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cutting weeds/grass on dam

Started by ljmathias, November 25, 2017, 09:28:00 PM

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ljmathias

Hey, all, need some advice on inexpensive (but not necessarily "cheap") equipment to cut the top slope of my dam and areas around the ponds on the land. Too steep a slope to tractor or use a mower of any kind that I have. Been looking at boom mowers but would need a much bigger tractor than I have now- wasted money for me. Also seen some pull-behinds and flail mowers that would work on one of my smaller tractors so I wouldn't have to take the backhoe off my biggest one.

Ideas? Suggestions? Leads? and using hand tools is pretty much out of the question. Not that my age is the problem (yeah, right) but I tore a part of my rotator cuff and it's healing real, real slow. May not get full function back in that arm, darn it.

Oh, I can't just kill everything with Roundup- dam would erode away. I did try a really risky technique a few years ago: launch my smallest tractor with bushhog over the edge of the dam and hand on for deal life as I careened down the face into the roll out at the bottom. Tedious, too, as I could only cut 4' wide at a time. Wife didn't like it for some reason...

LJ
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

DelawhereJoe

If I remember right one of the other members would use some pipe hooked to his tractor bucket and suspend an old push mower from the pipe to mow around his pond. Is there any chance of getting a picture of the area ? If you used long enough pipe and had multiple attachment points you could mow as far as the pipe is long.
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Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Magicman

2, 4-D Amine will kill the leafy weeds, Sweetgums, etc. and leave the grass.
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Papa1stuff

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ljmathias

My daughter has the goats in the family but they stay on her side of the creek.

Kbietz: I love the design but there seems to be something missing? Or is it just me?

I actually thought of a slightly more elaborate version of this design, using front and rear mounted pipes tied to one of the old riding mowers siting in the barn now- bought a zero-turn last summer, something I should have done years ago for the few acres we keep cut. As to the riding mower suspended down slope- I need a way of shortening or lengthening both front and back connectors the same amount without having to jump off the tractor every time. Ideas?

Lj
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

Corley5

How often does the area need to be cut?  Maybe hire it out to someone with a weed wacker and liability insurance ??? ;D :)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Don P


Kbeitz

Quote from: ljmathias on November 26, 2017, 07:59:55 PM
My daughter has the goats in the family but they stay on her side of the creek.

Kbietz: I love the design but there seems to be something missing? Or is it just me?

I actually thought of a slightly more elaborate version of this design, using front and rear mounted pipes tied to one of the old riding mowers siting in the barn now- bought a zero-turn last summer, something I should have done years ago for the few acres we keep cut. As to the riding mower suspended down slope- I need a way of shortening or lengthening both front and back connectors the same amount without having to jump off the tractor every time. Ideas?

Lj

It's not finished yet. It needs the hydraulic motor hoses and clys put on.
I got the pump mounted.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

DelawhereJoe

What about hooking multiple push mowers together with some hinge type brackets so they can move with the terrain. Modify them so they are rear discharge, get a worm drive type of hand powered winch and run it off a drill for extra speed also you have an easy forward and reverse. It will still take some time to mow it all depending on how much hill you have to mow and the speed of the drill. There are always used push mowers on Craigslist.
WD-40, DUCT TAPE, 024, 026, 362c-m, 041, homelite xl, JD 2510

ljmathias

Interesting idea but way more complex than I can use. Forgot to mention that the terrain around the dam and pond is uneven plus I have other areas on the farm that are too steep to cut normally. Oh, well, I'll keep looking- did find some relatively light side mount mowers that might work including one that has it's own electric start engine. Just need to secure it to something to pull it along. Good news is I have all winter to work on this. Bad news is the house we're building is taking up all my free time. If it's not one thing it's another- Rosanna Rosannadanna. Or maybe it was, It's always something.

LJ
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

LeeB

'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

John Mc

Have you considered one of those walk-behind, self propelled brush mowers? DR Field and Brush Mowers are one option. Not cheap, and I don't know a lot about the brand. I'm sure there are other brands out there (a lot of what DR Power sells seems to be clones of someone else's idea after their patent ran out).

One thing I do like about the DR Power Brush cutters is that they make attachments so you can swap out the brush cutter for other implements (snow plows, snow blowers, chippers, etc.) A nice idea if you happen to need any of those other functions.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

Don P

There ya go, a Gravely with a sickle bar.

Stuart Caruk

I saw one of these working on a ridiculously steep slope in Toronto a few years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpJOeKwv1hw

Too much $$$ for me. I temporarily solved the problem by adding a 1/4" rope to a push mower and letting it roll down the slope, pull it up, move over and repeat. I permanently solved the problem by adding a flail mower on a quick tach to my Kubota excavator. That sucker will destroy grass and anything up to around 4" in diameter.
Stuart Caruk
Wood-Mizer LX450 Diesel w/ debarker and home brewed extension, live log deck and outfeed rolls. Woodmizer twin blade edger, Barko 450 log loader, Clark 666 Grapple Skidder w/ 200' of mainline. Bobcats and forklifts.

Don P

That thing ought to be able to recognize grass and work all by itself. Return to shed for fuel or service. I want the one that recognizes multiflora and autumn olive and swings out a chainsaw neatly right above ground level  :D

Peter Drouin

I like the goat idea. :D :D :D :D
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Briankinley2004

bobcat makes an attachment for their "mini" excavators. If you can find one to rent thats probably best route.

YellowHammer

We mow dam, embankments and road shoulders with a Kubota diesel zero turn.  We bought it for that purpose, it has a very low CG and has pretty wide set tires.  It will mow a much steeper embankment than my tractor.  It will slip sideways before it flips.
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Ianab

QuoteIt will slip sideways before it flips.

Which could get interesting when there is a pond at the bottom of the slope. :D surfer-smiley
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Al_Smith

 :D Well if the story gets told you might be surprised how many mowers of a sort have taken a dip in a pond .Guilty myself .

ljmathias

Yeah, put one in my own self. Luckily it stopped before the engine was submerged: pulled it out with the backhoe, so no harm done except to my pride- wife wondered why I had two "tools" in use at the same time...

Got a zero turn now and that helps a lot but not on the water side of the dam. It won't climb to the top or even close on the down side, though. Slips a lot which tears up the sod making things even worse.

Gotta be some low cost and effective way to do this. Probably DoD has funded a laser powered version that is a military secret? Or Elon Musk has one that's battery powered?

How about this: three point hitch mounted rod held perfectly at 90 degrees but able to rotate up and done. Put an electric winch on it down to a push mower attached to the rod with a circular clamp that's bigger inside diameter than the rod so it can move up and down the rod. Every pass forward and backward, winch the mower up toward the top for another cut. Might be slow but seems like it might work. Any engineers out that for comment?

LJ
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

John Mc

Quote from: Al_Smith on December 03, 2017, 06:05:11 AM
:D Well if the story gets told you might be surprised how many mowers of a sort have taken a dip in a pond .Guilty myself .

Guilty, and have photographic evidence that a Craftsman GT5000 is not, in fact, amphibious:
(my apologies to the OP for this topic drift, but hope you find this entertaining)

Back in December 2013 I was snow-blowing the pond for use as a skating rink. Prior to going out on the ice, I punched a hole in it about 6 feet out from shore to check the thickness. It was about 6" thick - plenty to support the little garden tractor (7" will support a car). I started snowblowing, spiraling in towards the center. As I got near the middle, I saw the ice change color. It was then I remembered that I had just turned off the bubbler a couple of weeks ago, which kept a hole open and the pond water oxygenated for the fish and amphibians. Just as I was thinking "I'd better call it quits here", the left rear wheel broke through... I thought "no way I'm driving out of this; better get the tractor and pull it out." then the right rear wheel broke through... and the tractor rear end started slowly sinking. As my seat approached the level of the ice/water, I rolled off and over to the shore. Fortunately, the machine hung from the snowblower on the ice, otherwise, it would have stayed on the bottom of the pond until the next summer. Even so, it took a bit of doing to get it out.

Hanging off the ice from the snowblower (pond is almost 15 feet deep at this spot)
   

Attaching the chain (it's about 15˚F/-9˚C out - fees even colder when you have to have your arms underwater searching for a place to attach the chain):
 

Could not pull it directly out. The ice was too thick. Had to use my rock bar to break a path:
 

The incredible Amphibious Craftsman GT5000 emerges from the deep (fortunately, it came to shore wheels down):
 

Fresh from the swimming lesson:
 

I was advised not to let it freeze, so it went in the garage with a heater aimed at it all night. The next day, it went in to the small engine shop in a neighboring town. Within 24 hours, he had it running. After draining all the water out of the engine and replacing gas an oil, all it needed was a new ignition switch and a starter.

Took this photo the following winter after the first pond clearing:
   
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

John Mc

Quote from: ljmathias on November 26, 2017, 07:59:55 PM
Kbietz: I love the design but there seems to be something missing? Or is it just me?

I actually thought of a slightly more elaborate version of this design, using front and rear mounted pipes tied to one of the old riding mowers siting in the barn now... As to the riding mower suspended down slope- I need a way of shortening or lengthening both front and back connectors the same amount without having to jump off the tractor every time. Ideas?

Since it's all hinged, how about a small electric winch to crank it in and let it out? Not sure how well the mower deck would slide sideways, though, unless you replaced the wheels with some sort of pivoting caster. Or maybe it would pull sideways if you were rolling as you pulled?
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

YellowHammer

Quote from: Ianab on December 03, 2017, 12:47:49 AM
QuoteIt will slip sideways before it flips.

Which could get interesting when there is a pond at the bottom of the slope. :D surfer-smiley
Yeah, there have been some heart stoppers, especially since the other side of the dam is bordered by a barb wire fence.  I kind of did an unexpected power slide down that side and got the mower stuck into the fence a few weeks ago, and had to pull it out with the 4wd. However since there were no witnesses, except the cows who know they better not spill the beans, it never happened.   ;D

Here one of our farm road embankments I mow with the zero turn.  For certain  reasons, it gets priority every fall.  I took this photo about a week ago.

YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

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