get away with a 60" cutter. Just cut'n weeds and small 1" saplings.

scott_vt · Aug 17, 2006

Ronster said:
Is there a rule of thumb to apply to required PTO hp for a rotary cutter? I used to have a 60" King Kutter that I used with a 20 PTO hp Cub Cadet (gear drive). It seemed to work fine. Now I have a JD 2520 with 20.5 PTO hp but it's Hydro drive , and I'm wondering if I could still get away with a 60" cutter. Just cut'n weeds and small 1" saplings.

Mornin Ron,
I would think you can still get away with it. On occassion you may have to take a slightly smaller cut but shouldnt be a problem. I use a 5ft on my MF-1040 32HP diesel with 28PTO HP and at times I wish I had a 6ft but not willing to spend the money

greg_g · Aug 17, 2006

Ronster said:
Is there a rule of thumb to apply to required PTO hp for a rotary cutter?

Conventional wisdom seems to agree that - for general duty applications - 5 or more PTO horsepower per foot of swath is recommended when selecting rotary cutters.

Sounds like what you're doing would be considered light duty, so you can likely get by with 4hp/foot. But if notice thick patches have a tendency to slow you down, or need a second pass to finish cutting........maybe not. I had a 5 footer behind a 21.5 PTO hp Jinma (4.3hp/foot), and found myself going back over too much ground. I've now got a six footer behind a 39 PTO hp KAMA (6.5hp/foot), and am much happier with the results.

//greg//