Opinions on brush cutting

[Yooper]

The pictures show what I'm try to cut. I was looking at a flail ditch mower but I'm not sure my tractor has the HP at the PTO (23) to power a 48" one. Looked at some brush hogs, but I'm not confident that will do a good enough job on the small trees. Opinions? The biggest diameter brush would be 1-1/2" diameter.

 

[85Hokie]

If there is nothing bigger than that - your 48" hog will cut all of that. I had a 5' hog behind a ford, it would run over things 2,3" ......it would make a hellva noise and spit out splinters of stuff, and some stuff would come back at the operator but the hog would cut it! Not sure the flail would be good for stuff like that.

The real problem is getting OVER top of that stuff - that will be the royal PITA. Someone gonna need a sickle or a chainsaw first!

 

[virginiavenom]

no problem for a brush cutter.

 

[TripleR]

What they said; no problem.

 

[Ridger]

Rather than drive over it, you could back into the brush and cut it down. That's what I do on larger diameter brush.

 

[scdeerslayer]

As mentioned you'll probably want to back over that. Individual trees won't be that bad to drive over but when they're that thick it can be tough. You don't want to get half way on top of trees and stop. BTDT. Backing up then can cause more damage under the tractor than had you been successful driving over them.

 

[D2Cat]

Now wait a minute, where are all the Piranha bar guys?

Isn't that one of those jobs where you guys go in there and just wack that spindly stuff off and post pictures of how easy it was? Best money ever spent evidence file?

I think you'll discover a flail mower requires less HP then a bush hog type mower.

 

[Blondie70]

I'd use the bush hog and cut it real high first...going dead slow. Then come back for additional passes as needed....really slow.

Also....that road there....you gonna be slinging stuff all over. Could damage a new Caddy easily as it goes by....need to figger out how to avoid that....also again...don't let any people close by as you cut.

 

[Russell King]

As I understand it a flail mower can have a couple of different blades installed and one is more for brush than grass.

Search for "holy caroni" thread to show what they can do.

One problem I see is that if you cut those off you could puncture tires with the stubs left sticking up. Not sure that you can mow them low enough with a brush hog


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[D2Cat]

Yooper, I had a similar project two summers back. Had about 600ft of brush, most less then 2" dia, but a couple 3-5" and all 8-12' tall.

I did it the hard way. Took a gas powered straight shaft weed eater with a circular blade I had welded the biggest/longest chain saw tooth chain around the entire diameter. I went through and cut all the brush about 3-4" off the ground and had the helper pull and stack perpendicular to the fence.

Then when all was cut, I came back with the same tool and cut the stubs off at ground level and immediately sprayed the cuts with Tordon.

Took my L305 with the REAL D) toothbar pointed down and a few inches off the ground and raked the entire cutting into one nice huge burn pile.

It totally cleared the fence line and no stubs to trip on, or bust tires!

 

[sheepfarmer]

The Caroni flail can be hooked up with an offset to one side and does come with brush blades if you want. I mowed down a big wild rosebush patch with mine a few feet at a time to avoid driving over stuff that would hang up the underneath of the tractor.

 

[Yooper]

I like the idea of the offset flail mower because I will be in some tight areas such as between trees. This is one that caught my eye.

http://tractortoolsdirect.com/showroom/ts62-hydraulic-offset-flail-mower-by-del-morino/#

I know it will require some additional hydraulics, but I have the rear remote from the stump grinder and I have a joystick on the shelf.

The other one that caught my eye is this: https://tractortoolsdirect.com/showroom/tx52-flail-mower/

Any opinions on this brand? Just starting to shop.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Interesting Yooper. Tractor tools direct is where I got my Caroni 2 yrs ago, and found them very nice to deal with. They stock a lot of items that can be used with compact tractors. Caroni is an Italian brand, so don't know why they are now offering a slightly different one instead. The hydraulic offset would be really nice if you do a lot. Mine only has one position other than centered.

 

[clay45]

Do you intend to maintain this routinely? Seems like a one-time thing you could hire done and then maintain with your usual cutting gear.

 

[dandeman]

Ditto on 85Hokies experience above. Also have a 5' hog behind my Ford 4000 with live PTO...have cut 2-2 1/2" diameter trees, smaller ones by driving over and larger ones by backing up and letting the hog slowly naw at them. The used 5 footer hog from an earlier era that I bought, while I don't think Ford made it, had their logo on it.. extremely heavy built unit and has it's own adjustable torque limiting clutch.. when it's on the back of a 4000 lb tractor, easy to do wheelies when going up through the gears on the road, needs the 52 hp my Ford has to run it.

The brush pictured by the OP would be a piece of cake with a bush hog.. Cleared my forrested land driveway path and house site using one, plus chainsaw for the big stuff..

Got to be careful driving over stuff... if you try to do that over stuff too big for your tractor to make it all the way over for the bush hog to chew up, you can get stuck.. When you try to back up, it bows up even stronger saying to your tractor I got you SOB!

Also good to have a well adjusted slip clutch on the bush hog. That kind of shock loading can be hard on the drive train. Even though I have a live PTO, I put a PTO overrun adapter on as the inertial loading of that much rotating mass in the larger, heavy duty bush hogs feeds back into the drivetrain every time you move the throttle.

Not a problem with modern tractors like the Kubota, but as most probably already know, ground speed PTOs on found on old generation tractors driving a bush hog without an overrun clutch are killers especially around ditches...

I know, I know... "bush hog" is a brand name but "brush cutter" sounds so tame after you lived with one. Heavy boots are good to have on while on the tractor... they can throw considerable sized chunks forward toward your feet..

 

[rkidd]

Hey Yooper. Looks like you are going to need a bigger shipping container to me!!!

 

[boz1989]

I'm just waiting to see if you buy something or if you make another incredible machine from scratch.

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

 

[Yooper]

This is turning out to be a tougher decision than I thought it would. Brush hog, flail mower, ditch mower, each has its up side and down side. And they all will do the job.

Sounds like the brush hog would do best backing up to the brush, but my neck won't tolerate that much twisting around.

Flail mower that can offset sounds like the best option. Most of them don't offset as much as I would like.

Ditch mowers do offset enough, but my tractor is at the minimum for weight and HP, which makes me kind of nervous.

The research continues. Appreciate everyone's input so far. Thank you!

 

[Yooper]

Do you intend to maintain this routinely? Seems like a one-time thing you could hire done and then maintain with your usual cutting gear.

Yes, this is an ongoing project. Call it my 'land reclamation project.'

Ditto on 85Hokies experience above. Also have a 5' hog behind my Ford 4000 with live PTO...have cut 2-2 1/2" diameter trees, smaller ones by driving over and larger ones by backing up and letting the hog slowly naw at them. The used 5 footer hog from an earlier era that I bought, while I don't think Ford made it, had their logo on it.. extremely heavy built unit and has it's own adjustable torque limiting clutch.. when it's on the back of a 4000 lb tractor, easy to do wheelies when going up through the gears on the road, needs the 52 hp my Ford has to run it.

The brush pictured by the OP would be a piece of cake with a bush hog.. Cleared my forrested land driveway path and house site using one, plus chainsaw for the big stuff..

Got to be careful driving over stuff... if you try to do that over stuff too big for your tractor to make it all the way over for the bush hog to chew up, you can get stuck.. When you try to back up, it bows up even stronger saying to your tractor I got you SOB!

Also good to have a well adjusted slip clutch on the bush hog. That kind of shock loading can be hard on the drive train. Even though I have a live PTO, I put a PTO overrun adapter on as the inertial loading of that much rotating mass in the larger, heavy duty bush hogs feeds back into the drivetrain every time you move the throttle.

Not a problem with modern tractors like the Kubota, but as most probably already know, ground speed PTOs on found on old generation tractors driving a bush hog without an overrun clutch are killers especially around ditches...

I know, I know... "bush hog" is a brand name but "brush cutter" sounds so tame after you lived with one. Heavy boots are good to have on while on the tractor... they can throw considerable sized chunks forward toward your feet..

Thanks! Lot of good info here.

Hey Yooper. Looks like you are going to need a bigger shipping container to me!!!

I keep coming up with ways to store the attachments inside. This one will probably have to live outside.

 

[Yooper]

I'm just waiting to see if you buy something or if you make another incredible machine from scratch.

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

Believe me, this has got the gears in my head turning. But I'd like to get the brush under control in the next month or so and a build would take all summer.