Rotary Cutter Woods Brush Bull Rotary Cutters

john_bud · Feb 13, 2001

I was at the local dealer yesterday and picked up the propaganda on the Woods cutters. They look pretty good in the pictures, but how do they hold up, work? Anybody been using Woods over Bushhog or the lower priced units at Farm/Fleet?

Also, I have an L3410, what's the downside to getting a cutter with higher HP rating than the tractor can put out? I am thinking of getting the medium duty series and it has a gear box for 30 to 120 hp duty. I realy don't want to save a couple bucks now and have to buy a better unit later!

I have 240 acres of mixed hardwood tree farm and I need to cut some nasty stuff. Probably 2-3" is the largest diameter brush. But it is THICK in some spots and grows faster than I can clear by hand!

Suggestions are very welcome!

John Bud

alexcocco · Feb 13, 2001

Re:5 ft kingcutter

i have a NH 1520 with 23 hp, it runs a 5 ft king cutter without problem, the cutter is rated for up to 60hp i think. i dont know how big a cutter you are thinking about but i hope this gives you some idea.

alex

Bird · Feb 14, 2001

John, it seems to me that there are two hp ratings to consider. You say you are looking at a cutter rated for 30 to 120 hp. It's my understanding that what that tells you is that you will need a 30hp tractor or larger to power it in normal conditions (there may be light duty conditions in which a smaller tractor can do it, but not recommended). And it tells you that a 120hp tractor should not tear up the gearbox, but that if you use it on a bigger tractor than 120hp and do damage it, it won't be covered by warranty.

Bird

RobS · Feb 14, 2001

John, you'll always want the gearbox rating to be higher than your tractor so it won't self-destruct. The actual horsepower required to drive the cutter is more a function of the cutter diameter and what you are cutting. I've got a JD light duty 5' cutter I use with my 790 (25 PTO Hp). I'm cutting weeds, light brush and grass. For heavier brush and small trees, I'd stick with the 5' but go to a heavier duty model (thicker steel etc.). One other consideration is the driveline protection. Mine has shear pins but if you are into a lot of stumps you might want to go with a slip clutch. There is also something that lets the blade ride up and over a stump (the name escapes me). Check out the manufacturers sites for some additional details. I think Woods is www.woodsonline.com.

Good luck /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Boots · Feb 14, 2001

I've got an old woods 5' rotary cutter that's about 20 years old, although I just recently became the owner of it. It only has a 50 hp gearbox rating, and my tractor is 50 pto h.p. I've used it to cut some 'nasty stuff' lately and it's been working great so far. I have been doing some land clearing by backing over grown up brushy areas (packed with 1/2" to 3" diameter sweet gums/oaks). So far, I've not even broke a shear pin in spite of this heavy usage. I plan to replace the cutter sometime but only because I need a 6 or 7' wide unit.

Boots.

dmccarty · Feb 14, 2001

Rob,

The attachment on the rotary cutter to ride over stumps is called a stump jumper.

Hope this helps...
Dan

RobS · Feb 14, 2001

Thanks Dan, I must be getting old to forget an obvious name like that /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

This might be a good time to interject a "moment of shop safety"...

Bush hogs can really launch things! I read on this board, and had friends tell me, so I don't run the cutter when anyone is around. The first time I cut my property I hit several football sized rocks. The energy in the cutter was enough to shatter these rocks and send pieces flying. My cutter has some big dents in the side now. For sure, I'll not use it with anyone anywhere nearby.

Remember to "read, understand and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. And wear these /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif, safety glasses".

Now, where have I heard that before? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

dmccarty · Feb 14, 2001

Rob,

I'm very impressed you have Norm's safety mantra memorized!

What I would like to know is HOW the stump jumper works. I don't remember seeing info in the MX6 manual about it and I have not had time to look under the cutter. I have only use the cutter for about an hour so far. It will be a few years before I really get to use it for long periods of time. The next couple of weekends I'll be finishing my gate/fence to control access and finish pulling up stumps that might hit the cutter when I'm mowing or box blading.

I'm almost finished with clearing up the road enough to run the cutter and clean up some new growth from the stumps I cut last spring/summer. Its amazing how fast and thick this new growth can be.

You are absolutely right about the safety aspects of a rotary cutter. Last weekend I had the dogs out for the first time when I was running the tractor. They did pretty well but they stay to close to the tractor for them to be around when the cutter is running.....

Later...
Dan McCarty

Harv · Feb 14, 2001

Bush hogs can really launch things!

This is no joke, and it sort of scares the crap out of me. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Just for perspective, a number of years ago I was mowing my old suburban home front lawn with a 26" Toro power mower (you tractor guys may have heard of these -- you walk behind the thing and actually push it by hand. [laugh). It turns out my neighbor's juvenile deliquent son had tossed the head he broke off of a bolt into my yard (my place was always his garbage dump). We're not even talking big here -- it was maybe a 3/8" bolt head.

Anyway, when I went over it with my Toro, the blade launched it with enough force to put a sizable dent in the passanger door of my pickup truck, which was parked in the driveway on the other side of the yard, some 75 feet away. It dang near penetrated the metal! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

I wasn't mad at the deliquent or upset about the dent so much as I was aghast at what might have happened if one of my dogs or, worse, a neighborhood kid had happened to be in the path of that projectile. That was the last time I wore tennis shoes to mow the lawn (heavy boots seemed more prudent after that), and I became extremely mindful of anybody coming within range when I'm mowing. Now that I have my own kids, we have strict rules about staying away when the mower is running.

So, to bring it back to the tractor world, I now own a 5-foot rotary cutter which I will use for the first time come spring. It came without any kind of guards (it didn't occur to me that they would be an "option"), so I just recently bought and installed both front and rear chain guards (see attachment). Even so, I'm more than a little fearful of what the potential is for launching a rock through the side of the house.

Let me ask youse experienced folks -- mowing is one of the most common chores you can do with a tractor, but what sort of precautions do you take? Most of my mowing will be between the house and the main road, and I'll have to get pretty close to both. Do you normally shut down your PTO when a car drives by? Or when you see a human within a couple of hundred feet of your mower?

Any tales to share?

RobS · Feb 14, 2001

Dan, from what I've seen of the stump jumpers, it's a rounded "pan" that covers the center portion of the cutter blade. Without it (like mine), if a stump gets past the swinging portion of the blade and is struck by the center portion it would make for quite the collision (blade to stump that is). The rounded stump jumper allows the whole cutter to ride up and over the stump.

Clear as mud?

markcg2000 · Feb 14, 2001

2 points:

1. I don't shut down when a car goes by, but I do when a pedestrian is on the road. Of course, the kids are required to stay out of the fields.

2. Maybe it's the image, but it looks to me like the lower two pins on your cutter are slightly bent up... what's up with that? And how much did buying the chain guards after the first purchase cost you? I've got a chain guard on the front, but the back is a solid continuation of the sides.

mark

Harv · Feb 14, 2001

it looks to me like the lower two pins on your cutter are slightly bent up

I see what you're talking about, but I believe it's an optical delusion /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. Check this attachment and see what you think.

how much did buying the chain guards after the first purchase cost you?

Front and rear together was $195. I didn't shop around -- just ordered them through the dealer. I'm not sure how much shopping around you can do for something like this anyway. That's almost a third the cost of the mower itself ($653), but I really didn't like the thought of mowing without them. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

markcg2000 · Feb 14, 2001

Hmmm, still see it. Oh, well.

When I got my 5' cutter, the price was ~$900 (not looking at the invoice right now) with the chains and the slip-clutch. I knew the clutch was an extra 'cause the dealer told me so and that he strongly recommended it since I would be cutting fields that hadn't been cleared in years. I didn't know the safety chains were an option until I read that on this board. I was stunned that such an item could be optional /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif... to me it's just like having a kill switch for when the PTO is engaged and the driver gets off the tractor - sure, they never used to have them, but we also used to insulate our homes with asbestos /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif.

mark

DFB · Feb 14, 2001

John,

The wife's stepdad has the Woods MR1O5 heavy duty cutter. Slip clutch came standard. No chains though. Runs it with the Ford 3930 (45 pto hp). Pricey unit. Better than $2K. I asked him what he thought of it, "indestructable" was the word he used to describe it. Then proceeded to tell me how it sliced thru a 12" fieldstone. He's very impressed with it.

I've got the JD 413. 4' Light Duty Rotary Cutter with slip clutch, stump jumper pan, and chains. That lil' pup ran over $800.

DFB

Bird · Feb 14, 2001

Harv, one of the first times I used my little brush hog a few years ago, I ran over a stick, or small limb, and launched a piece about the size of my arm straight forward, under the tractor and between the wheels and it hit the ground a good 50 or 60' or more in front of me. I got to thinking about what that would have done if it had hit a tire, and made some guards, front and rear from heavy belting material. Those things didn't last long enough to mow 5 acres, so then I made chain guards and don't think I'd be without them again. Like you, I don't allow anyone anywhere close when I'm mowing, and when I'm mowing alongside the road, I don't disengage the PTO when a car comes by, but I do stop the tractor and wait on the car to pass. Another reason for my rear view mirror.

Bird

john_bud · Feb 14, 2001

Wow, 14 posts overnight! And all full of quality information. Thanks!

I am strongly looking at the new Woods "BrushBull" line of cutters, but while re-reading the owners manual for the tractor, I noticed that Kubota limits the weight of the cutter to 770 pounds. The Medium duty 60" brushbull is a tad over 1000 pounds. The standard duty 60" is about 600 pounds. I like to buy a tool once, and keep it for ever, so the medium duty unit looks indestructably good, but not if it causes my tractor harm! Can anyone tell me why they have a weight limit for a cutter? Is it to keep you from fliping over backwards? This is giving me a bad case of the dreaded, "I want to buy a quality tool, but I'm such a newbee-osis I don't know which way to jump".

I really do think that I will quickly mangle a light duty cutter. The trails I cut seem to grow rocks nearly as fast as the trees sprout! {Dang those glaciers.} And the trees and weeds and blowdowns don't help either. I had to buy a high wheel string trimmer to keep the main trails open due to damage to the old JD riding mower I was using. That's a main reason for the tractor, along with culverts and skidding logs and making dams for duck ponds and ...........

I also will now positively include a chain guard for both the front and rear. That sounds like a good place to drop money. Thanks for that bit of advice. It could get real ugly if a tire went down while trail cutting as the nearest road is about 2 miles from the edge of the property.

Thanks again,
John Bud

Bird · Feb 14, 2001

John, of course there are limits to the amount of weight your 3-point hitch can lift, and rotary cutters hang pretty far out the back, which gives them a lot of leverage. You wouldn't have any problem with the heavier mower while you're mowing because you'd have the rear wheel on the ground supporting part of the weight. The problem is when you lift the mower with the 3-point, if it's too heavy it might lift the front wheels on the tractor. That tendency can, of course, be compensated for by adding weight on the front of the tractor. I'm not recommending the heavier mower, just saying that it is an option and can be safely used if you're careful and know what you're doing.

Bird

GrantMO · Feb 14, 2001

John,

I can't speak to the Woods rotary mower but if they're anything like their finish mowers I would recommend buying one if you have the money. I had an old 84 inch Woods finish mower made of really thick metal with easy to sharpen blades. That thing was tough, probably 25+years old and I still got a good price out of it when I sold it last fall on Ebay. They seem to hold up well. If you've got the money available, get it. They'll last.

john_bud · Feb 15, 2001

Grant,
Your endorsement of the Woods is music to my ears! I like a tool that lasts 25 years and is still valuable! I need to get a price from the dealer and check the funds in the account. I think this may be a good time to dicker here. The dealer has about 50 new mowers, probably 8-10 BX-2200's and a whole bunch of other tractors up to the 4610 cab on his lot and we are still getting snow.

Bird,
I am planning on using the cutter and leaving the FEL on the tractor 95+% of the time. Do you suppose that would keep me orange side up, or should I be more concerned? This is very new to me, and making a mistake can be more than just spendy, it could sure leave a mark!

Thanks,
John Bud

Bird · Feb 15, 2001

John, a lot of people leave the loader on the tractor most, or all, of the time. Of course, when I had a B7100, it was not a quick attach, so it was never removed. And of course, if necessary, you can even put some weight in the bucket, although I doubt that you would need to do that. Now that I have the B2710, which has a quick attach loader, I probably leave it off 75-80% of the time. Incidentally, my manual recommends a 4' brush hog, which is what I had with the B7100, but now use a 5' one. I also have a 5' finish mower and when I pick either of them up, I can tell the front end's a little lighter than normal, but certainly not light enough to matter. One reason I prefer mowing without the loader is that it's a smoother ride in most of the pastures around here. The weight of the loader sticking out in front causes the front end to bounce more on rough terrain. So, I'd suggest you just go slow and try it both ways and see which way feels best to you.

Bird