What size bush hog?

[bubbauzz]

I have a Kubota M7040 and am wanting/needing a bush hog for my farm and some offsite jobs. What size bush hog would be a good match for my tractor?

-Jason

 

[MarkV]

Jason you have enough tractor to take your pick. If you are interested in a batwing mower a 15' might be getting on the edge depending on what you are mowing. Other than that I think you can pick a size. The general rule of thumb is 5 pto hp per foot of mower or better.

MarkV

 

[NativeSon]

I have a Rino 272 6ft.bush hog and it goes thru the thick stuff like a hot knife thru butter. In looking at shredders I felt the Rino was built to take the kind of abuse that I was going to give. The 6ft and the 7040 are very easy to manuever around all the trees we have here in East Texas. The gear box looks like it could be off a Navy Ship.

 

[Grandad4]

You have enough size and horses to run a seriously large cutter if you want... probably up to 10ft. You'll want to go at least 6ft so you cover your tire width, but you need to think about the advantages/disadvantages involved when moving to a larger size than that. You can get 7ft or 8ft single blade cutters, which the 7040 would handle. The drawbacks to those are the huge deck and giant single blade, which will scalp more on uneven ground and they are harder to transport. There are 10ft cutters that have 2 spindles (I guess it's a 2/3 batwing), whose disadvantage is cost. The "batwing" type cutters are typically 15ft or larger and would most likely be too much for a 70hp tractor.

Another consideration is that the mowers cost a lot more as the size increases beyond 6ft.

You'll need to think about your intended applications to decide which is the best choice for you. Larger may not be better, depending on how it will be used.

 

[TripleR]

As mentioned, you can run pretty much what you want, so it depends on your needs. We run a ten foot with our M8540, but Builder runs a really nice 8 foot dual spindle rotary MX8 I think with hydraulic offset that would be really good. I like a minimum of 8' for that size tractor, but rjkobbeman runs a 6' RCR2672 on his M8540, so different needs and different sizes work.

Now I do run a RCR2672 on my L5030 to get in places I can't go with a ten foot, so not having another mower handy might make me rethink what I pull with the M8540, who knows.

Good luck.

 

[art]

When power gives you the ability to pick a width the next thing to consider is the time that is required to do the mowing!

We often get people who want to trade up as they didn't know that with a 6 foot cutter it would take twenty hours a week to cut!

With a 72" cutter at five miles per hour 100% cut you can only mow 4 acres an hour thats with no overlap! At 80% it's only three acres an hour!!!!!

 

[Tnbilly]

Bought a LandPride RCR2684 to use behind my 6040. I've used it in the steepest, hardest terrain here with no problems. At over 30 degrees the weight starts to be noticed but nothing not manageable. Something like a Brown or Rhino would be slightly heaver and depending on the terrain you wish to cut a pull type might be the way. It's a little more but you really need a 7 ft. to cover the rear tread width if it's a concern.

 

[art]

Thought I'd throw one more thing in, I like twin spindles!!!

Yes they cost more but they don't need as much front end weight and don't scalp as much, they have two wheels on the rear for a smoother ride!

That means possibly a higher ground speed!

 

[blackie65]

I have an L3410 and the distance from outside to outside of rear R4's is right about 5' 4". Seems like a 5' wouldn't cover tracks but I worry that a 6' would be too much for my tractor.... any thoughts. BTW there is an auction next weekend that has a nice 6" bush hog brand for sale. should I even consider it if the price is reasonable?

 

[leonz]

I have an L3410 and the distance from outside to outside of rear R4's is right about 5' 4". Seems like a 5' wouldn't cover tracks but I worry that a 6' would be too much for my tractor.... any thoughts. BTW there is an auction next weekend that has a nice 6" bush hog brand for sale. should I even consider it if the price is reasonable?

You would be better off buying a 5 foot flail mower from Ken Sweet www.sweettractors.com or a Caroni from Agri Supply - Farm Supplies, Tools, Lawn Mower Blades, Cast Iron Cookware power wise.

The flail mower by design has more advantages as it can and will cut the brush to the ground level and the flail mower rotor rotates at a very high speed of rotation which slices smaller pieces of grass and brush and the blades following it finish slicing it to a very small size and it composts quickly.

 

[TripleR]

I have an L3410 and the distance from outside to outside of rear R4's is right about 5' 4". Seems like a 5' wouldn't cover tracks but I worry that a 6' would be too much for my tractor.... any thoughts. BTW there is an auction next weekend that has a nice 6" bush hog brand for sale. should I even consider it if the price is reasonable?

It is going to depend on what type and your uses. You can probably handle a light duty cutter in six foot, but I would not want to use a medium duty one on that size tractor. I use a Land Pride RCR2672 on my L5030 HSTC and I sure wouldn't want to try to power it with a tractor that size. We use five foot cutters on our Ford 600's and they are about the same power I think.

I don't own a flail mower nor have I used one, but would certainly consider one for your uses.

 

[blackie65]

leonz,
why a flail mower instead of a rotary? I am asking because I am ignorant of what a flail mower is. I need to mow along harvested fields and trails in about 25 acres of woods. I will research a flail but now I have more decisions to make