Mowing Which Rotary Cutter

[ala55]

What width rotary cutter are all the 3520 owners using? There is plenty of HP but Im not sure of the weight.

 

[yooper68]

Have a MX5. Works very good but do feel the weight some. Tried out 6' brush hog, power was no issue but weight felt a bit much. lightweight 6' may be okay but they get a rough shape quick

 

[brown40]

The 3x20 series is deceptive, because it has such fantastic lift capacity & hydraulic flow rate... capabilities on a 2900# machine that would suit a 4000# unit.
It seems like 90%+ are either a lighter 6 footer or a medium duty 5 footer; either covers the tracks. With the loader on & loaded tires the are different machines that dry/no loader. Biggest cutter I have seen people using are the medium duty 6 footers, but get up over 1000# and theres a lot of leverage picking up the front when its raised.
I would look to Woods, bush hog, brown, rhino... I have an MX5 with the flawed output shaft & JD's bolt-on fix is a $2200 one, and they've broken at a rate that would have an automobile manufacturers line pulled off the highway. Based on this experience, I could never recommend their product... shortly after the initial purchase, before the breaking started everywhere, I still saw the listed manufacturers were more robust, had higher brush diameter ratings, a gauge up on the deck, and in Woods case, exceeded the blade tip speed on the mx lineup. I had buyers regret from not doing more research on the options, and the 0% for the cutter with the purchase made me an easy sale.
The other medium duty cutters are 10-25% heavier, so push the limits, not of the hydraulics, but frame capacity... still people run them successfully, just have to keep the front down/heavy.
Figure out what your application is, then go up a size!

 

[sunnyside360]

I'd go with a 5 ft rotary cutter on the 3x20 series tractors mainly due to weight. I have a 6 ft Frontier (light duty?) on my 4320 and it doesn't work as well on my 3720 due to weight. So, I run a 5 ft Bush Hog (Squealer 60) on the 3720 and it works great since it is less weight. I have some steep hills that are a factor in using the above configurations.