top rated brush hog?
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Topic: top rated brush hog?
Posted By: Ed&Sherry
Subject: top rated brush hog?
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 6:33am
| we had an AC brush hog for years , bought in 1964 ,,it just wore out and all the ones we see now ,people always comment about gear box issues,,what are some good brands out there in the 6' range |
Replies:
Posted By: Ken McGregor
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 9:01am
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Brown makes probably the heaviest cutter on the market today. They claim to be able to cut 6 inch trees and mulch them (with enough hp on the pto). I believe they have a 100 hp. gearbox in their heavy model. They are not cheap but better isn't usually cheaper. regards, Ken McGregor |
Posted By: jiminnd
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 10:00am
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There are medium duty and heavy duty, lots of difference. I have a 7 ft Landpride with 150 hp gear box, I tried cutting some small sapling, maybe 1 1/2 in, would never do it again, shook the whole thing violently. I think it is a good machine but time will tell. ------------- 1945 C, 1949 WF and WD, 1981 185, 1982 8030, unknown D14(nonrunner) |
Posted By: DougS
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 10:31am
| I find it hard to belive a bush hog will cut anything close to 6 inches. A tree chipper will have all it can do to chip a 6 inch tree and that's with a 200 HP engine. You'll all you can do to push a tree that size over. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 10:39am
That's exactly what I was thinking.
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DougS wrote:Posted By: kinghunter
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 10:45am
| Watch the brown bush hogs on you tube. Coops use them clearing right aways. They will cut it. Just wack over everything. I have one I converted from 3 point to use on bobcat. Look up brown tree cutter. |
Posted By: Acdiesel
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 10:55am
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DIDN'T SEE ANY 3-POINT MODELS ON BROWNS WEB SITE. WE RUN LANDPRIDES AND THEY WORK JUST FINE FOR US. IT'S ALSO (IMO) IS BASED ON THE OPERATOR AND MAINTENANCE OF THE UNIT. LOOK HOW MAY YEARS THAT YOU GOT OUT OF YOUR AC MOWER. DAN ------------- D19 Diesel,D17 Diesel SER.3 2-D14, 2-D15 SER.II WF/NF D15 SER.2 DIESEL D12 SER.I, D10 Ser.II 2-720'S D21 Ser. II Gmc,caterpillar I'm a pharmacist (farm assist) with a PHD (post hole digger) |
Posted By: Stan IL&TN
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 11:07am
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I have the medium duty 6' Bush Hog. It will do up to a 3" tree and I have done a few with it and it shreds pretty good. I mow maybe 20 acres a year with it so it will outlive me for sure. Comes with a slipper clutch too. ------------- 1957 WD45 dad's first AC 1968 one-seventy 1956 F40 Ferguson |
Posted By: TimNearFortWorth
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 12:11pm
| Depends on what you are cutting/clearing and what a fella has to run it. Used a later A-C 5' on a D15II for a couple of years and took down some pretty big stuff with it clearing lots. Bought a couple year old BH brand SQ172 about 4 years ago as I wanted to get closer to fences and the 6' unit is well matched to the 15's I have. Pretty big gear box and has been trouble free even on the 17IV gas and diesel plus top cutting seed with the 185 this year. Deck is well suited to the gear box and that is key IMO. A unit with the bigger gear box on a lighter built deck is gonna tempt you to get into big stuff and that is one way folks get into trouble. My two cents worth . . . . |
Posted By: CaseyCreek
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 2:11pm
Brown Manufacturing is only about a twenty minute drive from where I am sitting. Nice people selling a product as described above. They make other stuff besides rotary cutters. I know a guy who bought a three-point disk from them. His Massey 175 couldn't lift it without getting light in the front end. They are well-respected locally for building the heaviest mowing equipment around. I use a Brown 472 rotary cutter, which means 4" maximum tree cut on a 72" cutting platform. I have seen the heavier units, but the 472 works fine for me. The 672 mowers are some heavy rascals. Lots of rotary cutters are made here in Alabama. Brown, Bush Hog and numerous others. NONE of them make their own gearboxes. What Brown, Bush Hog and others manufacture is the frame. The Browns that I have seen use gearboxes made by Omni ( http://www.omnigear.com/product/rotary-cutter-drive" rel="nofollow - http://www.omnigear.com/product/rotary-cutter-drive ). My Brown 472 uses a standard Omni RC61 gearbox. Bush Hog used to use Italian gearboxes made by Bondioli and Pavesi, but the last time I checked, they had started buying Chinese gearboxes. Since Bush Hog kept its replacement boxes at the old prices, I wish they had not changed. The point is that what we really buy is a frame and a stumpjumper/blade setup that will handle a lot of abuse. Gearboxes are standardized; most either use four or six bolts to attach to the frame. I clear brush with a 185 using both the Brown and the Bush Hog. Both will take out a three-inch tree and keep on chugging. I have done larger trees when I was feeling froggy, but I don't like to do that to the equipment. I also looked up the new specs for the Brown 472 and 672: they appear to have been downgraded on their maximum brush diameter. The 472 is now rated for 2" and the 672 is now rated for 4". The mowers look pretty much the same. http://www.brownmanufacturing.us/catalog/brown-672hd-1-extra-heavy-duty-brush-cutter-72-cut-145-hp-1000-rpm-single-tail-wheel-0" rel="nofollow - http://www.brownmanufacturing.us/catalog/brown-672hd-1-extra-heavy-duty-brush-cutter-72-cut-145-hp-1000-rpm-single-tail-wheel-0 (Not sure if they still make the 472) http://www.brownmanufacturing.us/catalog/brown-415-rotary-cutter-5-60-cut-130-hp-gear-box-single-tail-wheel-0" rel="nofollow - http://www.brownmanufacturing.us/catalog/brown-415-rotary-cutter-5-60-cut-130-hp-gear-box-single-tail-wheel-0 (Source for replacement gearboxes. Cheaper to replace than to repair) http://www.surpluscenter.com/shop.axd/Search?keywords=omni+gearbox" rel="nofollow - http://www.surpluscenter.com/shop.axd/Search?keywords=omni+gearbox We have covered most of this in earlier posts on this forum; if you want you can search up those threads. ------------- D17 Series III,D17 Series IV, 185 |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 2:22pm
| Man, 4" is still one heck of a tree really. I would hate to do that to my tractor. Drive over the tree that is, let alone the shock to the driveline of the cutter and tractor both. Wow. I burn firewood, 4 inch is usable! Haha |
Posted By: Dakota Dave
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 8:25pm
| I use a woods bat wing on a 170 hp magnum. The woods has been through hell. I had to replace the input shaft on the wing gear box. The splines wore out. The clutches start slipping long before you damage the gear box. When you hit real large rocks it'll start jumping. Don't keep trying to cut the rock just disengage the PTO and it stops. |
Posted By: Eldon (WA)
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2017 at 8:54pm
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I have two Bush Hog 3008 models, one has close to 2000 hours on it behind the 175D and the other a couple hundred hours behind the 6080. No gearbox troubles with them, I do cut pine trees on occasion, stay away from the hardwoods. Blades are reasonable at $40 each, only problem I have had are the segment tires fall apart....they take a lot of abuse custom hogging. With new blades I can cut the lawn with them... ------------- ALLIS EXPRESS! This year: |
Posted By: 7060
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2017 at 7:29am
| We have a bush hog 12715 that will cut a 6" hardwood if you can get backed over it. It has 205hp gearboxes. The 6' look pretty tough too. |
Posted By: Gary Burnett
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2017 at 7:48am
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In my opinion those old AC cutters will do as nice a job cutting as any cutter on the market now, I have several of them like the pull types the best.My dad used to cut anything he could ride down with the WD45 tore the tractor up a few times but not the AC cutter. |
Posted By: KY
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2017 at 1:25pm
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Around here Rhino / Servis are the norm. |
Posted By: DougS
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2017 at 1:35pm
| The Brown is probably the best built, but look at the price tags. Your brush hog might be more valuable than the tractor pulling it. |
Posted By: CaseyCreek
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2017 at 8:08pm
For a good but cheap rotary cutter down here, a lot of people get a Howse. Like most companies, they have a utility and a heavy duty line, but the prices are usually very competitive. Or you could do what I do and buy junk at auctions and on Craigslist that people have broken and don't want to fix. ------------- D17 Series III,D17 Series IV, 185 |
Posted By: allisrutledge
Date Posted: 05 Oct 2017 at 11:56am
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There is a brown selling Sat Oct 7 near my place. Looks new and I would guess it would take 8 or 9000 lb tractor to handle it. Look at tri cities craigs list in farm and garden heading (estate sale saturday) Kennedy auction is conducting the sale. I have a 7 ft rhino and a 2615 bush hog and both have served me well. Scott ------------- Allis Chalmers still exist in my mind and barns |