Rotary cutters- Bush Hog etc.

[YellowHammer]

It's like everything else, there are limits to what equipment and hand and power tools can do. So pushing, sawing, dragging, are all realistic options, but if I have acres to clear, and the trees aren't too big, then I'm going to let the Bush Hawg eat. It's not a tree cutter, but if I can bend a sapling over and get it under the deck, in reverse, the chips will fly.  

Incidentally, even if I cut a tree down with limbs, I'll still pile the smaller limbs out in the field and grind them up.  

There are different styles and makes, but big blades, big bolts and big hp get er done.

My buddy up in Tn has fields covered in grapefruit sized rocks, and new ones sprout every spring.  He runs his cutter over them every year until they are gravel.  

[Wudman]

I have a five foot Hardee at the moment.  I have been working on clearing under the pine plantation around the house after it was thinned. For the bigger stuff that I don't want to ride over with the tractor, I drop it with the chainsaw and then limb it with the rotary cutter.  I don't care about chopping up the main stem, but minus the limbs it will decompose in short order (sweet gum mostly - mush in a couple of years when laying on the ground).

Wudman

[Wudman]

Ill have a video in a week or two of me beating up me and my 8n today clearing some alder. You can use me as an example of what not to do, and still get it done.  I wish i could find someone up here with a mulcher. It'd  be light work for what was a tractor and operator workout with a 5' brush hog.

A live PTO goes a long way when hogging brush.  Not being able to clutch yourself backwards is a pain.  I feel for you on the 8N.  Great little tractors, but not the best in the world when needing the PTO.


Wudman

[Jeff]

He was in the soo with his mom and dad camping. I invited him by text message.

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've probably cleared 150 acres of this kind of brushy stuff in the past few years with my old 8' Rhino AG mower. I've put new u-joints in the pto shaft and frictions in the slip clutch. Zero tires during the process just a tubeless valve stem or two. The expense of those parts is cheap compared to what a back surgery would cost from chainsawing or the bill from a mulcher.




When done it looks like this. Usually do it twice in one season then feed hay on it to the cattle all winter. By the 2nd summer I have some good pasture.

[Don P]

My buddy up in Tn has fields covered in grapefruit sized rocks, and new ones sprout every spring.  He runs his cutter over them every year until they are gravel.  

We're pretty much the same except they are everything from house sized icebergs to the aforementioned gravel. They say these mountains were 10,000 feet taller before white man came with the bush hog.

I went into the tractor repair shop with the gizzards of the bush hog gearbox in a sack. Carl said "you guys with cabs never hear it when you hit the rocks". "What cab! I was on a TO35 and fell in an old outhouse hole full of rocks  :D" You learn pretty quick not to whip your head around to see what's making the racket. Duck, half clutch, lift and roll. If you hit a bee nest be very still, they'll wear out the moving shaft, if you start flailing they gotcha.

If some bright young draftsman has put a linch pin on the tail wheel replace it with a bolt and nylock nut. Sooner or later a twig is going to flip that bail while you're backing into a rose and after you find it the wheel will wobble like a bad shopping cart from then on.

[Jeff]

I was wearing my muffs with my hard hat today, as I have had exactly what greg was talking about happening, bringing trees down on you. I think the muffs were a mistake as I couldnt gauge engine rpms. Im pleased with my results so far.

 

 

[Jeff]

@chevytaHOE5674 , looks like we were working in the same field a whole U.P. apart!

[bitternut]

Yeah Jeff it could be mistaken for the same field. Good job both of you. How many fawns did you roust out of their beds? Fawns are one of the hazards you encounter while mowing. I usually run with the bucket down low in the grass to flush them out.

I have a Bush Hog BH26 mower. It is rated for tractors 45 to 130 HP with the gearbox rated at 130HP. The unit comes with a slip clutch standard. Very heavy unit at a listed weight of 1095 #.  It has a rated capacity of 3" diameter. Oliver62 it is a very rugged mower and I have cut some thorn apples that diameter but you definitely know when you do. I try to avoid doing so whenever I can. Pretty hard on the mower and your tractor I think. My tractor is on the low end of the HP required and your 100HP would fall in the upper end. I think you would be quite happy with the same mower for a long long time. Definitely steer clear of the John Deere mowers. They have lots of issues.





 

[Skeans1]

Have you considered something like a shredder flail mower?  Vrisimo makes some really heavy duty units we have a 9' 500 series that's over 2000 pounds and is made for shredding limbs etc.