4 ft brush hog

[BrokenolMarine]

Devil Dog -

Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated.

But still, how does a potential buyer know which grade rotary cutter he is looking at since none seem to list country of manufacture (China vs. USA), metal thickness and other factors.

What my mechanic told us after he rebuilt ours, welding the new heavy duty skirt and bracing around the decking after someone ( who will remain nameless and only two of us live here, bent and tore the skirt up mowing in the woods.... and backing into unseen stumps in the grass...)

If there are several models in the showroom, compare the skirt thickness, but easier still, LOOK at the size of the gearbox in the center of the deck and / or the thickness of the drive shaft.. The entry level gearbox is noticeably smaller than either of the two upper level bush hogs, and the HIGH end bush hogs aren't normally IN the show room due to the high cost. They are either special order or stored in the crates in the warehouse and assembled when ordered or kept ready in the back for the professional buyers.

I'll try and get a picture of the modifications of OUR bush hog after it was upgraded by our mechanic, but this is the bush hog on the tractor when it was brand new. Note how small the gear box is on the deck. If you look at the very front of the skirting, you can see the leading edge of the skirt and see it's thin. I never claimed to know much about farms or farming, but I knew enough to know what we needed in the upgrade from the tractor we had:

tractor.jpg (568.77 KiB) Viewed 3249 times

I made sure we got a bucket, forks, bushhog, box blade...
I made sure the tractor had 4wd, locking rear diff, adequate power for the jobs we would do MOST of the time, but didn't over buy... (A mistake made ALL too often.) Our 2501 will handle 95% of the jobs, and is fuel efficient and the maintenance and parts are therefore much cheaper than if we had gone to a much bigger tractor that would have been too large to run the fence line, consumed much more fuel, and WOULDN'T have fit in the barn to scrape the mess out.

[BrokenolMarine]

The John Deere Link provided in the previous post is an excellent way to compare. Clinking on the link and going to their site and then clicking on the various Duty cutters lets you compare back and forth and see what I was referring to... the gear boxes and deck structures are clear and even the JD site talks about the chains on the higher end models. Good Web Page for JD.

[HenryFan]

BrokenolMarine -

Good advice, much appreciated.

[HenryFan]

While doing some on-line research into rotary cutters, I stumbled across flail mowers. Never thought of them before but they may work well when I do paths and "roads" between food plots since there are occasional rocks.

Anyone have experience with such? Although interesting, they appear half again as much as a rotary cutter, maybe more.

Pros and cons? Recommendations.

[BrokenolMarine]

I would talk to the dealer about the rocks and debris issue. As I mentioned above, the retired pastor behind us advised against the purchase. His son bought one, and is always having to replace "teeth" from striking rocks and debris in the fields he cuts on his large acreage here in Oklahoma. Actually, in high summer here the three digit highs turn the dirt into concrete.

I found that out trying to build my berm. The dirt pile had turned to stone after a month of 115+ degree summer, had to wait for three days of hard rain. Luckily the pile was on high ground surrounded by grass, or I still wouldn't have been able to break it up.

[HenryFan]

Is a flail mower the sort of implement that State DOT's or County maintenance department's use to mow rights-of-way?

It looks like replacement hammers or teeth are not inexpensive.

[BrokenolMarine]

I think most of the State Road departments use Bush Hogs, and what we see the most of here are the top of the line Bat Wing Bush hogs...

DOT bat wing cutter 31000 dollars new.jpg (1.41 MiB) Viewed 3157 times

The one above new runs $31,000. I was looking at them online trying to find a really good picture and they are up for sale used for $15,000 to $20,000. They are tough.

[daytime dave]

test

[HenryFan]

In a September 14 post, I asked if there is such a thing as a "heavy duty" bush hog.

BrokenolMarine responded the same day and gave valuable comments. I used his guidance in my search and decided the best combination of cost and construction proved to be a Dirt Dog RC104 rotary cutter. It is constructed with 10 gauge steel deck and sideband and a 60HP gearbox. This should prove more than sufficient for a Kubota LX2610SU compact tractor.

I think this is the best choice for my situation but I am aware that Dirt Dog may be a regional company (the Southeast) but I am not sure of that.

[daytime dave]

I think it may be regional. I've never heard of it. I don't remember seeing it when I looked on the internet for possibilities when I was looking.

I just looked at their site. It looks like well made stuff.