Using a Brush Hog on BX2200

[Anonymous Poster]

Has anyone used a Brush Hog on their BX2200? I am looking for compact tractor to use a FEL and a brush hog. I don't need a finishing mower, I have a field that is very overgrown and needs brush hogged.

Thanks

 

[TomPh]

JSnyder,

I have a BX2200 with which I use a 4' Bush Hog rotary mower. It does a fine job and to be honest I was surprised how well the BX handles it. One thing to keep in mind however, you'll need some front ballast if you plan to lift and carry during your mowing. If you have the FEL just leave it on and you shouldn't have any problems. Otherwise, get some front weights.

TomPh

 

[Nick_D]

I run a House 42" brush hog on my BX 2200. It does a great job on my 1.5 arce grass field.

 

[BlackforestBill]

I have a 4' Rhino. The BX does bog down a bit when I hit something ugly, like that mound from the pocket gophers that I didn't see. May be more an affect of the altitude, I'm over 7500'.

I used it all last year to maintain 3 acres of grass. It hadn't been touched for over 20 years so I thought I needed the rotary instead of a finish mower. The rotary cuts it, but it aint pretty.

This year I borrowed my neighbor's 5' RFM. Wow!! What a difference. I still hit the occasional mound, but the cut is so much cleaner and more consistent. At least as far as I can tell in a drought. Grass hasn't grown 3" this year.

Wish I'd opted for the MMM instead of the rotary when I bought it. Now the better 3/4's wont let me spend the money. Guess I gotta keep the neighbor on the good friends list.

 

[Dooze]

I have a 40" King Kutter on my BX 18000 that I use on some fairly rough terrain with excellant results. I had some difficulty getting it proprly adjusted until I lowered the connection pins but it works very well now. I recently cut some we 3' grass and had pleanty of power even with the smaller engine on the 1800.

 

[kcook]

I have been told by several dealers that a 48' brush hog would work but you would want some weight up front.

KCook

 

[manganos]

if you go to my yahoo pictures page I have a pic of my BX22 with my 48" HOWSE bushhog

 

[kcook]

Great photos, I take it you brush hog with the load attached?

KCook

 

[manganos]

Yeah I like to leave the FEL on to help even out the weight. The only mistake I made was leaving on the MMM. I ended up knocking it off the floating pins more then once and it was a PITA to put back. Next time I'll just take the Mid Mount Mower off.

 

[kcook]

"Next time I'll just take the Mid Mount Mower off."

It seem to be simple to remove!

KCook

 

[hickmo]

I have a taylor way 4' brush mower. My Bx handles that thing well. I have had the tractor and mower for about 1 year now and have mowed about 20 acres total with it. I leave the loader on for ballast, and also to " find" hidden objects in tall grass and weeds. I lower the bucket with it rolled back about 6" off the ground. Fire ant mounds roots and stumps can be detected real quick.

 

[DaninGreenBay]

I have a 4 ft King Kutter on my BX2200. Used it this week to cut deep grass and light brush for 8-12 hours at my x-mas tree farm. It worked much better than I anticipated. I used to have problems with my other old gas tractors(Ford NAA and Ferguson TE 20) bogging down with a 5 ft Howse. By the books they have more torque than the BX. Must be the 4 ft vs. 5 ft hog and/or the fact that the little BX weighs far less and therefore uses less of the available power just to turn the wheels to move the tractor forward.....

 

[JimMc]

I'm sure the reduction in cut by 1 foot plays a big part, but remember, not all cutters, even of the same size, use your engines power the same way. The gearbox, blade design, deck design, and even the way the blades mount all make a difference.

As an example. Take 2 blade designs. Let's say they're identical with the exception of where the offset from the blade mount down to the cutting edge is located. Blade "A" offsets the blade downward immediately after clearing the blade holder. Blade "B" stays level all the way out until just before the cutting edge. If you go to your local supplier (TSC, Rural King, etc.) you can find both types. Blade "A" will have a long unsharpened section level with the cutting edge. Blade "B" will have the same length, but all the unsharpened part will be at the blade holder level. Everything at the cutting edge level is sharpened. Which takes more HP to run? Blade "A" comes into contact with the grass, brush and other material with not only the cutting edge, but also the unsharpened section. Blade "B" only has the cutting edge in contact with material, (unless of course you climb on top of that big rock or stump /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif).

Most 4' cutters have blades so short that they fall into the Blade "B" category. When you get into larger 5' and 6' cutters you really notice the difference. This factor, in addition to the blade flex factor is why many upper crust manufacturers use shorter blades and larger blade holders on their bigger cutters.

This is a long way of saying that not all cutters are equal. Just because your neighbors Brand X cutter bogs your machine down, doesn't mean Brand Y of the same size, will.