Sears brush hog

Capricious · May 5, 2015

The beast:

1978 Sears "Vari-drive" 11 hp. Modified for brush-hogging; the lower 2 inches or so of the front skirt on the deck has been cut away, and a strip of 1/4" flat bar welded along what is left to restore any lost strength/ stiffness.

Old single cylinder Briggs will burn 1/2 quart of oil in a day, easy. Brake that is supposed to stop the blades when deck is disengaged doesn't work (deck warped so badly from hitting stumps & rocks that the brake shoe no longer contacts the sheave).

Mowing about 5 acres or so on Sunday, 200 miles from home, and down in the Missouri Ozarks:

The "neighbors" mark their boundaries well:

The lake (7,800 acres) just beyond the trees:

Rocks, stumps, stump holes, really rough ground, tall weeds. That little old Sears takes it all in stride. About bucked me off the thing a hundred times or more, but it keeps on running and cutting.

The day before, Saturday, I went to mow 1 1/2 acres for a non-profit I volunteer at. Took a riding MTD mower that someone just gave me. Mowed 200 feet and the right front wheel fell off.

SPIKER · May 17, 2015

That old mower will probably need some lead substitute to help put the rings and valve seats into better shape. The "unleaded" gas (full of rubber eating ethanol) we have today is not good for those old engines.

You can buy some additive at most autoparts stores to help the eng live.

Looks like a good beasty to put to work, & love that area. My EX is from Stockton Lake area & we spent a good bit of time there. the area looked similar but sure had a LOT of ticks! What is the rec area you are bordering.? real nice place to visit but seemed to be little to none for work in her area besides scratching a living off the land (which her family did.)

Thomas · May 17, 2015

Well you can't say it doesn't earn its keep.

Capricious · May 18, 2015

SPIKER said:
That old mower will probably need some lead substitute to help put the rings and valve seats into better shape. The "unleaded" gas (full of rubber eating ethanol) we have today is not good for those old engines.

You can buy some additive at most autoparts stores to help the eng live.

Looks like a good beasty to put to work, & love that area. My EX is from Stockton Lake area & we spent a good bit of time there. the area looked similar but sure had a LOT of ticks! What is the rec area you are bordering.? real nice place to visit but seemed to be little to none for work in her area besides scratching a living off the land (which her family did.)

I have a couple of parcels, both of which adjoin the Corp of Engineers shoreline on Pomme de Terre lake. The parts that I mow were originally bulldozed back in about 2002, then let go until about 2010 when I started in on re-clearing the thicket. Lots of ticks in the early going until I could get the brush/grass under control. Ticks not such a problem now.

Unless one wants to drive the 60 miles or so to Springfield there are no real jobs in the area. With bigger lakes to the north, south, east & west, it's a real quiet area. Land is pretty cheap.

airbiscuit · May 18, 2015

I have been thinking about making a rough cut tractor. Basically taking a lawn or garden tractor and installing a lift kit so it mowed about 6" high. I had an MTD 15.5 hp 2 blade 42" cut. It would cut tall grass and 5/8" brush like crazy, but would get hung up in uneven ground and stumps. I made 3" raised spindles for the front end, and raised the transaxel pulley 3". Unfortunately, the engine blew before I could finish the project. The tricky part is all the clearances and linkages with the transaxel. So now I am kind of looking for a used lawn tractor that has some nice open transaxel space for an easy lift.

I always thought that if a mower manufacturer made a mower that cut 2 1/2 - 6 inches, we husbands could justify buying it to mow the lawn, and then haul it up to hunting camp to make and mow trails.

Capricious · May 19, 2015

airbiscuit said:
I have been thinking about making a rough cut tractor. Basically taking a lawn or garden tractor and installing a lift kit so it mowed about 6" high. I had an MTD 15.5 hp 2 blade 42" cut. It would cut tall grass and 5/8" brush like crazy, but would get hung up in uneven ground and stumps. I made 3" raised spindles for the front end, and raised the transaxel pulley 3". Unfortunately, the engine blew before I could finish the project. The tricky part is all the clearances and linkages with the transaxel. So now I am kind of looking for a used lawn tractor that has some nice open transaxel space for an easy lift.

I always thought that if a mower manufacturer made a mower that cut 2 1/2 - 6 inches, we husbands could justify buying it to mow the lawn, and then haul it up to hunting camp to make and mow trails.

I agree that there is a need for something to bridge the gap between walk-behind brush cutters and PTO-driven rotary cutters.

I have a 42" cut MTD that someone gave me that I am working on (replaced belts, idlers and so forth) The decks on these MTD's sit way too low, but there is no clearance under the frame to raise the deck higher, and as you mentioned raising by lowering the axles involves a lot of V belt geometry. I usually cut brush with the Sears with the deck all the way up, and it's a good 3 inches higher than on the MTD.

I think I would worry about cutting much heavy stuff with the MTD, though. The 42" Sears deck weighs at least twice what the 42" MTD deck weighs, and the Sears spindles are fabricated steel with Zerks, whereas the MTD uses aluminum spindle housings with "permanently lubed" (yea, right..) bearings. I don't think the MTD deck would stand up to what I have put the old Sears deck through.