top rated brush hog?

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

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.

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.

Edited by kinghunter - 02 Oct 2017 at 10:46am

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.

Acdiesel wrote: DIDN'T SEE ANY 3-POINT MODELS ON BROWNS WEB SITE.  WE RUN LANDPRIDES AND THEY WORK JUST FINE FOR US.  DAN

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).  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

(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

(Source for replacement gearboxes.  Cheaper to replace than to repair)
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.

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.

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.

Around here Rhino / Servis are the norm.

DougS wrote: 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.

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.